To censor or not to censor? We nearly always choose the latter, with the rare exception being items so incendiary we don’t feel as if a basically lighthearted pulp website possesses the mandate to discuss them. But generally, as progressive minded folks, we think there’s value in documenting just how demented people of previous times got. We say that with grim amusement, because future people will have field days documenting how demented our times have gotten—assuming there are any future people. But the point is, when you hide the bad behavior of others, you’re doing yourself and generations yet to come a disservice.
This cover of National Informer published today in 1973 is a good example. The tabloid’s favorite targets—lesbians—are pilloried again, as Informer editors bring their incandescent wisdom to bear on the subject of aggressive gay women. Real world figures Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem come up for blame, but the actual story is—as always from Informer—bad fiction. Check this quote from “Marsha M”: “I dig brutalizing other girls, and when they’re filled with terror of me I get turned on.” Really? Did “Marsha M” really say that? Did “she” exist? Of course not, except as a figment of the editorial imagination.
We’re no head doctors, but this story seems like projection on the part—and behalf—of frustrated men. Despite the nuanced depictions of lesbians that had emerged by this point in literature, Informer was proudly behind the curve. Well, play to your audience, we always say. This particular gay stereotype—“bull dyke”— has faded a bit from usage, but alleged masculinity remains an insult used toward women. Times change, epithets evolve, but prejudices seem to stay the same. We have thirty panels below—including a couple devoted to the crucial question of whether LSD can cure lesbianism, and another with an incredibly dumb limerick. There’s more Informer to come.
