The magazine of a sadomasochism club: the tie that binds

The monthly magazine of a sadomasochism club was investigated as a means of describing important issues for club members. The magazine was selected for this exploratory study because it is: (a) The club's only recorded history; (b) the only repository of club members' writings and photographs; and (c) the only link to the club for about 15% of the membership who do not attend meetings or other club activities because they reside some distance from the club's two West Coast chapters. A descriptive content analysis was performed on 47 issues of the club's magazine, published between October 1983 and January 1988, and the results were combined with the findings of a December 1987 magazine readership survey completed by 44% of the 812 dues-paying club members. The author's nonparticipant observations of club programs are also reported. The results indicate the magazine's space is filled by seven subject categories: S/M media reviews (2% of space), S/M poetry (5%), S/M issues (10%), S/M "how-to" (12%), S/M photography (14%), fantasy and real S/M stories (17%), and organizational reports (40%).