'Playguy,' 'Honcho,' 'Mandate' and 'Inches' Are Dead

The beloved magazine empire began in 1974 when a hetero pervert named George Mavety began selling issues of Mandate out of the trunk of his car. In the era of Playboy, Mavety, who died nearly a decade ago, saw the consumer need for big penises. And when the internet threatened his empire, Mavety defended his now old-fashioned platform. Boy Culture recalls the entrepreneur shrugging off internet cock-surfing: “I want to hold a magazine in my hand while I masturbate—who would want to have one hand on a keyboard while you’re doing that?”

We agree that lube-soaked keyboards are frustrating, and we do feel like we’re missing out on the days before “discreet” and “travel only” entered the gay lexicon. The death of Mavety speaks to the decline of print in general, but really it’s about the death of lo-fi gay culture, when cruising was about deciphering eye contact in person rather than cock pics on a screen.

On second thought, maybe it’s not Mavety’s funeral that’s making us sad. Maybe we just hook-up online too often.