Creating a First Class Lesbian Magazine
“I was so sick of lesbians [being] treated like second class citizens. If I was going to do something I was going to do it so that we were represented as first-class, as having something nice for once.” Franco Stevens [1]
In February 1990, 22-year-old lesbian bookstore clerk Frances or "Franco" Stevens took a leap of faith and developed a groundbreaking national lesbian magazine without financial backers.
Stevens saw a desperate need for a specifically lesbian magazine, the kind she looked for after she came out a year earlier and heard other women request when she worked at A Different Light bookstore. After she decided to "stop complaining and do it herself,” Stevens diligently studied publishing and miraculously raised the funds she needed for the first issue at the horse races. When Stevens put a flier reading “Writers and photographers wanted for new lesbian magazine” at the bookstore, over 300 people responded. [2]
In May 1991, the first issue of Deneuve finally launched, with 32 pages full of stories about lesbian politicians, teachers, and musicians, travel, dating, love, and everyday lesbian life. Editor Katie Sanborn posed for the cover sporting sunglasses. Denueve mixed satirical columns like “Lesbo File” and “Dyke Drama” and celebrity cover stories with thoughtful reporting on struggles for civil rights and conflict and change within the community. Historian Jan Whitt argues that lesbian periodicals, from early newsletters like Vice Versa to magazines like Sinister Wisdom, provided community, connection, and support systems in a homophobic society and even encouraged activism. [3] Stevens founded Deneuve “to connect lesbians, unite our community and dispel stereotypes” and thus carried on the tradition of these earlier publications by and for the community. [4]
Deneuve also represented an evolution of lesbian print culture as the first lesbian mainstream “glossy magazine.” This innovation was timely; less than a year after the May 1991 launch of Deneuve the release of the film Basic Instinct sparked the era of “lesbian chic.” Throughout the 1990s, feminine and racially and economically privileged lesbians gained unprecedented visibility in popular culture, and out celebrities graced the covers of mainstream magazines from Newsweek to Vanity Fair. At the same time, lesbian activists in organizations like The Lesbian Avengers fought for lesbian survival and visibility on the streets, and organized iconic direct actions including mass Dyke Marches and eating fire on the White House lawn. [5]
The few ads in the 3,000 print first run included one for Stevens’ father’s computer company and one for the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, but it was a hit with readers. The magazine’s subscriber count grew as Stevens partnered with lesbian feminist publisher Barbara Grier to include a subscription form in Naiad Press’ newsletter and conducted numerous cross country tours. [6] In April 1992 Deneuve moved from an editor’s living room into an office space in San Francisco's South of Market District, and hired their first employee managing editor Zelie Pollon. [7] By 1995 Deneuve was the nation’s best selling lesbian magazine with a print run of 60,000 and mainstream advertisers.
Despite its success, the magazine faced censorship from state officials and distributors alike. Canadian customs officials rejected the January/February 1992 issue for displaying nude images by photographer Nina Glaser. Glaser described nude images as “more honest and real” than clothed ones, and as artistic rather than erotic. An October 1994 issue featuring a topless Marga Gomez was sold in the South in blue plastic wrappers after a distributor complained. [8] Despite these challenges, Stevens’ grassroots promotion strategy brought the magazine to rural and conservative areas where the magazine was some women’s only contact with the lesbian community. [9]
The magazine’s greatest challenge became its name, after French actress Catherine Deneuve sued the company for trademark infringement in 1995. Stevens claimed the name was inspired by her first girlfriend from summer camp, but litigation expenses forced Stevens to change the name to Curve in February of 1996. [10] With help from the community, including the celebrity attendees of the "Alive and Kicking" legal aid benefit, the magazine continued to report on the queer life, love, community, culture, and politics for years to come.
[2] Lee, Gretchen. "All our best." Curve, vol. 10, no. 3, May 2000, p. 18.
[3] Jan Whitt, “A ‘Labor from the Heart’ Lesbian Magazines from 1947-1994,” Journal of Lesbian Studies 5, no. 1–2 (2001): 232.
[4] Marcie Bianco, “This Is What 25 Years Of Lesbian Culture In Print Looks Like,” BuzzFeed, accessed December 22, 2020, https://www.buzzfeed.com/marcieb4f1ba695b/25-years-of-lesbian-culture-curve-magazine.
[5] Rand, Erin J. “An Appetite for Activism: The Lesbian Avengers and the Queer Politics of Visibility.” Women’s Studies in Communication 36, no. 2 (June 2013): 123-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2013.794754.
[6] Franco Stevens. Brooke Means Business: Franco Stevens, Founder and Publisher of Curve Magazine | Autostraddle. Interview by Brooke Levin, March 28, 2010. https://www.autostraddle.com/brooke-means-business-2-39191/.
[7] Lee, Gretchen. "All our best." Curve, vol. 10, no. 3, May 2000, p. 18.
[8] "All our best." 18
[9] “New Dyke in Town: The Rapid Rise of Denueve.” 156.
[10] Patricia Holt, “A Bookstore Clerk’s Big Idea,” SFGATE, May 5, 1996, https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/A-Bookstore-Clerk-s-Big-Idea-2982978.php.
