This eighth bi-weekly issue of New York City’s first “Liberal Sex Paper” features reviews of The Miracle of Love and Portnoy’s Complaint, “Screw Goes to the Opera,” a look at a recent New York Post censorship controversy, an editorial on gays in the military, as well as selections of erotic illustrations, photographs, and poetry, letters to the editor, and classified ads. Screw is a bold affront to mainstream conceptions of propriety and a frank celebration of sex, smut, and eroticism in all forms.
From our 2016 exhibition Realize Your Desires, of which this work was a part: “Following the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1966 which allowed a more tolerant legal climate for publishers, the ‘Underground Press’ emerged as a site for radical commentary and critique in the US, progressing a number of social movements and shifting the cultural landscape at large. Usually published as weeklies – often in large editions – these publications provided a vibrant space for revolutionary ideas which played out on all fronts of politics and culture, addressing head-on a host of issues including the anti-war movement, black power movement, women’s liberation, gay rights, sexual liberation, and drug culture.”