How it began?

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Pornography no thanks, erotica, yes please!

Pornography no thanks, erotica, yes please!
Cupido was launched in 1984 at a time when a tidal wave of anti-pornography demonstrations flooded the country of Norway. Norwegian women - and indeed quite a few men - marched through the streets demanding: Down with pornography - yes to erotica!

We felt that time was ripe for producing an alternative to the traditional pornographic and mens magazines.

Before producing and editing Cupido we had edited the magazine Hverdag a magazine about social and sexual politics where we focused on a number of issues, among them sexuality, relationships and sex-roles, but in a more academic fashion.

In other words we felt quite well qualified to make an alternative erotic magazine, a magazine for women as well as men, a magazine devoid of the stupid bragging and idiotic clichees about sex that the more traditional sex-magazines promoted. We wanted to provide our readers with erotic material that would turn us all on without making us ashamed of our arousal.

We wanted to show photographs of men and women who are genuinely turned on and not just pretend to be aroused. We wanted to present photographers who were able to convey the exhibitionism of their models, their sensual pleasures and delight in their own and their partners bodies, rather than photographer who were exclusively interested in young, beautiful and perfectly posing bodies.

So what did the radical feminist, those opposed to pornography think of the magazine? Well, they were divided on this issue. Some of them loved Cupido, others literally lit book-fires with it.

Cupido had a difficult start, but very soon the magazine turned into a Scandinavian laboratory for the development of erotic writing and photography.

Today we collaborate with writers and authors - amateurs as well as professionals - all over the world, the US included. But still it is our readers, ordinary men and women like you and me, that are behind a majority of our erotic texts.

Concerning photographs we have developed a unique collaboration with professional photographers from the Scandinavian countries, from England, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy and the Czech Republic.

But the erotic world of Cupido consists of a lot more than erotic writing and imagery.

Cupido will bring you into close contact with the trendsetters in the field of developing the sexual cultures of our time. And, as you have probably gathered, we are not talking about the people behind the traditional sex-industry, but courageous pioneers, artists, educators, therapist, writers and peddlers who all have an eye for quality in their fight for lust and passion, against ignorance, prejudice and silence.

Notes:

We are sorry that all the articles and stories are only in norwegian at the moment.