New sex mags

If Playboy’s not doing it for you these days, try Jacques (jacquesmag.com) and Liger Beat (ligerbeat.com), two new erotic mags founded in Brooklyn.

Editor-in-chief Danielle Luft and cofounder Jonathan Leder agree that their drive to start Jacques was a reactionary one. “We know what we like, and there was nothing out there,” says Luft. “Most adult magazines are pretty disgusting,” adds Leder. “We wanted to be an erotic magazine that was fashionable.”

Just two issues in, Jacques ($9, available at most newsstands) has already established itself as the anti-Playboy. Inside, dreamy, retro-inspired pictorials feature models posing poolside or in country settings. Luft and Leder shoot everything on film and shun airbrushing. “We’re doing something wholesome,” says Leder. “It’s honest, it’s natural, it’s real.”

Liger Beat hits an altogether different note. “It’s like Tiger Beat threw up and turned into us,” jokes art director Yung Ho (all of the staffers use aliases). Liger Beat is for ladies who love dicks and giggles (as indicated by such cover lines as “World’s First Mid-Coitus Interview”), but there’s also something strikingly feminist about it. “Our readers are educated and progressive women who enjoy being satisfied and take sex with a side of humor,” says managing editor Momma D. Adds editor-in-chief Calisha Jenkins, “Playgirl folded, and we wanted to fill the void with something for women—not just secretly gay men, which is often the case.” The quarterly mag can be purchased online ($6) and will be releasing its second issue in the next few weeks. Aspiring models are welcome to participate, but Ho advises doing it for the fun, not the money. “Due to the low budget, everything’s pro-boner.”—Laura Neilson

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