Cieplak-von Baldegg said that even when she distributed the issue in dorms, some students did not want copies of the magazine left at their doors.
“It’s so frustrating that people judge it and dismiss it without even opening it,” Cieplak-von Baldegg said. “We just hope people will read it, actually read it, and see that we’re actually trying to have a serious conversation—we’re not just exploiting Harvard’s sexuality.”
One of the most controversial pieces set to appear in the publication—a rape fantasy—never materialized.
“[The author] never turned it in,” Hrdy said. “I would have liked to have read it.”
And the co-founders took steps to avoid another campus debate about sexual exploitation; in each of the magazine’s 8,000 copies, they manually affixed stickers over photographs from the Eleganza fashion show after the show’s producers disapproved of the photos’ use in the publication.
“Everyone knows the stickers were useless, they just wanted to get across to everyone that they had objected,” Hrdy said. “That was supposedly going to prevent them from dealing with the whole controversy that their show was too sexual.”
Hrdy, who said she has received several e-mails with “constructive criticism” since the magazine’s release, said the co-founders are open to informed feedback about the magazine’s content.
“I would love an article in the second issue called, ‘Why I Hate H Bomb,’” Hrdy said.
Cieplak-von Baldegg added that the two were looking for a wider perspective from contributors in the initial issue, but that they simply did not receive submissions with diverging viewpoints.
They said they hope the next issue will feature photographs of models with a greater diversity of ethnicity and body type.
WHAT IS PORN?
Part of the uniqueness of H Bomb comes from its female perspective, Cieplak-von Baldegg said.
“Right now, all the commercial magazines, films, TV—I feel like they’re all run by men, and even if not, like Cosmo[politan magazine], they’re geared toward that perspective,” Cieplak-von Baldegg said. “I think they can tell that our magazine is created by two women, and geared toward men and women. It’s good to have a magazine that combines both of those things, instead of polarizing them.”
But Hrdy said she hopes H Bomb Magazine’s next issue will include more input from straight men.
“I’d like to know, what do they really want to see, besides porn?” Hrdy said. “It’s difficult to get to the heart of what they want to see.”
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