Their inventory is largely acquired from book auctions and private sellers. “Creating an online source for acquiring old gay literature was a natural progression.” “I get most of my gay business news through or the like and I get my gay social news from Out.com or Pink News, so most of my reading now is online,” he said. Today, however, like most of us, Watson’s reading habits are web-oriented. “I also loved the ‘Advocate’ because it came across like the ‘Reader’s Digest’ of natural gay living and enabled you to dream of a world where being gay was quite normal.” “If I had to have a favorite of my youth back then it would probably be Playgirl because it eroticized the male form in a clean, natural, sexual manner, making one’s own desire for the male body a natural, lustful endeavor,” said Watson.
He cited “The Advocate,” “Gay Times,” “Playgirl” and “regional gay newspapers” as his favorites growing up. I’m making myself sound really old but I’m actually only 54 years young!” When you managed to find any magazines or books you kept ahold of them for dear life. Dating back then was done through ads in magazines. They were only really available in the largest cities that had a gay district or in underground gay nightclubs, who had stores inside their clubs. And having grown up in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and ‘80s, Watson was an avid follower of gay literature, magazines and books. The concept of GayVM was devised quickly: a gay-owned and -operated online bookstore offering gay collectible literature and art. “We believed we were in an excellent position with our knowledge and resources in the adult industry to help keep gay history alive and relevant in today’s quickly changing world.” “We simply wanted to make bedtime reading fun again! The creation of came about from “our desire to offer an alternative to the traditional gay adult bookstore, which in many places are declining because the youth of today are mostly online,” he said. Watson then formed CWC Corporation on Novemand one of its first moves was the acquisition of HDK’s content and copyrights to ensure the continuity of the company. Two years later, he became the company director and finally president and CEO in 2009 (HDK’s storied founder, Bill Atkinson, passed from cancer in 2010).
Progressing to VP in 2003, he assisted in the growth of HDK’s library. in the catalog industry, I had the experience they needed,” he recalled. “They were looking for a person with diverse business acumen to take over management of their growing business, and as a former business owner myself in the U.K. Watson’s own journey in adult began in 2001 when he took on the role of office manager for boutique studio Hot Desert Knights (HDK) in Palm Springs, California. GayVM prides itself on making these historical publications available and accessible for everyone to enjoy.” Some of these LGBT titles pre-date the 1969 Stonewall riots and span the history of the gay rights movement. “These publications are of historical importance to the LGBT community they have charted the key developments in LGBT history and culture for over 50 years. “We aim to provide access to books not typically offered by libraries or bookstores to ensure that this valuable history stays both available and accessible to today’s generation,” he continued. “Through our vast archival online catalog, you can trace the history and evolution of myriad aspects of LGBT history and culture, including gay historical stories over the decades, legal contexts, health, lifestyle, politics, social attitudes, activism, gay rights, arts and literature and, of course, gay nude art,” Watson explained. GayVM currently features select periodicals from the 1950s through the ‘90s, including an array of titles that will delight aficionados of the genre: “Bear Magazine,” “Beau,” “Butt,” “Drummer,” “First Hand for Men,” “Guys,” “In Touch for Men,” “Men,” “Physique Pictorial,” “Playguy,” “Skinflicks,” “Stallion,” “Torso” and many others.
His online store, launched earlier this year, put dozens of rare gay paperbacks and adult periodicals into a searchable database and offers them for sale. Lee Watson of Gay Vintage Magazines, or, is fully aware of the special significance of those publications. But for gay, bi and queer men and women, particularly those of a certain age, the beefcake books and magazines they treasured and bought with cash at brick-and-mortar adult bookshops and newsstands often served as a literal lifeline to a desperately needed sense of camaraderie and community. We are far enough into the 21st Century and the transformation of the adult industry into a fully digital endeavor, that the popular media of decades past has achieved a golden, nostalgic glow.