Screw (magazine)


Screw was a weekly pornographic tabloid newspaper published in the United States aimed at heterosexual men; according to a statement on the cover, it offered "Jerk-Off Entertainment for Men". It was first published in November 1968 by Al Goldstein and Jim Buckley, and was printed weekly in tabloid form. At its peak, Screw sold 140,000 copies a week. Founder Al Goldstein won a series of nationally significant court cases addressing obscenity.
On May 2, 1969, Screw published the first reference in print to J. Edgar Hoover's sexuality, entitled "Is J. Edgar Hoover a Fag?"
The Eulenspiegel Society was founded in 1971 in New York City by Pat Bond and Fran Nowve, as an informal association and support group for masochists; sadists joined shortly after in that same year. Bond placed an ad in Screw in December 1970, reading:
Masochist? Happy? Is it curable? Does psychiatry help? Is a satisfactory life-style possible? There's women's lib, black lib, gay lib, etc. Isn't it time we put something together?"

Screws most successful issue, published in 1973, contained unauthorized photos of Jacqueline Kennedy nude.
Stripper and erotic performance artist Honeysuckle Divine wrote a column, "Diary of a Dirty Broad", for Screw for several years. According to Goldstein, her act "was unbelievably disgusting, so naturally, we made her our symbol." She also appeared in Goldstein's movie, SOS: Screw on the Screen.
In 1974, Goldstein and Buckley were charged with 12 counts of obscenity in a federal court in Kansas. The case dragged on for three years through two trials and was finally settled when Goldstein agreed to pay a $30,000 fine.
In 1977, Alabama Governor George Wallace sued Screw for $5 million for publishing the claim that he had learned to perform sexual acts from reading the magazine. The two parties settled for $12,500, and Screw agreed to print an apology.
The magazine closed in October 2003. A New Screw Review was briefly restarted by former employees in 2005.
In 2019, the Screw brand returned as an adult, subscription-based television channel on Roku developed and produced by Phil Autelitano.