GLR January-February 2026

Editor-in-Chief and Founder R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . Managing Editor WORLDWIDE The Gay & Lesbian Review ® PO Box 180300, Boston, MA 02118 GLR k

The Gay & Lesbian Review January–February 2026 • VOLUME XXXIII, NUMBER 1 WORLDWIDE

C O N T E N T S

The Kink Issue

F E A T U R E S

J EREMY C. F OX Literary Editor M ARTHA E. S TONE Poetry Editor D AVID B ERGMAN Associate Editors S AM D APANAS P AUL F ALLON M ICHAEL S CHWARTZ Contributing Writers R OSEMARY B OOTH D ANIEL A. B URR C OLIN C ARMAN A NNE C HARLES A LFRED C ORN A LLEN E LLENZWEIG C HRIS F REEMAN P HILIP G AMBONE M ATTHEW H AYS H ILARY H OLLADAY A NDREW H OLLERAN I RENE J AVORS J OHN R. K ILLACKY C ASSANDRA L ANGER

The Power of the Foot 10 S ERGIO I NTERDONATO

As an object of desire, it has a long history in Western art

When BDSM Went Mainstream 13 M ATTHEW B AMBERG Tumblr Was a Gateway to Kink 15 C ASPER B YRNE Reclaiming the Sacred Dungeon 18 U MAR I BRAHIM A GAIE

Robert Mapplethorpe’s art brought it to a whole new audience A sexual free-for-all flourished on the platform in the 2010s Queering the age-old connection between S/M and spirituality Appreciating the queerness of nature comes with the territory His pre-Nazi advances in sex studies are still coming to light Iowa, 1955: Entrapped, institutionalized, and rescued by two saints

Farmers Are Us, Too 22 P ATRICIA A NN M ATHU

AND T AYLOR H ARTSON

Magnus Hirschfeld’s Moment 25 V ERNON R OSARIO 20 Landed in the Cuckoo’s Nest 30 D ANIEL V AILLANCOURT

R E V I E W S

P O E M S & D E P A R T M E N T S I N M EMORIAM — Remembering a Few Who Made a Difference 5 J EREMY C. F OX C ORRESPONDENCE 6 BTW 8 R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . A RT M EMO — Cruising with Boyd McDonald 20 M ICHAEL Q UINN P OEM — “Love Song Containing a Diminutive European Deer” 28 R OBERT M C D ONALD H ISTORY M EMO — Herschel Grynszpan, Scapegoat for Kristallnacht 29 H ARLAN G REENE P OEM — “Dream Boy” 32 N ICK G ALINAITIS P OEM — “Prayer” 40 J OE B ISHOP A RTIST ’ S P ROFILE — Portraitist Don Bachardy Tells All 44 C HRIS F REEMAN C ULTURAL C ALENDAR 47 A RT M EMO — The Other “F Word” Takes the Stage 48 J ORDAN S CHILDCROUT Margaret A. Brucia – The Key to Everything: May Swenson, A Writer’s Life 33 P HILIP G AMBONE Adriano Pedrosa & André Mesquita, eds. – Gran Fury: Art Is Not Enough 34 M ATTHEW H AYS Eileen Yuk-Ha Tsang — Unlocking the Red Closet 35 A NDREW H OLLERAN B RIEFS 36 JimWilke— Frontier Comrades: From the Fur Trade to the Ford Car 38 H ANK T ROUT Gerrie Schipske — The Long Beach Gay Trials 39 L ARRY R EYNOLDS Bryan Washington — Palaver: A Novel 39 C HARLES G REEN LanaLin— The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam 40 R EGINALD H ARRIS Sam Wachman — The Sunflower Boys: A Novel 41 M ONICA C ARTER Neil Blackmore — Objects of Desire 42 D ENNIS A LTMAN Agustín Fuentes – Sex Is a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary 42 J EAN R OBERTA Adriano Pedrosa and Guilherme Giufrida, eds. — Catherine Opie 43 J OHN R. K ILLACKY Elain Sexton — Site Specific ; Liza Flum — Hover 44 D ALE B OYER Pernille Ipsen — My Seven Mothers 46 A NNE C HARLES Benito Skinner, creator — Overcompensating (television series) 49 C OLIN C ARMAN Oliver Hermanus, director — The History of Sound (film) 50 A LLEN E LLENZWEIG

A NDREW L EAR J AMES P OLCHIN J EAN R OBERTA V ERNON R OSARIO Contributing Artist C HARLES H EFLING Publisher S TEPHEN H EMRICK Webmaster B OSTON W EB G ROUP WebEditor A LLISON A RMIJO ______________________________ Board of Directors

A RT C OHEN ( CHAIR ) R OBERT H ARDMAN S TEPHEN H EMRICK D AVID L A F ONTAINE J EREMY C. F OX J IM J ACOBS A NDREW L EAR

R ICHARD S CHNEIDER , J R . ( PRESIDENT ) T HOMAS Y OUNGREN ( TREASURER ) S TEWART C LIFFORD ( CHAIR EMER .) W ARREN G OLDFARB ( SR . ADVISOR EMER .)

The Gay & Lesbian Review/ WORLDWIDE ® (formerly The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, 1994-1999) is published bimonthly (six times per year) by The Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational corporation located in Boston, Mass. Subscription rates : U.S.: $41.70 per year (6 issues). Canada and Mexico: $51.70(US). All other countries: $61.70(US). All non-U.S. copies are sent via air mail. Back issues available for $12 each. All correspondence is sent in a plain envelope marked “G&LR.” ISSN: 1077: 6591 © 2026 by Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc. All rights reserved. W EBSITE : www.GLReview.org • S UBSCRIPTIONS : 847-504-8893 • A DVERTISING : 617-421-0082 • S UBMISSIONS : Editor@GLReview.org

January–February 2026

3