Editor Al Goldstein Frequency Weekly Final issue 2003 | Categories Pornographic men's First issue 1968 Country United States | |
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 (who edited the short-lived "sister" tabloid Gay), 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?"
Screw's 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 in 1974. According to Goldstein, her act "was unbelievably disgusting, so naturally, we made her our symbol."
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.