The Launch of the First Lesbian Magazine in the Philippines: My Femme Magazine

Cover of the Pilot Issue

A lot of lesbians, from different ages, kinds, shapes and sizes, gathered at the Sir William's Hotel Functon Room in Timog Ave, Quezon City to celebrate the launch of the first lesbian magazine in the Philippines which is My Femme Magazine (MFM). My girlfriend and I were among the first people to be there and got ourselves free shots of tequila while waiting for the program to start. Entrance was free (but the drinks weren't ;) ) and the program started around 10:30 pm. It was actually like a normal exclusive party for lesbians, however there are some men who were there (I'm not just sure if they're friends of the organizers or gays?). There were dance numbers, games and models. We got the chance to choose the next My Femme cover girl for the next issue by voting the models of our choice.

Opening Dance Number

Who will be the next My Femme Cover Girl?


Time for the butches to shine!

The magazine will be released every 2 months, I am just not sure where we can avail of the magazine. The magazine is worth Php 40, it's printed in a glossy paper with a size more than 1/4 page of a short bond paper. The pilot issue is about coming out which is I think very useful for young lesbians (and also closet lesbians) to help them come out to their parents especially. What I have observed is that the magazine is like a combination of Cosmopolitan and FHM. The Cosmo side of it is shown on the columns/articles which are related to fashion/style, giving advices (the She Says, She Says column) and answering surveys (e.g Are you a man-hater of just a woman lover?). On the other hand, the FHM side of it is shown on the columns/articles Lez Confessions (like Ladies Confessions) and My Femme Cover Profile (like Girlfriend of the Month). There are still a lot of things to improve (e.g. some typo-errors and the articles are almost on the edge, probably put a little space or have it printed in a much bigger paper) but I think that in the over-all it's ok for a pilot issue. It seems that it just lacked depth on tackling lesbian issues especially that their pilot issue's main topic is coming out. Well, I am giving them the benefit of the doubt. I know that it's really hard to put up this kind of magazine especially the expenses behind it. I actually salute them for their courage in conceptualizing this magazine; it must have took them months (or years) to do this.

My femme has a website (social networking/forum site), you may visit it if you want to be part of their online community.

Congratulations to MyFemme and ThirdVantage Publishing House!

**blogpost is also in Pinoy LGBT: The Launch of the First Lesbian Magazine in the Philippines.