What is the female gaze?

There is no single female gaze – every woman finds different photographic qualities, and different types of men, appealing. There are, however, patterns of things more women like and things fewer women like. Having an idea what those are is useful for Filament, because we’re trying to provide something that's genuinely for women in a world awash with popular opinion about what turns women on, and in which photography for the gay market has been routinely repackaged as ‘women’s erotica’.

So, we scour research for relevant findings and use our research community to fill in the finer points. We then give this information to our photographers as guidance.

Don't fancy our guys?

Short answer: That's fine, all the more for us!

Long answer: That's because you haven't photographed the men you do fancy and submitted your pictures! If you do some research you'll be shocked how few people have photographed men erotically for a female audience. This is why we always find it challenging to get enough pictures to fill an issue, let alone to depict the variety that we would in a perfect world. We love our photographers and our guys, but if you'd like to see something or someone different, don't be boring and bitch about it; be awesome and make your vision reality.