I first encountered these physique magazines 30 years after you did, when they held honored places in 1990s NYC bookstores as "collectables."

One bookstore I remember well specialized in them. The owner had many pristine copies for sale and kept most of them wrapped in plastic the way vintage comic books are treated these days.

They're an important part of gay history from the '50s and '60s, and browsing through them as a reminder of the difficult times gay people had in those days.

To my eyes, they always looked really tame. After all, there's no nudity, not even outlines of erections as far as I remember. Just good looking man posing, much the way actual professional bodybuilders pose.

And to think a few people went to prison over distributing them!