The posters went up a few months ago without much announcement or fanfare. JUNK. Was the picture of an attractive, shirtless torso promoting a band coming to campus? Was it for a new radio show on WOBC? Then the rumors and whispers began circulating: “Have you heard about this online magazine, JUNK?” Was there really a place where the men of Oberlin were taking their clothes off for the entire world to see? As groups of friends crowd around computer screens to giggle and gawk at their fellow classmates in the near buff, JUNK is quickly becoming a phenomenon. Well, at least an Oberlin phenomenon.

Created by seniors Brad Walsh and Kathy Cacace, JUNK magazine is currently in its second issue. A combination of Maxim-style photographs (of men), relationship and pop articles, JUNK aspires to be the anti-Vogue or the Anti-Cosmo. The JUNK manifesto states, “We at JUNK are deeply committed to bringing you, the population that finds itself attracted to men, the same combination of content that is currently easier to find in men’s magazines. There can exist a magazine that has both pictures of attractive men as well as articles that make you laugh, make you think, and keep you interested.” Women as well as gay men can have a magazine that doesn’t focus solely on makeup or how to get that movie star look on a budget.

Besides the photographs and interviews, articles have covered such topics as music and naked newscasters. One article by staff writer Sarah Dooley suggested that just because every person on TV is lacking in body hair, that doesn’t mean that that’s normal. The articles are written specifically for an Oberlin audience with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor often found in men’s magazines but severely lacking in their women’s counterparts.

One of the more popular (and controversial) sections of the magazines is not the photos but the forum, where students and non-students alike can post what they love about JUNK, what they hate about JUNK, or whose booty they want to see in the next issue. The forum has become a veritable dorm toilet stall with lists of guys (and now girls) whom people on this campus think are hot and should be seen scantily clad. Unfortunately, like almost any Internet forum, the rumors are flying and the mud is slinging. The sexual orientation of the models is being questioned and openly discussed. Insulting comments have been directed at specific members of the college community.
While the editors of JUNK in no way endorse these kinds of postings (in fact they very clearly frown upon them), the magazine forum has opened up a Pandora’s box of insults and gossip.

Besides the negative aspects of the forum, JUNK is not without its debatable elements. Does it objectify men in the same way that magazines like Maxim or Stuff objectify women? Quite possibly. Would much of the campus be up in arms if the editors of JUNK were shooting the same shots and asking the same questions to women? Most definitely. Is JUNK perpetuating an obsession with physical beauty even while it claim s to be promoting a different kind of aesthetic beauty, the beauty of “real men”?

There are two ways to read or look at JUNK. One is with a level of seriousness and political correctness, quite common to the average Oberlin student. In this light, JUNK is objectifying and perpetuating a kind of popularity contest among college students based on looks. The second way to look at the magazine is with a sense of humor and fun. JUNK is not meant to be taken seriously.

Ultimately, JUNK makes it possible to laugh at pictures of your male friends in their tighty-whities or cringe at actually knowing the object of their masturbatory affection. You can also see how that boy you’ve been fantasizing about since September actually looks without all those unattractive things called clothes. On top of this, you can read articles that are pertinent to the average Obie. This is not meant to be high art. As co-editor-in-chief Cacace wrote in the most recent issue, “We started JUNK so it could be the M&Ms in your reading diet: fun, a treat, and wholly recreational.”