In 1976, Dian Hanson found herself working behind the scenes in New York City's burgeoning porn industry. As a print editor, Hanson searched for, catalogued, experimented with, and in some ways defined what men around the world found arousing. In an age before VCRs, let alone the Internet, Hanson's influence was ubiquitous. She worked on sex magazines and hardcore journals like Puritan, Partner, OUI, Adult Cinema Review, Harvey, Hooker, Juggs, Leg Show, Big Butt, Bust Out, and Tight.
At some point along the way she dated famed counterculture cartoonist Robert Crumb, and married novelist Geoff Nicholson. In 2001 she was recruited to be the Sexy Book editor for the powerhouse art publisher, Taschen. In this role she has acted somewhat as an erotic historian, serving as the main creative force behind such books as Vanessa Del Rio: 50 Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior, The Big Penis Book, The Big Book of Legs, The Big Book of Pussy, The Big Butt Book, and Dian Hanson's History of Pinup Magazines. Recently I had a chance to chat with Hanson about the sexual zeitgeist that fueled her latest collection, The New Erotic Photography 2.
This article appears in Feb 14-20, 2013.