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File:Fhm premiere issue US.jpg
The cover of the first issue of FHM in the United States, featuring Rachael Leigh Cook
File:FHM China.jpg
The cover of an issue of FHM China, featuring Britney Spears
File:AlsoucoverFHM.jpg
The cover of an issue of FHM Russia, featuring Alsou
File:FHM Germany.jpg
The cover of an issue of FHM Germany, featuring Pamela Anderson
File:Angel-Locsin-FHM-2005-oct-big.jpg
The cover of an issue of FHM Philippines, featuring Angel Locsin
File:KellyMonacoFHM.jpg
The United States version of FHM, featuring Kelly Monaco
File:Nikkiwebster fhm may2005.jpg
The Australian version of FHM, featuring Nikki Webster

FHM, an abbreviation for For Him Magazine (or For Horny Men, as the Philippines edition has it), is a monthly men's magazine (of a type known as a lads' mag). The magazine was first published as FHM in 1994 in the United Kingdom, but it had in fact been around since 1985 under the name For Him. Founded by Chris Astridge, For Him was originally distributed through high street men's fashion outlets, expanding to newsagents as a quarterly by the spring of 1987. It was a predominantly fashion-based publication, and was regarded by the general masses as a gay magazine, giving it a somewhat limited circulation. After the emergence of James Brown's Loaded magazine (regarded as the blue-print for the lad's mag genre) and later competing titles such as GQ and Esquire, For Him hardened up its editorial approach to compete with the expanding market and introduced a sports supplement. It then went monthly and changed its name to FHM. It subsequently expanded internationally. As of July 2004, it publishes 27 editions per month including editions in Russia, the United States, Denmark, Australia, Estonia, New Zealand, France, Lithuania, Indonesia, Taiwan, Portugal, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Singapore.

FHM, produced by the consumer media division of publishing giant EMAP, was launched as a response to the success of Loaded, launched by IPC Media the previous year. Like Loaded, FHM arguably relies heavily on the appeal of photographs of scantily-clad women. Unlike many magazines, FHM prints photographs of women already famous for reasons other than their beauty - such as actresses and pop singers. Also, unlike pornographic magazines, their genitals and nipples are hidden by underwear or props. This is for two reasons: Firstly the women they feature are sufficiently famous to be able to make demands as to the degree(s) of nudity of the photos; Secondly it lends the magazine a more respectable air. Thus FHM is typically stocked in the lifestyle rather than adult section on newsstands. Like similar magazines such as Maxim, its large quantity of surveys, humour, dramatic tales and informed reviews of everything from movies to remote controlled blimps has created a readership not necessarily interested in the photographs.

The magazine is printed on high-quality glossy paper and the photography is of high technical quality. FHM became the best-selling magazine in Britain during the mid to late 1990s - selling 700,000 copies per month. Towards the end of the decade the lads' culture in which the magazine thrived had begun to die off and publishers turned to celebrity-oriented titles to boost overall sales. Heat overtook FHM as the UK's biggest selling magazine.

As well as the photo shoots, the magazine contains articles on a wide variety of topics, including profiles of sports stars, movie, music, technology and book reviews, gossip, men's fashion shoots, the "bar scene" in a variety of locations, and extensive discussion of sexual techniques. The magazine is written in a notably "laddish" bar-room discussion style, by comparison to the more literary style of Playboy.

Other magazines in a somewhat similar style include Maxim and Ralph (Australia).

100 sexiest women

Since 1995 FHM has run a poll to find the "100 sexiest women in the World". Although the results are not statistically significant, they are an indication of the popularity of particular women in the FHM-buying world. Different countries run different polls. See the lists at Category:FHM lists.

Only two women have appeared on the list every year: Pamela Anderson and Kylie Minogue. However in a poll of previous polls published in the UK edition of the magazine in the July 2004, Louise Redknapp won the mantle of Sexiest Woman of the Decade.

FHM TV

FHM TV (For Him Music Television) is also a music TV station in the UK. It timeshares (and broadcasts on the same channel) as fellow-owned EMAP music channel Q. The channel plays music from 'sexy ladies,' as well as playing some rock music.

See also

External links

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