Dian Hanson: Confessions of a Lady Pornographer

Dian Hanson by Helmut Newton

"If they were to give out Pulitzer prizes to books based on ones that give boners, erotic editrix Dian Hanson’s mantle would be overflowing with them. From her pioneering days helming fetish porn magazines to her current post as “Sexy Book” editor at German publishing house Taschen, Hanson’s illustrious and very NSFW career has been getting her readers off for over thirty years.


Rather than simply being a purveyor of plastic bimbos like Hugh Hefner, or a sleaze merchant like Larry Flynt, Hanson really has more in common with sex researchers Kinsey and Krafft-Ebing. Her libido is very literate. As the hardest working porn mag editor in chief I know, she deeply delved into the minds of her male readers to find out what made their dicks tick, the specific psychology behind their every fetish. The results were very carefully curated, non-judgmental titles tailor-made to her readers’ tastes. The titles truly said it all; Big Butt, Leg Show and the always classic Juggs.


Since 2001 Dian has been creating the poshest porn ever seen at Taschen, editing such tawdry tomes as “Vanessa del Rio: 50 Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior” and “The Big Butt Book.” In her transition from low to high brow smut, Hanson has made your coffee table a much kinkier place indeed. In her singular journey, this publisher of ill repute has elevated smut to an art form, and championed some of the best erotic photographers of our time; Bettina Rheims, Terry Richardson, Pierre et Gilles and Naomi Harris.


She put the porn aside to chat with me about her slutty past, present and future."

HERE: The full article by Greg Garry (125 Magazine)