A new women’s magazine will finally bridge the gap between religion and sex — at least for religious Afrikaans women in South Africa.
Intiem — meaning ”intimate” — is a new, glossy, A5-size magazine targeting the national religious Afrikaans community that will be launched by publishers Media in Africa at the end of November.
The 104-page magazine will delve into issues around sex but always with a Christian outlook.
According to Intiem marketing consultant Monique Deutschmann, the magazine will show ”every intelligent, free-thinking, married woman and women in long-term relationships how to explore sex in a variety of ways and in so doing, discover and maintain the zest in her marriage”.
”A lot of Afrikaans girls were brought up with the idea that sex is sin. The magazine empowers women and says that sex is OK. We’re not promoting promiscuity,” she said.
The quarterly magazine is under the editorship of Annelize Steyn and the watchful eye of a religious minister, known as ”Minister C”, who will check every issue to ensure it is not offensive in any way.
Intiem‘s content will include practical articles, a question-and-answer section and advice from experts (who also have religious backgrounds) in fields such as sexology and gynaecology. The magazine will also include a section for men.
Although it is still early stages, Deutschmann has no doubt that the magazine will be successful due to the huge audience for which it caters, saying the response to the magazine has been ”overwhelming”.
”A woman called in from the Northern Cape and said, ‘I’ve been waiting for this all my life,”’ she said. ”We’re taking the gloves off and being direct [about sex]. A lot of women don’t know what goes on down there … this will help them to become sex goddesses.”
There will be stories about food (such as why chocolate is seen as an aphrodisiac) as well as travel stories to ”encourage women to spend more time with their husbands and reconnect”.
The first issue of Intiem — which will be free and available only through subscription — also features articles on ”ten cute ways to use your fingers”, how contraceptives affect the libido and ”what G-d says about sex”.
After the first issue, each issue will cost R24,95, and a yearly subscription will cost R79,85.
Media in Africa is hoping that by the third issue, the magazine will be available on the shelves. It is hoping to increase the number of magazines printed from 30 000 to 100 000 by the second issue.