ABSTRACT – THE
SCARLET LETTER www.thescarletletter.co.
uk – Companion website to
Scarlet, the erotica
magazine aimed mainly but not too exclusively towards women. (Which I have also reviewed for Shvoong). The free online mag is sent through an e-mail subscription each month. You just give them your name and e-mail address and they send you the relevant link. The current issue should pop into your hands as soon as you register. The really refreshing aspect of the website is that articles seem to be written specifically for it. There is
little recycled from the magazine itself, so it serves as a complimentary extension of the hardline edition. Not all of the
features here are erotic. There is a quite witty rant against podcasting radio (in the November 2006 edition). The real highlight is the free download monthly Cliterature story. November’s, called
Inside His Dirty Mind by Stephen Allbrow celebrates the Little Black Dress, and voyeurism as he makes very steamy love to the woman of his dreams while being watched by passers by. There is an online
forum, which you can talk about sex and love with other readers, and many are clearly male. There is a great forum feature on favourite teenage crushes, in which people declare a passion for everyone from The Monkees to Debbie Harry (out of Blondie) and David Beckham. There are glossy features and some advertisements for accessories such as must have handbags, and
sexy lingerie / underwear. There are some minor fluffy features, such as the question of whether or not Take That will make the Christmas Number One in the UK music charts or not, (just because some women find the boy-band members sexy, and why not?). The online mag
In-Box includes letters leftover from the magazine itself, and the letters are very entertaining. Some readers clearly want more girls on girl sexual material, which Scarlet and Scarlet Letter will doubtless be happy to offer. This is a great little web page magazine best read as a complementary supplement to the magazine itself each month. www.thescarletletter.co.uk