Queer, Sexy Slugs? Zine Explores the Sex Life of Slugs
Updated: Aug 26
Introducing SLUG SMUT, an illustrated science zine that explains how slugs have sex – and they do, a lot of it.
One fateful morning, I found an orgy of slugs on the patio. A (slowly) writhing, slimy pile of slugs, spread out in a spoke-and-wheel shaped group sex position. I set down my coffee, pulled out my phone, and searched “do slugs have sex?” That’s how SLUG SMUT came to be.
SLUG SMUT is a 18-page illustrated science zine about the queer sex life of slugs. Because, as I discovered that morning, slugs are certainly queer – and they are certainly sexual.
Yes, slugs have sex
While some slug species have stronger urges than others, the zine explains, almost all slugs reproduce sexually, by fertilizing eggs with sperm. The sperm is delivered the old fashioned way (by giant penis), but the rest of slug sex is far from traditional.
We’re talking simultaneous hermaphrodites, with both male and female organs to fertilize each other’s eggs; frequent orgies following hours of foreplay; self-fertilization, which is just as ambitious as it sounds; and even shibari-reminiscent aerialist sex – slugs suspended sky-high and dangling from ropes during climax.
So, I made an illustrated science zine about it
Fascinating, right? A little shocking too, like most good science. So, I made a zine about it. And I made it “sexy" (in a funny, nerdy way) because I figured slugs would approve of the smut factor, if they ever evolved to read.
What's inside?
SLUG SMUT features illustrated “Polaroids” and film clippings of slugs, meant to give the zine a nostalgic, late-90s, smutty vibe. There are comic-style anatomical slug drawings, labeled to show you how (and where) slug sex works. You'll find cool slug facts inside too.
There’s even a 10-song playlist on the last page, to set the mood: themed hits ranging from Slow Pulp’s “Slugs," to Meth Wax’s raunchy teen-sweat-soaked “Pheromones,” to Cocteau Twins ever-ethereal “Seekers Who Are Lovers,” which I’m sure would be a mad make-out track for many a slug, if they ever evolved to hear it.
See some photos below, then order your own copy. (Plus some copies for your classroom, library, or slug club, perhaps?)
Order the zine here!
If you want to learn more about slugs, celebrate queer animals, or love funny and creative science communication, this zine is for you! Order SLUG SMUT from my shop using the link below:
