Nerve (website)

Nerve or Nerve.com is an American online magazine dedicated to sexual topics, relationships and culture. Founded by Rufus Griscom and Genevieve Field, it publishes articles and photography. It also hosts blogs, forums, and a section for personal advertisements. Nerve's CEO is Sean Mills. Regular and past contributors include Rick Moody, Mary Gaitskill, Lisa Carver, Steve Almond, Neil LaBute, Kevin Keck, and Neal Pollack.

Nerve Media has produced several books, including The Big Bang: Nerve's Guide to the New Sexual Universe, Sex Etiquette, Full Frontal Fiction, The New Nude and Sex Advice From....

History

The site was founded in 1997 by Rufus Griscom and Genevieve Field with the goal of creating a smart sex magazine that men and women could enjoy. It has subsequently evolved into a more general site about love and culture. Nerve is often cited as one of the few Silicon Alley success stories.

In 2014, Nerve was acquired by HowAboutWe.^[1] Under new ownership, Nerve will operate independently from the HowAboutWe dating site, and the company will continue to pursue the original mission of Nerve.com.^[2]

Website features

Nerve content is divided into six sections.

1. The Features section includes: personal essays, fiction, dispatches (reported pieces) and “regulars” (recurring columns). Current "regulars" include I Did It For Science, My First Time, and The Nerve Debate.
2. The Advice section includes Miss Information, Sex Advice From..., a satirical look at other advice columns called Awesome Advice - Way to Go, and Dan Savage's syndicated column, Savage Love.
3. The Entertainment section includes film, music, books and television coverage.
4. The Blogs section includes Scanner (daily pop-culture coverage) and Tools of Attraction (personal style/design).
5. Dating Confessions, a user-generated collection of short posts regarding sex and romance.
6. 666

Notable contributors

Writers

• Erin Bradley
• Camille Paglia
• Spalding Gray
• Elizabeth Wurtzel
• Neil Labute
• Naomi Wolf
• Jonathan Lethem
• Chuck Palahniuk
• Joyce Carol Oates
• Nick Antosca
• Nan Goldin
• Erica Jong
• Daphne Merkin
• William T. Vollman
• Joycelyn Elders
• Jay McInerney
• JT Leroy
• Tao Lin
• Brian Fairbanks
• Mary Gaitskill
• Twanna A. Hines
• Robert Olen Butler
• Sylvia Plachy
• Charles Simic
• Sallie Tisdale
• Yusef Komunyakaa
• Norman Mailer
• Jonathan Safran Foer
• Rick Moody
• Andres Serrano
• Mary Karr
• Emily Farris
• A.M. Homes
• Michael Medved
• Amy Bloom
• Marge Piercy
• Alice Sebold
• Lisa Carver
• Kevin Keck
• Jonathan Ames
• Ryan Sloan
• Jeremy Glass
• Jordannah Elizabeth

Photographers

• Helmut Newton
• Marc Baptiste
• Andres Serrano
• Clayton James Cubitt

Filmmakers

• Joe Swanberg

Other media

Nerve has expanded into books, a video website and a personal advertisement network.

Books

• Smut: Volume 2 (2009)
• 2033: The Future of Misbehavior (2007)
• Naughty Crosswords: Nerve.com Presents Fifty Sexy and Outrageous Puzzles (Spiral-bound) (2006)
• Sex Advice From... (2006)
• Position of the Day (2003)
• The Big Bang (2003)
• Classic Nasty: More Naughty Bits (2003)
• The Lisa Diaries (2002)
• The Naughty Bits (2001)
• Full Frontal Fiction (2000)
• The New Nude (2000)
• Nerve: Literate Smut (1998)

Television

An HBO special called Nerve.com: Downloading Sex premiered in 2001 and still airs periodically on HBO.

Print magazine

Nerve published a bimonthly print magazine from 2000 to 2001. The magazine attracted subscribers, but had difficulty achieving significant newsstand sales, in part due to distribution and racking issues. The magazine's sexual content made non-endemic ad sales a challenge, and the lack of advertising revenue led to a suspension of publication after six issues.

Nerve Personals

Although they originated on Nerve, the personals are now part of a larger network of over 100 websites and print publications.^[3]

Audio CD

Nerve released a spoken-word CD in 2000 called Sweet and Vicious. It featured Nerve content being read by authors and actors, including Parker Posey.

References