Deborah Sundahl, founder of Fatale Video and co-founder of On Our Backs magazine, passed away on June 13 at the age of 69. Sundahl died in hospice in Billings, Montana, after a recently diagnosed rare form of cancer.

Pioneering Publications and Video

Sundahl co-founded On Our Backs magazine in 1984 with Myrna Elana, operating under the name Fanny Fatale. The magazine was published through 2006, though Sundahl and her business partners sold the company in 1996. On Our Backs is described as having pioneered lesbian sex-positive feminism and defined the movement from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s by publishing explicit photos and erotica. Over the years, the magazine featured contributions from author Susie Bright and photographer Honey Lee Cottrell, among others.

In 1984, Sundahl, along with Nan Kinney and a group of others, put on a strip show at a San Francisco lesbian bar, using the profits to launch On Our Backs. In 1985, Sundahl and her collaborators released one of the first hardcore lesbian sex videos, Private Pleasure/Shadows. This video was made by lesbians, featured real-life lesbian lovers, and was intended for a lesbian audience. This marked the first time in history that lesbians created commercial sex media for themselves, influencing the evolution of feminism and the adult film industry globally. This encouraged women in communities across North America, Europe, and Australia to explore their sexual desires and launch their own commercial sex projects, leading to a lesbian sex industry that included magazines, hardcore videos, erotic audio cassette tapes, personal ads and hotlines, and live strip and sex shows.

Sundahl, with business partner Nan Kinney, created explicit lesbian videos starting in 1992 under the names Blush Entertainment and Fatale Video. Their initial films, Clips and Suburban Dykes, differentiated from typical girl/girl videos of the time by featuring realistic butch/femme roles. The women in these videos were often self-identified lesbians in real life and believed their work contributed to the acceptance of lesbian women and their sex-positive lives.

Contributions to Sex Education

In addition to her work in publishing and video production, Sundahl made significant contributions to sex education. In 1992, she released her first educational video, “How to Female Ejaculate.” This video described the anatomical breakdown of female ejaculation and then explicitly demonstrated it, making it the first educational video on the topic. Following this, Sundahl published several books on female ejaculation and taught the subject in in-person workshops around the world and online throughout her career.

Susie Bright described Sundahl as a revolutionary in women’s sex education, independent cinema, and publishing. Brenda Marston, librarian of the Human Sexuality Collection at Cornell Library, hosts mutual archives related to Sundahl's work.

Legacy and Remembrance

Deborah Sundahl's son, Aaron, shared an email confirming her passing. A GoFundMe site has been established by her son to cover hospice, memorial, and legacy costs. Sundahl was the original publisher of On Our Backs magazine from 1984 to 1994, which was described as the first lesbian glossy magazine on any subject, and the first all-women-created erotic magazine of any persuasion. Sundahl was also noted for her early adoption of technology, using Apple computers and Adobe 1.0 Pagemaker software in 1984 to layout and typeset On Our Backs, making it the first periodical to use personal computers for this purpose.

Key Facts

  • Deborah Sundahl passed away on June 13 at the age of 69 in Billings, Montana.
  • She co-founded On Our Backs magazine in 1984 with Myrna Elana under the name Fanny Fatale.
  • Sundahl founded Fatale Video and, with Nan Kinney, created explicit lesbian videos starting in 1992.
  • In 1992, she released "How to Female Ejaculate," the first educational video on the topic.
  • A GoFundMe has been set up by her son, Aaron, for hospice, memorial, and legacy costs.