story / Bryanna Doe
art /Madison Murray
Two years after her debut book became the subject of a censorship controversy, writer and erotic artist Madison Murray is releasing an expanded edition of My Gaping Masshole. The Just the PiXXX Special Edition, available August 31st through independent publisher Cum Punk, includes 30 additional never-before-published works of visual art and collage exploring identity, sexuality, and the regional culture of the North Shore of Massachusetts. This new edition also restores the infamous “banned” parody of Market Basket’s logo, censored in previous editions after Madison received a cease-and-desist letter and a no trespass order from the New England grocery store chain.
LADYGUNN sat down with Madison to ask a few questions about erotica, censorship, and what it means to be a Masshole.
First, tell us all about My Gaping Masshole! What’s the vibe?
It’s a collection of what I call topographical erotica, poetry, and pornographic collage about North Shore, Massachusetts, which is where I was born and raised. It’s a love letter to the North Shore, and it’s an expression of who I am and what I’m about: sexy, and a little sad, and funny.
I self-published the first edition in February of 2025. Which was nerve-wracking because people from Massachusetts are very passionate. Very loudly passionate. You never want to botch what they like, because they’ll let you know. But thankfully, people loved it. And it instilled this sense of community that I never had growing up there. Like, all of the nudes in the book are either of me or were submitted to me by people from Massachusetts, with just a few outsiders. And when I had to do a second edition–because one of the models had gotten a new job, and asked me not to print the first edition anymore because he had his face and his full name in it–by the time I was asking for photo submissions for the second edition, people were more into it. So I was getting better poses and more diversity in the kind of people who were submitting, which was cool.
So Just the PiXXX is actually the third edition. And just like it sounds, it’s only pictures. None of the poetry or writing. I market it as a book for people who can’t read. Or people who don’t want to read, and are just here because they’re horny. Or they want to see these historic landmarks that we have nostalgia for, or whatever.
It sounds like the reception was pretty positive. Were you surprised about the controversy with Market Basket?
A: It was such a surprise that I thought it was a prank at first. I got an email, and it was a cease-and-desist from Market Basket. And my family has shopped there my entire life, so I thought it was just some friend or someone fucking with me. But no, it was legitimate. It was their lawyer saying, “This is not good for the brand, you’re tarnishing the name of Market Basket, blah blah blah.” And it hurt my feelings. I felt like I was doing it out of love and respect, and that in a way it was even honoring and promoting Market Basket. My intention was good. But Massachusetts in particular is founded on Puritanism, and I kind of forget that a lot of the culture is still stuck in that mindset, especially about sex. So that hurt, but I did listen to them and I took down the logo.
And then after the cease-and-desist, what happened with the no trespass order?
A: I tried to do a poetry reading in their parking lot a few months later, because obviously people thought it was hilarious that I got a cease-and-desist from Market Basket. I mean, it is hilarious. Like, the fact that in the letter they had to write out the phrase “my gaping Masshole” so many times? That’s hilarious. So I decided I’d go to the Salem Market Basket, where I’ve been shopping forever, and just do a cute little pop-up poetry reading in the parking lot. And literally, within five minutes of me being there, two police cars came and they gave me a no trespass order. They were like, “Come on, you know they don’t want you here.” And I was like, “No, actually. I didn’t know that.” It was unfortunate to find out that we had real beef. So in this new edition, I did a funny parody of the cease-and-desist letter just to be like, “Fuck you. Is this enough of a parody for you?” But I still shop there.
Did your experience with Market Basket change how you approach incorporating businesses into your art?
A: Not really. I feel like it doesn’t look good for them. Like, I’m a vocal person. I’m a confrontational person. That’s the Masshole way. If someone gives me a hard time, I tell people. My audience does not like knowing that a local business is so uptight, and that they’re coming after the little guy. They also reported my Shopify, my online store. Which was really not nice. You guys have money, I’m trying to write and publish a fucking book all by myself. It’s generally not a good look.
Speaking more generally, what’s it like being an erotic artist in America today?
I’d say it’s complicated. I’m sure you’ve read all those articles about how, like, eroticism is everywhere now but no one is fucking and no one wants to fuck. So I feel like I have a duty to make things sexy and dirty. But good. And also, funny. I always try to incorporate humor. But I do want it to actually be sexy. I think right now everything is so curated to be sexy that it feels forced, and it’s not hitting. It just feels like it’s being shoved down our throats. I think that’s where we’re at right now.
Do you feel like erotic art gets a bad rap, or like it’s not taken as seriously as an art form as it should be?
Absolutely. Art is still art whether there’s nudity or sexual activity in it, it doesn’t make it less so. For My Gaping Masshole, I kind of intentionally “bimbified” the book and myself to market it. And then once people got their hands on the book, they could see how much thought and care and love and literary skill, or whatever the fuck you want to call it, went into it. And they were like, “Oh, I see. So she does have a brain.” And it’s so sad that that’s an epiphany for people, but I expected that. There are still some dismissive people, particularly on the internet, who are like, “Whatever, some fucking slut wrote a book, woo-hoo.” And I just think, “Do you know how many other quote-unquote sluts have written books? A lot.” And a lot of the time, it’s a performance. At least in my case, it’s performative. I’m embodying a character, you know? It’s drag, essentially. It’s part of the art.
How different is Madison Murray the character from Madison Murray the person?
I think of the character as a weird mixture of people I know, or have known, and also past versions of myself. So while aesthetically it’s pretty different, I still try to be authentic. I amplify the crazy and the sexy, but I think the sexiest thing you can do as an erotic writer or creator or whatever it is, is be honest.
And what’s the main thing that you want people to know about Madison Murray, the artist?
A: That I’m trying my best. And that I really care. I care a lot about whatever it is that I’m committing my time to, and I put a lot of calculated effort into these things. My biggest fear is being perceived as stupid. I’m smart! I’m not stupid.
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