Introduced in 1974, it was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter, originally conceived by founder Larry Flynt as cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time.

Hustler was among the first major US-based magazines to feature graphic photos of female genitalia and simulated sex acts, in contrast with relatively modest publications such as Playboy.

Jimmy wrote the check for $5,000 to pay for the club in Cincinnati, and he was listed on the masthead for volume 1, number 1 of the magazine in July 1974.

In 1999, the magazine created a minor controversy in Canada by inviting readers to submit sexually explicit stories about Sheila Copps, a left-leaning member of the Liberal cabinet.

An illustration depicting the criticized person's head emerging from the anus of a cartoon donkey is shown alongside the article.

Unlike Fanny and Wanda, Honey Hooker was explicitly portrayed as being a prostitute, keeping with the seamier and less romantic aspects of sexuality in Hustler.

Each month's issue depicted Chester, a cartoon middle-aged pedophile, joyfully raping or molesting young girls.

She finished the study in 1986 and found that, on average, the number of times per issue that Hustler referred to children, crime, and violence was 46.

[20] Reisman published a nearly 1,600-page report of her findings condemning the sexual depictions of children in pornographic magazines, but her work was met with criticism from her peers.

"[23] Hustler's chief cartoon artist Dwaine Tinsley was arrested on May 18, 1989, after being accused by his 18-year-old daughter Allison of molesting her since she was thirteen years old.

"[24] Tinsley was found guilty of five counts of child molestation and sentenced to six years in prison[25] although he only spent 23 months behind bars.

[citation needed] In a 2012 issue of Hustler, S. E. Cupp, a conservative commentator, was photoshopped and depicted as explicitly performing oral sex.

The article describes Cupp as a "lovely young lady who read too much Ayn Rand in high school and ended up joining the dark side...

[28] Douglass posed nude for freelance photographer Augustin Gregory, believing that her photos would appear in an issue of Playboy Magazine.

[30][31] The magazine sold up to 15,000 issues since 1975, containing a cartoon where Keeton had received a venereal disease from Robert Guccione, a publisher of Penthouse.

[32] At some point between 1974 and 1983, Hustler began mailing the latest issue of the magazine, uninvited and for free, to all of the offices of Members of the United States Congress.

[35][36] Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit public figures from recovering damages for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), if the emotional distress was caused by a caricature, parody, or satire of the public figure that a reasonable person would not have interpreted as factual.

[37] Within the magazine's contents was the article "Orgasm of Death", demonstrating practices of erotic asphyxia via photographs in order to heighten sexual pleasure in men.

[39] Larry Flynt Productions operates Hustler.com and a number of related sites wherein it sells pictures and videos with content similar to that in its magazines.