In a world where controversial ‘Hot Topics’ are abuzz, Brian Gawlak finds the teachable moments in trending issues.
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If Hugh Hefner was dead, he’d be rolling in his grave! Or, at least that is what I would have thought Hef would do prior to Playboy’s announcement the publication will go non-nude starting next spring. Isn’t that like Food Network magazine deciding to no longer publish recipes?
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I learned about the “birds and the bees” the way a lot of fatherless boys do growing up – my friend’s dad’s Playboy and ‘Penthouse’ magazines, some giggles, and some really inaccurate advice from friend’s slightly older brothers. There was certainly an excitement and a curiosity that was fulfilled back then by gazing at Playboy. I was never a subscriber, but I admit to buying a few issues of Playboy in adulthood for who appeared on the cover, and it had nothing to do with the articles written about them. I have a lot of respect for Playboy for its tasteful and often beautiful pictures – oh, and the articles, the articles!
I am different than most guys when it comes to porn. I can understand why people view it, though it never really did anything for me. I certainly would never judge anyone for what they read or watch. I had a question come in on my advice column last year from a concerned wife who felt her husband’s porn obsession was a form of cheating. I called “hogwash” and told her to talk to her husband about how his behavior made her feel, but advised calling it cheating seemed far-fetched. I got a lot of feedback from my readers and they agreed with me. There is nothing wrong with fantasy, and for some people visual stimulation “does it” for them.
I understand that we are in an age where one can access any pornographic image with the click of a mouse, and that ‘print-form-art’ is becoming obsolete. I personally enjoy ‘Maxim’ magazine more than Playboy because I, believe it or not, appreciate those types of pictures and I related to the articles as a 20-something man. I like a little left to the imagination, and I make no apologies for that. I allowed my subscription to Maxim to run out after our daughter was born, and I don’t think I’ve bought more than one or two issues of Playboy since I became a father. I don’t want my daughters to be objectified, and I don’t want them to have the wrong priorities when it comes to defining their own womanhood or sense of body image.
I wonder if Playboy is trying to become a publication on par with Maxim, and is making it a SFW (safe for work) publication in hopes of finding the same success with the print version they did with the non-nude online version they released last year. Wait, so people are really reading Playboy for the articles? What would Hef, creator of the id-inspired, hedonistic utopia that is the ‘Playboy Mansion’ say?
Playboy was an important part of the sexual revolution and an important part of entertainment history. In a time where so much is at stake for women politically, I am hesitant to be poppin’ bottles to celebrate this decision to make Playboy non-nude. When I first advised my wife about Playboy’s announcement, she scoffed and asked, “So, what’s next, burkas?” Her response is spot-on correct. I don’t see this move as a progressive one for women. Part of what made Playboy so great was its freedom for women to share their bodies in all their glory in an unapologetic art form. Where Penthouse and Hustler sometimes bordered on raunchy, Playboy was always in its own category of being tasteful and artistic. Why cover up?
If Hefner began Playboy with nudity at the forefront (click here for link), why change the format by taking away nudity instead of exploring the free-click format that threatens it? If your product is failing in the market, isn’t it good business strategy to try to find a new niche in the existing market? Why would they change the very core of their product? As a non-Playboy reading man, I’m left scratching my head. I wonder if perhaps the current political climate has something to do with my unease.
Where are we as a culture? What message is this sending to women? You’ve come a long way, baby – now cover up, have no choice over your bodies, lean in, work the second shift, and for God’s sake don’t ask for equal pay for equal work. I’m not biting. I doth protest.
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Our next presidential election is an important and historic one for women’s rights. Anyone who thinks that Roe Vs. Wade is not on the ballot in 2016 is not paying attention. The thought of depriving women rights to their own bodies is a concept from a different time – a time when there was so much revolution and change going on for women. I think Playboy played a role in that revolution. Why step back now? I don’t know that I’m comfortable with the message that Playboy is sending by dressing playmates back up, 60 plus years after its inception. Where are we as a culture? What message is this sending to women? You’ve come a long way, baby – now cover up, have no choice over your bodies, lean in, work the second shift, and for God’s sake don’t ask for equal pay for equal work. I’m not biting. I doth protest.
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I think regardless of why Playboy has made this decision, I will remain at heightened awareness during this next election. Our wives and mothers and grandmothers have fought and sacrificed too much for us to allow the progress we have made towards equality to be voted away. Playboy has decided to end an era in having playmates be non-nude. I would be less apt to complain if I wasn’t so concerned about the end of eras of personal choice and freedoms on the road to equality that we face. At the very least, it is clear I will have to mourn for the generations to come the sound of prying apart sticky pages and the smell of old library books which will become echoes and ghosts of dead art forms they will never know.
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photo: flickr/Christiano Oliveira
Originally appeared on Dadsdailybuzz.com. Reprinted with permission.
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Whatever one thinks of the role of Playboy in the history of sexual expression in the United States and beyond, the business logic of its recent editorial decision seems obvious to me: Playboy can try to continue to make its way as an increasingly inferior source of pornography in this age of instant, graphic and varied visual online gratification, or it can focus on the written content.
I have to agree with Erin here. Playboy had/has very strict branding related to body type and most of the exceptions have been celebrities. After two marriages and several long term relationships I’ve come to the conclusion that porn in general is mostly an unwanted distraction. It introduces limitations and expectations, makes everyone involved less confident about their bodies, and gives terrible advice. So no- it’s not exactly cheating but I’ve never had anything good come from it either. What I have experienced is men telling me I have orgasms wrong or from the wrong thing. I’ve had men set… Read more »
“I find it interesting that men have many of the same complaints about vibrators that women have long had about porn. “I can’t compete with it”, “She would rather masturbate than have sex”, and “she’s cheating on me with the vibrator”. It’s ridiculous.” It is. Thing is incorporate it into the sex. It’s less work, no after taste, you get a great view, etc. The thing is after a woman orgasms, she doesn’t have the same issues as a man of going again. Many women I’ve met actually like it when a guy stimulates them to orgasm and then looks… Read more »
Erin, I doubt that you and all other women will ever know just how many unwelcome approaches from men you were spared, because a guy could go home with a copy of Playboy and privately relieve his libido. You should all be thankful.
William, I will be ‘thankful’ when we come to place in history where men and society in general stop perpetuating the idea that men are owed women’s bodies either in real life or visually for their personal pleasure. I will be ‘thankful’, when men realize they are completely responsible for how they objectify women. I will be ‘thankful’, when women aren’t objectified anymore just because it makes men horny to see it. I will be ‘thankful’, when sexual media truly is a sincere and sex-positive representation of men an women of all shapes and sizes. I will be ‘thankful’, when… Read more »
William – I don’t even have words for that comment. I am not sure if it was your intent, but your comment comes across incredibly vile. So, now men who exclusively read ‘Playboy’ and used it as an outlet will be making lots of unwanted advances to the “un-thankful” women?
I thought it was funny. Just because an advance is unwanted doesn’t mean it was creepy. I think it’s more the frustration of being told men are creeps. They need to do X,Y, and Z and then still need to apologize and make amends then when men leave women alone and get entertainment from highly paid, consenting, women they’re all of a sudden pervs and abusers again. Sex should not be criminalized.
I am completely mystified and confused that you believe that Playboy did anything great for women on a sexual revolution or political scale. So much so, to the point that you honestly believe that Playboy allowed, “freedom for women to share their bodies in all their glory in an unapologetic form”. This statement baffles me. You do realize that Playboy was for men’s pleasure, not women’s unapologetic sexual freedom right? I anything, it would have been Playgirl (which you don’t even mention), that did more for women’s sexual freedom then anything Playboy ever did. If Playboy was about women’s unapologetic… Read more »
Erin, I appreciate your comment and continued support. I took a course as a women’s studies minor in college on the history of women in the media (it was a 300 level course, and taught by a very feminist female professor). My opinions expressed within this article are not Ley and are not what you paint them to be. I understand your argument, but I feel you are looking at this from a very impassioned place and are failing to see the forest through the trees and the trees through the forest. I’ve read several comments you have written on… Read more »
@ Erin Let’s be honest. It’s not women being objectified. If anything it’s THESE PARTICULAR, probably consenting (based on the volume of pictures accompanied with if I remember correctly notarized legal documents), highly paid (monetarily or otherwise through publicity, fame, etc.), women being objectified. If any consenting, highly compensated, person in a sexually charged job can be considered as being objectified. If it distorts a man’s view so he doesn’t find you attractive (or any woman for that matter), how is he doing something wrong to you or any one? As far as it giving women the right to share… Read more »
Erin, Inagree with a lot of what you say but the thing is, you can’t let men control your self esteem. Men are hard wired to prefer pretty young women and if you aren’t both of those things, men will simply not like you as much as they like the young pretty women. I was never pretty and now I am older too. But you know life doesn’t have to revolve around what men think of us. It’s nice to to to feel attractive and have a man but it’s not necessary in the modern world. Men will never change… Read more »