DrMoraPhD's Blogs

The end of an era...Playboy Magazine to stop publishing nude photos

DrMoraPhD Blog Last Activity 8 years ago 370 views 4 comments

I know that many of the younger members of GBT are thinking: "Who cares? Magazine publishing as a whole is a dying business, and Playboy in particular is a lurid relic from the fervid, pre-internet, masturbatory fantasies of our decaying grandfathers. Playboy objectified women, and its carefully airbrushed images created unrealistic and unfulfillable expectations of feminine beauty that corrupted an entire culture. Its millions of deluded monthly subscribers were buying into the myth of an accessible "Playboy Lifestyle," with private jets, celebrity-filled parties at the mansion, hot new cars, and even hotter young women--a lifestyle that only publisher Hugh Hefner himself could afford. And oh by the way Doc, you do remember that this is a GAY website!" Yes, of course, to all of that. But pause a moment. The purpose of this blog is to provide a gentle reminder of just how repressively puritanical American society was when Playboy began 62 years ago, and still largely remains, but also how the success of this admittedly sexist publication played an enormous positive role in helping to create some space of freedom for the pleasures we now take for granted here at GBT. Farewell and thank you, naked centerfolds!

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funksexual
8 years ago

Also, women will STILL be seen in sexy wardrobe, just of the PG-13 kind lol but I understand its decision. I respect it.

funksexual
8 years ago

Apparently this was a business decision: when they stopped publishing nude photos online, their subscription numbers increased so they think this will do the same for magazine publication. Playboy was always more than nudes anyway. I remember Dad buying Playboy magazines back in the day and I used to sneak in to see the nudes lol now we're gonna have a generation of kids not doing that. End of an era definitely.

swiftjohn
8 years ago

In defense of Playboy, one must consider the sexually and socially repressive times in which it was founded. Playboy, more than any other publication, changed social attitudes about a great many things other than sex. Sure, Hef used the models to get people's attention but also included articles and editorials by the great writers of the day which drove the revolution of ideas during the sixties that included women's rights, civil rights, the foolishness of the Viet Nam war, and especially GAY rights. If you want to teach anyone anything, you first have to get their attention. And Hef got their attention. We gays are a lot further along today than we would be if Hef hadn't started changing ideas way back when. Thanks Hef.