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- When did playgirl magazine stop how to#
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- When did playgirl magazine stop free#
His question seemed to be answered in 1972, when Cosmopolitan released its wildly successful centerfold of Burt Reynolds in all his hirsute glory. Twenty years after Hugh Hefner launched the iconic men’s entertainment magazine Playboy, a Los Angeles nightclub owner named Douglas Lambert had an idea: If men wanted Playboy, wouldn’t the sexually liberated women of the 1970s want a nudie/lifestyle magazine of their own ? Instead, the current Playgirl feels no more essential to women than a Chippendales ad buried in the back of a city newspaper. Had the magazine continued on this path, who knows the role it might play in women’s lives today. Four decades ago, Playgirl’s editor dreamed that the magazine would be a feminist, sexually progressive beacon of liberation-an envelope-pusher, where women could indulge in both eye candy and mind candy. The cover of Playgirl's Winter 2016 issue. When I got my hands on the thin edition, my thoughts progressed from “Is this what’s sexy to women now?” to “Wait, who is the intended audience for this?” to, finally, “WTF, Playgirl still exists?” I write about sexuality for a living and I confess that, until recently, I thought the magazine had gone the way of Sassy-until my editor stumbled on a copy at a Barnes & Noble in midtown Manhattan, buried in the Women’s Interests section. The reason you’ve never held, read, or seen any of these things is because the magazine has all but vanished, both from circulation and cultural consciousness.
When did playgirl magazine stop full#
Playgirl spreads are usually full monty.) And you’ve likely never spent time gazing at photos like this one, part of a spread from a recent issue titled-wait for it-“Cocky Sutra.” Playgirl, Photo Studios 1435įrom Playgirl's Winter 2016 issue. You’ve probably never read any of its articles, either. If you identify as a female who is sexually attracted to men, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you’ve probably never held a copy of the nudie magazine in your hand. And yet, despite this demand and pop culture’s increasing acknowledgment of it, one iconic franchise appears to be missing from the roster of mainstream outlets through which women can feast their eyes on sexy male flesh. In fact, it’s safe to say some women can’t get enough.
When did playgirl magazine stop free#
The market doesn't lie.If the success of the Magic Mike and Fifty Shades of Grey franchises have taught us anything, it’s that women ~love~ spending their free time watching nearly nude men perform for the camera. In a 2008 issue there was a penis per page, says Collins. Regardless, outraged readers got what they wanted: By 1989 the cover featured a shirltess man grasping a neon leotard. People were asking for, literally, pictures of penises." The demands also might have had something to do with the magazine's " unmentionable" gay readership. "When they first bought it the new publisher was like, 'We’re not going to have any penis because women don’t want to look at penises,' and again, it nearly put them out of business," explains Collins. Eventually, the "formula applied to Playgirl" involved "more erections." Though, at another point in the evolution, in 1986-at a time when you'd think ideas of female sexual desire weren't so dated-the magazine, under new management, again made the same mistake about its readers' desires. Since selling magazines to this exact demographic was crucial to Playgirl's survival, it adapted. RELATED: Merecede Johnston Poses Nude for Playboy's Sarah Palin Story "The thinking was that women didn’t want to see too much, and all these readers were like, we want to see actual penis." In 1973, deep into the sexual revolution, women (or men) buying a magazine for the explicit reason that it was full of hot dudes (to get off to), indeed wanted to see totally naked men. "So many people wrote in so angry there wasn’t actual penis," she said.
When did playgirl magazine stop how to#
The first ever issue had no full dicks, at all, which (surprisingly!) disappointed readers, Jessanne Collins, who wrote How to Be a Playgirl and worked at the magazine from 2007 through 2008, when it shut down, told former Atlantic Wire writer Jen Doll for The Hairpin. Despite editors assuming that the women of America didn't want penises in their porn magazines, twice in the history of Playgirl, readers demanded more full frontal nudity, showing the power of the invisible hand even in the making of sex mags.