By Chris Warren.
It was barely a blip in the headlines when Playboy announced late last year that it was eliminating nudity from its eponymous magazine and website. The very first safe-for-work version is out this month. Some commentators attributed this change to new social mores among young men, namely, modern males are less tolerant of objectifying women than their fathers and grandfathers were. It’s a new age of awareness, the commentators opine, and Playboy magazine is simply being trendy just as it has for six decades. Nudity is soooo 1970s.
And for anyone dumb enough to think that neo-feminism made Playboy put something on, let me be the one to slap you back into reality, or at least try: Playboy is keeping up with the times, but not for the reasons the Politically Correct class wants us to believe.
The truth should come as a surprise to no one except ditzy feminists who are daft enough to think modern guys are tapping into their inner Oprah, and perhaps also ultraconservative Christians who think the spirit of Jesus moved across the land and erased natural male proclivity for wanting to look at boobs.
Anyone who ever took a high school marketing course knows that you can’t sell something everyone else is giving away for free. And apparently, someone over at Playboy was paying attention in their high school marketing course.
Twenty First Summer’s official position on pornography is, although it does not make the world a better place, it nonetheless is and should be protected as free speech when it is both produced and consumed by consenting adults.
I’m sorry to disappoint conservative Christians and ditzy feminists, but Playboy going clean has nothing to do with any newfound gender sensitivities or religious revival. If anything, the proliferation of pornography is greater than it ever was, thanks to the internet.
It’s not at all lost on Playboy that there is no incentive for anyone to pay money for porn anymore. As a result, those who still read Playboy really are doing it “for the articles.” Dumping the Bunnies will bring more focus on the writing. The articles always were and continue to be well written, insightful, and thoughtful. Now they will be read without the distraction of sex imagery.
Here’s another reality slap: Playboy editing out the skin is an admission that that the market demand for porn is greater than ever. A lot of guys (and I do mean a lot) who would not consume pornography if they had to buy it over the counter now have that barrier removed via the internet. And they don’t even have to pay for it! Both the embarrassment factor and the expense has been totally eliminated.
Twenty First Summer’s official position on pornography is, although it does not make the world a better place, it nonetheless is and should be protected as free speech when it is both produced and consumed by consenting adults.
What does it say about a society when Playboy, the magazine that inaugurated the “adult media” industry, stops producing the very product that made it famous because the product was such a success that it is now ubiquitous and free? If there ever was an example of being a victim of one’s own success, Playboy would be it
Of more importance than the easy availability of pornography are the reasons why there is such a high demand for it in the first place. Most emotionally stable men will incidentally look at porn because, well, they’re men. Call it a “crime of opportunity,” if you will. Others go through great trouble and expense pursuing a sexual fantasy through pornography to fill an unhealthy void in their real lives.
For the latter, no amount of skin will ever really satisfy their pathetic and destructive fantasies. Reality check number three: Playboy magazine is a business, and not interested in being a psychological crutch. There is no longer much profit in fulfilling unhealthy male fantasies (strip clubs notwithstanding), so Playboy is moving on. It would be great if the men whose pathos built the porn industry could themselves move on as well.