This past October, Playboy declared it was going non-nude due to…too much competition. Quite the surprise from the magazine that helped make nude female bodies practically quotidian in the public eye. See, nude women in provocative poses is no longer “revolutionary” (or to quote company CEO, Scott Flanders, “that battle has been fought and won”), but merely passe. Instead, Playboy will publish only clothed women—well, at least minimally clothed women in provocative poses, think PG-13 instead of R. Additionally, these images will be “less produced” and “more intimate.”
Isn’t it cute when media vanguards try to stay relevant? And, boy oh boy, Playboy is trying really hard—like that relative who is always trying to be cool by using phrases like “on fleek” and sending their millennial-age relatives Snapchats. In fact, the first non-nude centerfold Dree Hemingway, daughter of a 1982 Playboy poser and relative of that Hemingway, is posed as though she is Snapchatting. It’s all in keeping with their “more intimate” feel—just a millennial gal sending sexy Snapchats to her millennial boyfriend! Though the supposedly “less produced” is laughable when the model is posed against a traditional photography studio backdrop. It reeks of a more subdued version of Terry Richardson’s tired aesthetic that many mainstream magazines, inexplicably, continue to feature.
Of course, all this hubbub over nude vs. non-nude pics assumes Playboy‘s cultural relevance is limited to images of nude women; however, from its inception, Playboy has featured interviews with political greats such as Malcolm X and Jimmy Carter, as well as featuring works written by such literary giants as Margaret Atwood and Joyce Carol Oates. While the constant joke has been “I read it for the articles,” Playboy, admittedly, has continuously had good articles. While controversial (at least historically), the company carries a cultural clout that is reflected in where the company now gets most of its revenue: in licensing. Going non-nude is just one more step in trying to keep the printed publication relevant.
Playboy attempted to target the coveted millennial market that is filled with young’uns who grew up decades after the sexual revolution. To them “nudie” mags are vintage and quaint, like Marilyn Monroe herself.
Who is the gentleman, you may ask? Well, he is a heterosexual, white dude with gay friends, and maybe even a lesbian bro or two. He’s middle-class to upper middle-class and well-educated, he even took a Women’s Studies class or two while an undergraduate. He’s probably well-groomed and adamant about saving the ta-tas. He’s sex-positive, he’s “revolutionary,” at least until you start to probe him on what he actually means by a term bereft of meaning in the context of Playboy because:
Any company like Playboy has a vested interest in “sex-positivity.”
Sex sells is the old adage, but in particular for Playboy, a particular kind of sex sells, the kind of sex that has distinguished the magazine from its competition. Hefner banked his idea of the gentleman and the gentleman’s idealized woman on the archetype of the girl next door, but with a twist. Playboy‘s girl next door’s sexuality is playful, Lolita-esque, malleable. She’s as American as apple pie, and who was more emblematic of this notion of sexuality than the woman that made Hefner a millionaire? Marilyn Monroe.
The photos that launched the inaugural issue of Playboy into the American cultural stratosphere in 1953 featured formerly unpublished nude photos of Marilyn Monroe. Taken in 1949 when Monroe needed some cash, she was paid $50 for the images that were for a calendar company. In 1950, Hefner bought the negatives for $500, then went on to publish them in his the inaugural issue. As scholar and Monroe biographer, Sarah Churchwell, puts it:
“Hefner became a millionaire by selling the picture, which never made Monroe more than the $50 she received in 1949.” –The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe
Monroe handled this scandal by refusing to be ashamed, which in retrospect, is a very sex-positive move during a time when this sort of scandal could have ended an emerging starlet’s career. With her blonde curls and coy demeanor, Monroe epitomized the Playboy gentleman’s ideal—a playful sex kitten, young and carefree, and not particularly deep. And, despite Monroe’s attempts to distance herself from this image, America’s Sweetheart via the Playboy brand haunted the rest of her short life.
In comparison to most of the internet porn out there, Playboy looks positively demure. Even compared to its direct competitors like Hustler and the late Penthouse, Playboy has always been the classier cousin.
Because Playboy actively courts this image and now has gone non-nude, the Playboy gentleman can feel good about himself for being educated and forward thinking. After all, surrounding the images of these mostly thin, pale women, inviting the viewer in with their lovely heterochromic eyes and intimate pseudo-snapchats, are articles written by women about sexism. He can pat himself on the back with the comfort that he is harmlessly enjoying looking at beautiful women while reading about Gamergate without ever having to question how these images continue to promote an extremely limited view of sex positivity that is still focused on heterosexual male pleasure.
But, you should totally read this Playboy interview with Rachel Maddow from the non-nude issue where she says many insightful things about the state of contemporary American politics. #iheartmaddow
