Depending on which generation you belong to (and whether you’re male or female, most likely), this week’s news that Playboy magazine will stop running nude photos in its pages was received with either a shrug or a gasp.
If you’re over the age of — let’s say 35, but it’s probably closer to 40 — Playboy was kind of a rite of passage for young adolescent men. Getting a copy to look through felt like you had somehow beaten the system, whether it was looking through your father or uncle’s hidden stash, or having an older sibling who could buy a copy. (I remember a used bookstore in my hometown that kept Playboy magazines near the comic books. That had to be intentional, right? Both adolescents and undergrown adults were target audiences there.)
I think a lot of people knew a kid in their elementary school who had more friends/popularity solely because they had a line on Playboys
— Ben Koo (@bkoo) October 13, 2015
Yet if you came of age during the advent of the Internet, Playboy probably wasn’t that big a deal to you. How could it be? If you wanted naked pictures of women, far more were available online, most of them surely willing to go far past the “tasteful” line that Playboy drew with its airbrushed, posed images set in a male fantasy world where naked blondes wash their cars wearing nothing but leather chaps and a cowboy hat. Actually, an entire universe of pornography was almost literally at your fingertips, making Playboy and other magazines of its ilk tame and antiquated.
Even Playboy‘s not-so-secret weapon of occasionally landing celebrities to pose nude in the magazine no longer had any power to attract interest. For one thing, it seemed like a last resort for anyone wanting to remain in the public eye or add a little juice to a flatlining career. Nowadays, those figures can find a reality show — on networks like Bravo, VH1 and E! all too willing to fill its airtime with such programming — or compete on a show like Dancing With the Stars to apply celebrity profile resuscitation.
And even if a female celebrity wants to pose for a provocative series of photos, Playboy is hardly the only option anymore. Kim Kardashian set the internet on fire with the photos she had taken for Paper magazine. Those images were a viral sensation, especially in a climate where pop culture blogs and websites, along with social media, are ravenously eager to post such material and let their followers pick its bones. (Amazingly, I don’t think we did anything about the Paper cover here at The AP Party. We might be doing this wrong. Let us know.) But now, someone can just post a sexy photo on Instagram and it will reach many more people than a magazine spread ever could.
Above all, Playboy became an anachronism because it sold a lifestyle that men aren’t interested in anymore and really no longer exists. It was basically the print version of Don Draper and Mad Men, celebrating an existence of pipes, cigars, whiskey, hi-fi stereo systems and velvet smoking jackets. Founder and publisher Hugh Hefner lived a life that was envied by generations of American men and made it feel as if the same was available to you by reading his magazine.
Do men really want to be Hefner anymore? Well, sure some do. Living in a mansion populated by young, beautiful women, throwing parties that are still an event on the L.A. scene doesn’t seem like a bad way to live, especially when you continue to do so well into your 80s, as Hefner has. That lifestyle will always be celebrated, but its more the stuff of books, documentary and period biopics than an actual existence that people can emulate.
We tend to live a faster-paced lifestyle these days, with all of our entertainment readily available. How many of us are sitting in our bedrooms or listening rooms with our albums? We’re listening on our smartphones now, constantly plugged into our mobile devices for communication and entertainment. And if we’re being leisurely, many of us are more likely to be drinking craft beers in our flannel shirts and jeans, rather than sipping brandy while wearing suits.
Obviously, that’s a very general statement and I’m speaking more from my circle than looking at the bigger picture. But I imagine anyone trying to mimic the Playboy lifestyle these days would draw more snickers than admiration.
I would venture to say that more men want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs, an entrepreneur that disrupts and rules an industry. (Or maybe they just want to be comfortable enough to enjoy a simpler life with friends and family.) That’s not to say that Hefner wasn’t a revolutionary figure for his time, changing the popular cultural discussion of sex when Playboy was at its peak. But that’s also kind of the point: It’s no longer Hefner’s time, nor Playboy‘s.
Here’s a first look at the 2016 non-nude Playboy covers – http://t.co/rjgcyzzPaA pic.twitter.com/NWBgmZfuSG
— Playboy (@Playboy) October 13, 2015
In light of Playboy‘s announcement, the joke has been that people really will have to read the magazine and website for its articles now, which was often the lame excuse guys used for buying or subscribing in the first place.
But the truth (even as some might be rolling their eyes and saying “Yeah, right”) is that Playboy‘s history is full of running short stories from celebrated authors. The magazine ran longform interviews with celebrities, along with political and cultural figures that asked questions and explored topics that other outlets either didn’t dare acknowledging or didn’t have the space to do the conversation justice.
Now that nude photos are no longer the draw, maybe some of that content will get more attention. And just because its images are less racy doesn’t mean the magazine can’t still provide an outlet for lifestyle and sex topics that aren’t covered elsewhere. I honestly hope it lives on in one form or another, but it has a long way to go in reinventing itself and stanching the bleeding of falling circulation numbers and revenues.
I used to collect Playboy. I put myself through the embarrassment of asking to buy a copy from a gas station with a female behind the counter. I once had a subscription and was the envy of my friends. I used to joke that I’d pass those boxes on to my son, the greatest gift that a father could possibly give to his male offspring. But the reality is that I threw those boxes out a long time ago. I asked friends if they wanted them, and though they feigned horror that I was making such a decision, those guys didn’t want those magazines. Unfortunately for Playboy, that seems to apply to the entire culture now.