Rant #1,531: Playboy In the Nudes

A few times a year, I comment on an institution that has shaped all of our lives since the mid 1950s, whether we know it or not.

Can anyone not argue that one of the 20th century's most influential publications was Playboy Magazine?

Coming about during what was thought to be something of a prissy era in our history, the magazine demonstrated that we weren't as Victorian as we thought we were, at least behind closed doors.

The problem moving into the 21st century is that with the Internet and social media, it appears everything is out from behind those closed doors, including breasts.

People don't get all hot and bothered--unless they are horny teen boys, or those who wish they still were horny teen boys--about seeing two nicely formed lumps of flesh pushed into their faces digitally.

And the guy with the sailor hat recognizes this, and that is why he and his hierarchy have decided that nudity is out, substantive incite is in.

Thus, later in 2016, there will be no nudity in the U.S. Playboy Magazine anymore. None. No breasts, no other places, no nothing. No word on if this policy will also be in place for Playboy's international cadre of magazines, or how this will effect the Playboy TV channel, if at all.

Sure, there will still be provocative poses, frank talk about whatever Hugh Hefner wants to talk about in this PC world, but as far as nudity, it is no more.

Playboy is trying to change with the times, and it is not as if they haven't already had a dry run with this concept. Their official website banned nudity last year, and hits went up tremendously.

So they have decided that if the computer generation--mainly young males, 18-25, a most coveted bunch by advertisers--are clicking onto the website, and doing so without nudity, why not do the same thing with the magazine?

Thus, Hefner is returning full circle to his original slant, as he is going to make the publication more like Esquire--where he started his publishing career--with provocative articles, some randy photos, and ads from mainstream companies.

Sounds like Maxim to me.

So be it. Playboy will not have totally nude women in its pages next year.

Now for the reality check ...

Playboy Magazine is so well known for its pictorials of beautiful young women that I doubt this is going to fly with a lot of people who read the magazine.

Playboy was always a step up--probably many steps up--from its competitors, magazines like Penthouse and trashier magazines like Hustler.

And in what I read in the press, Playboy actually characterized its magazine as pornographic, the first time I have ever heard the publication ever put itself in that less than glamorous category.

Playboy is no more pornographic than National Geographic is, and now they really have pigeon-holed themselves by doing this, making their 60-plus-year history into nothing more than an elevated porno mag, and more importantly, no better than the rest and in the same basket as the rest.

Heck, many women have allowed their naked images to grace this magazine simply because it is not pornographic, and now the very publishers of the magazine have listed it as pornographic ... hmm, maybe it was pornographic for those little boys who saw their first bit of sexuality in a magazine they supposedly weren't supposed to be looking at--me included--but in general, the photographs were at best--and worst--alluring, and little more.

Look, no matter what Playboy says about this changeover, the bottom line is that this is a last-ditch effort to save the magazine.

In today's Internet age, circulation is falling for just about every established magazine, and Playboy is no exception.

They had to do something to appeal to advertisers who wouldn't ordinarily gravitate to the publication, so they are doing this for the advertising, not really for the benefit of its readers.

Playboy Magazine will survive, but it won't be the same without the nudes.

I compare its future fate to that of TV Guide.

Several years ago, TV Guide, due to the massive influx of pay-TV programming--dropped its daily TV schedule listings.

This was a magazine that at one time, just about everyone had in their homes, but the dropping of the TV listings made it just like any other entertainment publication.

It survives, but does anyone care?

The same thing can be said for Playboy Magazine. It will probably survive, but will anyone really care?