Rant #2,006: Him Or She, What's It Gonna Be?

If you need an affirmation that the world has gone completely mad, and that the PC Police have infiltrated every bastion of sanity that we have, then this story will demonstrate that we, as a society, have gone off the deep end, trying to please everyone while stupefying everyone in the process.

Yes, that is a wordy beginning, but if you haven;t heard about it ...

Playboy Magazine is going to be featuring its first transgender Playmate of the Month in its November issue.

Yes, that is right, a magazine whose very basic tenet is to cater to men who need a nudity fix with the opposite sex will be featuring a nude model who is, well, at least who was born, male.

No matter where one stands on transgender rights, this is just so wrong on some many levels, that some are even saying that this decision is what put Hugh Hefner in his grave.

I won't go that far, but I will bet he is turning over in his grave at the mere thought of this.

Yes, whatever you want to say about Playboy magazine, it has always been a forward thinking publication, either creating or jumping on bandwagons related to anything sexual.

And yes, it often has done this to justify its own existence.

Playboy magazine was one of the first publications to believe in civil rights, female rights, sexual rights, and the rights to live one's life by one's own rules.

It did this pretty much to justify featuring naked women in its pages--"it was their choice to do this, and they have every right to do this as women."

But now, we have a case where the PC Police have stepped up to the plate in a big way, and basically told us within the pages of the magazine that, well, there are no differences between men and women,

Frankly, I disagree,

This has nothing to do with transgender rights. I believe that all human beings have a right to live. I do believe that there are some unfortunate people who are born with one mind yet their body does not fit that mind.

I also believe that Playboy magazine is one of the last bastions of maleness, where a male can be a male and enjoy naked photos of women who feel that it is their right to pose this way.

To put in a transgender person simply completely goes against the grain of everything that Playboy magazine has stood for for over 60 years.

The main audience for the magazine is probably heterosexual men, and yes, probably some gay women.

What having a transgender model in the pages does for that group is beyond my comprehension.

Like for most print magazines, circulation is falling, and I guess they feel that featuring such a model in its pages might give it a circulation bump, at least for that issue.

Look, we all know that any publicity is good publicity.

If Playboy featured your "standard, garden variety" female in the November issue, no one would give a hoot.

Since Marilyn Monroe, they have featured hundreds of such scantily clad women, and while they are nice to look at, heck, I hate to say it this way, but you've seen one boob, you've seen them all.

But you put a transgender model in there, and yes, you generate publicity that is priceless, and that is just what the publication has done for its November issue.

(It is interesting to note that this is not the first transgender model featured in its pages, only the first in the U.S. flagship edition of the publication.)

Playboy is notorious for jumping on bandwagons, and this is yet another bandwagon that they have jumped on as it moves into the sunset.

Here's hoping that this is the first--and last--time Playboy tries such a thing, and it probably will be, because by transgender model No. 2, such a thing will be old hat, and nobody will care.

Been there, done that.

Have a good weekend. Speak to you on Monday.

Go Yankees!