I thought it was always about the articles. ;-)

That's the problem with Playboy today. Now it is about the articles. Because pictorials like "The Sexy Ladies of Latin TV" aren't doing it for me.

I long for the old days, when Sharon Stone, Cindy Crawford and Kim Basinger graced the cover.

Is that top ten list of men serious? I thought today was March 20th, not April 1st.

The top 10 men list was done a long time ago. And, yes, clearly it is very serious. I think there's too much humor in the world these days.

A friend of mine wrote a great stage play a couple years ago that told a turn-tale story of Playboy. His version of history told about how Playboy was the start of women's lib, and documented how when women are naked, they have ultimate power over men. It asserted the women were really exploiting men sexually, rather than the other way around.

Intersting what a little change of perspectiive does.

Hugh Hefner is brilliant.

Playboy is absoulutely a positive and healthy influence on all women. The only women who would disagree with me on that are the wretched feminist hags w/ winter bush that hug trees.

Naked women are beautiful. What makes a woman even more beautiful is having the self esteem and confidence to be able to put it all out there and express herself. Hef has provided these women a forum to express it in, and millions of men (and women) to appreciate it. Playboy is probably the first place that every American boy saw his first set of tits. Hugh gave those young men a glimpse at what was going to rule and ruin there lives someday.

Yes boys, Playboy is propganda expressing the Power of Pussy. You know that you are all powerless against it...LOL.

Well we know this guy is only in it for the articles cause you're a flaming homosexual. If you are reading playboy for the articles you are pathetic. THERE ARE NAKED HOT CHICKS HELLO. NAKED CHICKS!!!!

you asked the question, so i have to answer it....

does playboy set an unhealthy example for female bodies and negatively affect a woman's self esteem?...

honestly, i think the answer to this one is both yes, and no.

i have to admit that it's nice to know that the majority of those women are air brushed to the hilt and that they are in their earlier twenties or younger, but...i'm also impressed by their beauty and their overall sexuality.

do i know i'll never look like them? yes. do i care? no.

did i once think i "should" look like them? perhaps. i remember the days from my childhood, when someone would sneak in a "girlie magazine" and all the girls would clamor for it, not "utilizing" it the same way aa a group of boys might have, but instead...looking at it, trying to figure out what it was that made "us", and what we might have to look forward to in our own futures.

of course, being comfortable in your own skin is something that you can't learn from aspiring to be something, that you aren't. but, admiriation for beauty, can never be a truly bad thing, in my opinion.

so, to sum it up....i guess my answer is no. it never affected me negatively.

and, i'd still read it, for the articles and the "beauty" advice. ;-)

One thing that most people don't know is that in addition to liberating women through his magazine, he also worked to legalize abortion and birth control pills.

As far as setting unhealthy examples for the female form, any media publication does that clothes or not. Personally I think that Britney Spears does more to damage the self esteem of young women than those in Playboy.

Damn. Jen said it better than I ever could.

For me, Playboy's always been about the joke page.

Um, Jen?

A group of boys would never "utilize" a playboy for anything dirty. Dirty things are utilized solo... it has no place in groups...
:)

The first time I saw a Playboy was at my best friend's house. I was probably about 9 or 10. Her father kept them out in the open in the bathroom off their family room. Her mother didn't care. So every time I'd have to pee, I'd pick one up and read the jokes and then look at the pictures of the women.

It was good for me -- I'd never seen a woman's naked body before [I'm girl]. I had no idea what was going on underneath the clothing of all the adult women around me. My mother was of a generation that never changed in front of her kids or let them come into the bathroom with her. So I had no mental image of what I was going to grow up to look like [in a generic sense; trust me, I'm not Playboy material].

Playboy intrigued me because it showed me who I would become, physically speaking. I have no problem with it because I think it gave me a positive sense of body image, instead of feeling that it was shameful and had to be hidden from me.

I don't even think it qualifies as pure porn.

Two summers ago I was at a Yanks game with my friend Laura, who used to be a press person for Playboy in NYC. She told me and my friend that there was a volleyball tournament in the Hamptons later that month with something called the X-treme Team of Playmates. Did we want to get a team together?

The long story short is, a few weeks later I got on the train and hauled my ass about 100 miles out there just to hang out with Nicole Wood, Alesha Marie Oreskovich, Kristi Cline and Jessica Lee. After reading the magazine for sooooo many years, this was the first time to actually meet any of the chicks in it.

I have to say, I was really impressed with how NICE they were. Like they were so NORMAL. I of course had to get all their issues and pix later, but it was a real thrill. I'd met pro athletes, movie stars and musicians living in NYC, but there was something special about the words "Playmate of the Month" that were waaaaay different. I put the pix here: http://www.nycbp.com/special/playmates.html

Good one, PK!

Paul, we borrowed an image and noticed that you quickly switched over to Playboy boobies.
LOL.
The quick head fake. I love the way you post. We may go the Playboy boobies route too. We'll leave that one up to Rob.

Hey, the news is reporting right now that the Lakers lost last night. We were at that game last night (killer seats!) and from here we would report that the Kings Won! See how TV gets it backwards. We're turning it off now and looking for more places like yours. Have a good weekend.

woman are beautiful.it's all about confidence and self esteem.
if you got it, flaunt it sort of thing.
big or small,playboy cover-worthy or not..sexy is a state of mind.

hey, dudes! you guys don't seem to realize that chicks in playboy mostly look like they've been rape or something. there's a difference between self-esteem and being violated. Some of those chicks are sometimes brutally force to do it even if you don't see it. My girl used to pose naked and man, she being trought some shit. a little respect here

Hi, everyone...you all made some interesting points. In a way, I view Playboy as somewhat misogynist...you can't deny that it does promote a certain false ideal of womanhood & beauty. On the other hand, Playboy is waaay better than Hustler. That magazine is the most foul, repulsive trash ever. It has barely concealed racial slurs & it demeans both men AND women. It makes sex seem dirty (which it isn't!)

Steve, you made a very valid point in saying that some women are coerced into posing nude. There was a Canadian Playboy model years ago named Dorothy Stratten...in my opinion she was the most beautiful woman to ever pose for Playboy, and I'm a heterosexual woman! However, her psychotic drug-addicted husband pushed her into it. When she wanted to quit & tried to leave him he murdered her. It was a very gruesome murder that happened in 1980.

Still, Playboy has another side...a side that if you're a woman, can also be empowering. Most of the Playboy centerfolds come across as very confident, secure women. It's not really that they're beautiful. What strikes me is the high level of self-confidence, the aura of "This Is Me & I'm Proud of My Body." Sure, they're tanned, airbrushed, dieted, exercised, implanted, highlighted...but they're still human beings, ordinary women who feel confident and special enough to put themselves out there. I've been told that I'm Playboy material. I don't fit the stereotypical mold...I'm petite, curvy, with small boobs & I'm brunette.

My point is this, though: sexiness is not about being a 10-foot-tall blonde or redhead with gigantic breasts. As shown by the women of Playboy, it's really about confidence & flaunting your sensuality, no matter who you are. 90% of men don't fit the male ideal of beauty. Most of them don't have muscled hardbodies, large penises & chiseled looks. But do they care? No. I'm sure that they have their insecurities & hang-ups every now and then but they don't let it affect their confidence level.

I'm straight & I can honestly say I don't have a problem with Playboy. The photography is aesthetically pleasing, the articles are interesting, & Playboy manages to convey sexuality in a non-demeaning way. I can't say the same for other publications. Playboy is soft porn, but if you open up Hustler you'll find the most disgusting & disrespectful depictions of human sexuality. Even the name "Hustler" implies a pimp and his whore. So while I don't in any way condone hardcore publications such as Screw or Hustler, I will admit that Playboy makes very fascinating reading material.