Playboy Magazine’s cultural value and effects will be primarily assessed by modern commentators advocating modern views for modern audiences. Playboy is easily and frequently dismissed as a rag that panders to the male gaze and objectifies women. I agree with these criticisms. If your main product is flying off the shelves because it has naked women in it, that’s not a good look. It is literally paper thin when the “I buy it for the articles” defense is invoked. Moreover, Playboy was a product developed by and for men. Bunnies and Playmates were also subject to strict rules, including curfews and limitations on their social lives.
However, these criticisms need to be contextualized. Early in the 1950s, when sexual repression was absolutely asphyxiating, Playboy’s first issue was published. Dr. Morgenroth described the 1950s as a time when women could choose to be virgins or mothers, not exactly fulfilling choices.
Deviating sexual preferences were considered mental illnesses at best and crimes against God at worst. If you were beaten or murdered, it was unsettlingly common.
The Man Behind the Magazines: Hugh Hefner
This context of sexual repression and aseptic unfulfillment should be centered around Hugh Hefner. He was born in Chicago on April 9, 1926. His parents were Methodists, but he called them Midwest Puritans. When he founded the college newspaper, he came alive. He excelled in school but was bored most of the time. During World War II, he served in the Army and studied psychology at the Chicago Art Institute and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Aside from studying sociology, he also worked at Alfred Kinsey’s Institute for Sexual Research. He got a corporate job as a copywriter at Esquire, like the good boy he was supposed to be. He recognized the American lifestyle as being filled with “hurtful and hypocritical behavior” throughout all of it.
Playboy Magazine’s Kicks Off
As Hefner saw it, Playboy was an attempt to correct the harm that was being done to virtually anyone who dared to wonder if sex might just be a little bit fun and healthy. There were more exciting ways to spend your life than having two-and-a-half kids, living in suburbs, and working a corporate job. It wasn’t because of a strong entrepreneurial spirit or a good heart that Hefner started it.
As a result of being unemployed, he did it. Esquire refused him a raise, so he quit. Because Hefner wasn’t sure whether or not there would be a second issue, it wasn’t released until December 1953. The first issue of Playboy Magazine’s did not feature Monroe.
As if he were buying and printing stock photos, Hefner did the same thing. For 50 bucks, Monroe posed for Tom Kelley in 1949 when he was short on cash. In 1950, she made two big movies that launched her career.
Kelley sold the photos to Western Lithograph Company, where Hefner bought them for $500. Over 50,000 copies of the first issue were sold due to her inclusion.
The Rise and Golden Years of Playboy Magazine
Expanding lifestyle options for all was always at the core of Playboy. Sexuality was just part of what Hefner used to get people interested. Hefner used the magazine to sneak a wide range of interests he thought modern men should pursue. During the first issue, Hefner included four ideal conversation topics for men and women.
As a result of Hefner’s first issue profits, the magazine began to grow steadily. There was little competition for the magazine in the 1950s and 1960s, and its content, beyond the nudity, was just that good.
In fiction, music, fashion, and human rights, Playboy was a pioneer for decades. In terms of its fiction alone, it ranks with publications like The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The Paris Review. Fahrenheit 451 excerpts and short fiction were regularly published by Ray Bradbury. Playboy Magazine was a publication that Roald Dahl contributed to and defended beyond his children’s stories.
In addition to Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ali, Playboy conducted interviews with leaders in the civil rights movement. However, it wasn’t limited to interviews. Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald played at the Playboy Jazz Festival in 1959 with Hefner, two names that continue to have a profound influence on jazz.
In order to elevate Playboy’s sexuality to the level of its fiction, journalism, and activism, we must examine its approach to nudity. Unlike Hefner’s competing publications, Playmates featured women you could meet in real life who were sexually desirable. Despite the suggestive poses, the pictures were meant to be snapshots of their larger lives as women.