Who actually buys Playboy and why?

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I'm assuming that it actually sells millions of copies worldwide, but I have never met anyone who admits to having bought it.

Now, I'm no expert on these things, but I'm sure its considered a bit tame for your average porn consumer... but do people really buy it for the articles? What are said articles actually about for that matter? And if people ARE reading it, its hardly ideal for reading in any of the places where people generally read magazines (ie in public).

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 18 August 2003 10:54 (twenty-three years ago)

I almost bought it in a service station on my way to Nottingham with my (now ex-)girlfriend because it had Tiffany in it. I don't know if I chickened out or saw sense.

― David. (Cozen), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:02 (twenty-three years ago)

I shall buy the next copy I see.

David I cannot believe you didn't buy Playboy with Tiffany in. That's like, a thousand wanks as a young adolescent...

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:05 (twenty-three years ago)

I suspect its older, technophobic men who still buy it out of habit. No one buys it for its articles. The articles usually consist of things you'd see in Esquire and the like, and there is usually one interview. Maybe its changed since the last time I looked at one when I was 13.

― fletrejet, Monday, 18 August 2003 11:08 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think it sells terribly well these days.

My guess is that some of its readers buy it because its 'classy' - they buy into the idea that the playmate of the month is the current definitional standard of beauty, photographed tastefully - the Playboy branding is that it's kind of the Moet of adult entertainment, and proper porn is yer Thunderbirds or 20/20s, good only for giving small boys a quick thrill.

(I think this branding is completely delusional but it's a seductive delusion for the people who still read it.)

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:12 (twenty-three years ago)

i've never BOUGHT porn

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:18 (twenty-three years ago)

My housemate used to periodically go abroad and he'd always bring me some back. The Czech one called Pussycats was best. By far.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Pussycat porn, you sicko!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:22 (twenty-three years ago)

The 'Special Editions' are better. I subscribe to Porn Rule #1, 'never have anything in the house that would cause an embarassing scandal if you were to die suddenly and somebody found it'. I don't think the 'Voluptuous Vixens Edition' would unduly sicken anybody. Having said that, the collections of interviews from the 60s are classic, even though Miles Davis claims Alex Haley made the whole thing up in his case

― dave q, Monday, 18 August 2003 11:57 (twenty-three years ago)

i buy it for the articles.

― anthony easton (anthony), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I've a few copies at home, I didn't buy them myself though, I suspect my brother did, I found them in the house. I had a party once and someone ripped all the pictures out of one which I found kind of disturbing.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Old housemate Ben had a subscription. He's pretty swank.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Where did that 's' come from?!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:31 (twenty-three years ago)

In college one summer, I worked at the front desk of a dorm, which meant sorting through and forwarding mail. Lots and lots of magazines would come through with the black plastic jackets...I'd peer through the clear bits of the plastic, and it was invariably Playboy. There were lots of guys' forwarding cards with emphatic notes not to forward magazines (obv because of the playboy subscriptions). I generally forwarded them anyway, because it was a boring job and I liked the idea of being a little bit evil that way. I probably shouldn't have...

― JuliaA (j_bdules), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Why wouldn't you forward your Playboy subscription? Were they moving to someplace that made Playboy unnecessary? Like, say, Hooterville?

― Chris P (Chris P), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:45 (twenty-three years ago)

What are the articles actually about?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:46 (twenty-three years ago)

no, these were college kids that were home for the summer...

― JuliaA (j_bdules), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:50 (twenty-three years ago)

You should have forwarded them all but 'accidentally' replaced the Playboys with Advocates.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Ha, i had the same job as Julia in college. I worked in the mail room. Needless to say, I had a free subscription to any magazine I wanted. Playboy is useless, now SWANK is where its at.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:01 (twenty-three years ago)

In addition to the articles, Playboy publishes a lot of new (at the time) fiction:

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:1CBedb9GL8YJ:www.hycyber.com/MYST/playboy_index.html+playboy+article+index&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

― fletrejet, Monday, 18 August 2003 14:01 (twenty-three years ago)

In college, we found a recent copy of Playboy under one of the couches in the basement. It had Samantha Fox in it. After we looked at it, we slid it back under the couch.

― rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Samantha Fox was in a recent Playboy? How naughty!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I have the issue from 1980 with John Lennon's last interview. I bought it at a second hand record shop in Bournemouth. Thought it might be worth something.

Any idea if this is the case?

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Dude, you should buy that because it means something to you, not because you want to resell it later. Dude...

― ModJ, Monday, 18 August 2003 14:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Dude?

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Please don't call me dude on a Monday.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:40 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.playboy.com ?

― Mike Hanle y (mike), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Back in the 60s they would publish some Bucky Fuller shit in there. I want summa those...talk of Dymaxion something-or-other -> TITTEHS -> funny cartoons -> TITTEHS & PYOOBZ etc.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:11 (twenty-three years ago)

imagine if there was a magazine with such embarrassing articles that people said "I buy it for the pornographic pictures".

― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Rolling Stone

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Tracer OTM. Maxim, as well.

Lessee... 10 new ways to lie to women you want to shag... hm... seems like a lot of trouble. I'll just have a wank on page 62 here.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:11 (twenty-three years ago)

I subscribed to both Playboy and the Playboy channel for my ex - and he was right, it really did have some good articles.

― luna (luna.c), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:19 (twenty-three years ago)

...about?

― oops (Oops), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Hustler. God Bless Larry Flynt.

― The Man they call Dan (The Man they call Dan), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:28 (twenty-three years ago)

>Hustler. God Bless Larry Flynt.

The Hustler interview w/ Al Jourgensen was classic.

― fletrejet, Monday, 18 August 2003 16:36 (twenty-three years ago)

I've only ever purchased three issues of Playboy. The first was whenever that Sandra Bernhardt issue came out, 'cause I was curious. The second was one of the "Girls of the Big Ten" issues from about six years ago, because I girl I went to high school with (and actually had a crush on)(J. Geils Band to thread!) was in it (representing Michigan State with pride). Oh yeah.

Then I also picked up some old issue from the late 60's on eBay because it was supposed to have a really good interview with Michaelangelo Antonioni in it (it was a good interview).

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:42 (twenty-three years ago)

I would LOVE to have a collection of Playboys from the 50's and 60's, for the science fiction alone.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I found stacks of Playboys from the 50s through the 70s in the basement of an old house I used to live in. There were a lot of good ads in them, and there was one with Sally Field on the cover. I wish I'd kept them.

― kirsten (kirsten), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:00 (twenty-three years ago)

hmm never bought playboy

i still feel a little gyped by soft porn, i just can't imagine myself in it without having a big cock.

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:13 (twenty-three years ago)

ok - who's going to horrify us all by posting the roseanne barr playboy pics?

― j0e (j0e), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:17 (twenty-three years ago)

ive seen those sherilyn fenn playboy pictures though. they were classy, but also HOTT!!

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Katarina Witt issue. Totally.

― ModJ, Monday, 18 August 2003 17:30 (twenty-three years ago)

"I buy it for the Harvey Kurtzman"

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:52 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember once reading about a woman who was a contributor to Playboy magazine who said it was preferable to writing for a so-called "women's magazine" because they let you basically have free rein on whatever you want to write about, instead of trying to hook you into writing a fluff piece to please whatever advertisers they're trying to suck up to. I can't remember where I read this. It was sometime back in 2000, I know.

I don't particularly care for nudie pics of women, but if people are actually buying this magazine even just partly for the articles, then more power to 'em. And besides, they're not exactly aiming for my demographic here. *grin*

― Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:52 (twenty-three years ago)

vintage porn: always classic.

I actually just got in a conversation with a couple of guys at work that was kind of about this. (These guys are both right around 40.) They're both frequent readers and/or subscribers. The impression that I got was that they really didn't want to see anything more graphic (or at least that there was a time and place for that sort of thing). One guy (bit of a ladies' man!) said disgustedly that Penthouse has begun showing penetration. (And I don't mean that he was disgusted by penetration, just that he made it clear it wasn't what he was looking for in porn, y'know.) And everyone uses the 'for the articles' defense, but last I looked (last year) it really wasn't stimulating on any level.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:53 (twenty-three years ago)

more of this please:

http://www.flash.net/~numatic/aacover4/at_m2.jpg

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Bigger. What/who is that?

― ModJ, Monday, 18 August 2003 17:58 (twenty-three years ago)

AtomAge magazine, a rubber fetish magazine from the 60s/70s edited by the fellow who designed Diana Riggs' Avengers costume!

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 18 August 2003 18:01 (twenty-three years ago)

link pretty much safe for work.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 18 August 2003 18:02 (twenty-three years ago)

Interestinggggg...

― ModJ, Monday, 18 August 2003 18:03 (twenty-three years ago)

i buy it for the articles.

anthony, i never thought i would believe someone who said that :-)

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Monday, 18 August 2003 19:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Who actually buys Playboy and why?

Dads do. Because they're people's DADS.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:31 (twenty-three years ago)

My room mate does. And i dont question that.

― Spinktor the Unmerciful (mawill5), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Kim OTM: my dad had this huge stash of the stuff in the basement, and a few issues beside the bed. I don't know whether he told my mom it was for "the articles" or whether she just never brought it up, letting him have his bit of fun. I'll never understand that dynamic, but you can bet your boots that I was always sneaking into the stash when I was younger.

One guy (bit of a ladies' man!) said disgustedly that Penthouse has begun showing penetration.
What the? When did this begin to happen? I mean, Penthouse was always Playboy's naughtier cousin but I don't remember ANY of the magazines in the stash (Playboy, Penthouse, Swank, etc) showing actual hardcore penetration.

"You know, Fox turned into a hardcore sex channel so gradually that I hardly even noticed!"

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm still waiting for that to happen.

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:47 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah I was shocked at the Penthouse thing too but not about to drop the $$$ to see if it's true when there's more enjoyable porn out there.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:54 (twenty-three years ago)

The Playboy Perfect 10 series is nice. It's all chicks with natural endowments. very sweet.

― Texas Sam (thatgirl), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 04:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I subscribed from ages 15-20 (I grew up in a pretty liberal household, obv) and after the first few months I stopped looking at the pictures unless there was someone particularly interesting (Sherilyn Fenn, k-classic, though that was right after I started subscribing). I read the articles, but what I loved most was the pop music writing: Dave Marsh, Robert Christgau, Charles M. Young, Vic Garbarini and Nelson George all reviewed records and graded five per month on the Playboy Rockmeter. (Biggest divergence I ever saw: Paul's Boutique, which went Christgau 9, Garbarini 1, George 8, Marsh 2, Young 7 if I remember correctly.)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 04:47 (twenty-three years ago)

haha I also remember Young put the album by his band Iron Prostate in there! he gave it a 10 and everyone else gave it between 1 and 3. robertchristgau.com has all of Xgau's writing for it, I found out about some really good records that way. sadly they've gotten rid of all those critics and now some editor over there is doing most of the reviewing (two-sentence wonders like "TK is a hard-rock band from Tampa. On TK, they pound their guitars into the cement and make you like it" or some such shit.)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 04:49 (twenty-three years ago)

best of all, for awhile I had all of my high school locker covered in centerfolds! got people really mad and/or freaked out, which was fucking GREAT, actually. finally took 'em down after about 3 months when I felt my point had been made, whatever the hell that was. ("Matos is creepy" probably, which as it turns out continues to be the case to this day, as this thread is demonstrating!)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 04:52 (twenty-three years ago)

also u+k: collections of the Interviews are magnificent things to own; have a sadly outdated cdrom of them from about a decade back (no modern computer'll play it) and um WOW there's great great stuff in there whatever you're interested in. Playboy along w/the Paris Review established the Q&A as a viable journalistic format and some of them are total masterworks (both Bob Dylan ones, for ex.). I actually picked up my first P-boy in ages last xmas for the Jay-Z interview but it suxored so I'm sure that's true all around these days.

fave P-boy interview evah: Siskel & Ebert from '92. they also did a 20 Questions (great mini-interview feature I don't think they do anyomre sadly) in 1984 (read it at an uncle's apt a few times when I spent nights there). the ones by Lawrence Grobel inc. the S&E one are in a book on movies he did a few years back called Above the Line, which is worth picking up if you're interested in the topic; there's also some things Bill Zehme did that are in his new collection, Intimate Strangers. but yeah, for about 30 years Playboy Interviews were the fucking bomb, wish that were still true.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:03 (twenty-three years ago)

Why did Playboy die? Who killed it? Internet porn? Hardcore(er) mags like Penthouse? Some huge cultural shift in appreciation away from airbrush-perfect models?

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:08 (twenty-three years ago)

in junior high I was totally the oconee county softcore connection, playboys like crazy (donna edmondson - call me!), I got detention for it six times in fifth grade alone (the admin would always give me this lecture that was vaguely southern baptist but vaguely feminist also - I remember 'women aren't actually like this' being a talking point, with the underlying fear, usually stated outloud, that they didn't want me to think that liking girls was bad 'awkward haha don't go turning queer over this, er') but made some bank, paid for alotta shotguns at skate-a-round usa that way. I remember those rockometer's Matos describes - it was always funny to see everyone give some record a 7-9 and xgau weighing in with a 2. saw them occasionally in high school though it wasn't nearly the hotbutton it was in middle school. I remember seeing some of the videos which were a bit boring but had hilarious 'let's ape the hits of the day as close as copyright law will allow' soundtracks. I bought an issue with Katarina Witt a few years back cuz I wanted to see her without her clothes on. I think the most recent issue I bought before Katarina Witt I got becuz... wait for it... it had a Saul Bellow interview. If I see one around I'll look at it cuz it has pictures of very attractive women without their clothes on, apparently nowadays no rockometer dream team anymore - wtf?!!!

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Penthouse has filed for bankruptcy! :( I'm sure Penthouse Forum was among my earliest wank material. . .

― Texas Sam (thatgirl), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Xaviera Hollander rocks!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:15 (twenty-three years ago)

I love Xaviera.

― rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:30 (twenty-three years ago)

Dita Von Teese would be so incredibly hot if she wasn't dating Marilyn Manson. ::shudder::

― Texas Sam (thatgirl), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:31 (twenty-three years ago)

i belonged to a "twin peaks" discussion group when i was 12-13 and one evening the host (he ran a little bookstore in chicago which is gone now) passed around the sherilyn fenn issue. it blew my mind. i haven't seen it since. seems like they feature a lot of hasbeen pop stars now.

― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:38 (twenty-three years ago)

I cut up the Sherilyn Fenn issue and made hott tape covers out of it.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:43 (twenty-three years ago)

whatever happened to her?

― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:46 (twenty-three years ago)

She's still around, on DVDs. Lest we forget.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:53 (twenty-three years ago)

have you heard that screamin' jay hawkins song "sherilyn fenn."? it's about how he has a big boner for her. it's a terrible song.

hugh hefner is such a despicable character.

― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, I agree! And he's some pop culture hero, removed enough from the current mainstream to be made into an icon of some halcyon day gone by, or maybe a stalwart champion of all that "The Man Show" represents. I don't care that he was a pornographer -- believe me, that's not it. It's that he is, and always was, an elitist head-up-the-ass prick. I'll take Larry Flynt's brand of head-up-the-ass anyday.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 05:59 (twenty-three years ago)

it's sordid to see someone so eagerly and consistently play a caricature.

― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 06:01 (twenty-three years ago)

He seems so full of himself--believes his own hype.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 06:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Has for 50 years.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 06:49 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm sure he has, and now most everyone else believes it too.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 06:51 (twenty-three years ago)

one more vote apiece for Xaviera and Penthouse Forum

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 06:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Did anyone see the Hefner interview in Mean a couple of years ago?

― j'aime les sucettes (call mr. lee), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 07:51 (twenty-three years ago)

The Bob Dylan Q & A by Ron Rosenbaum (who wrote a k-rub piece trashing the new Dylan movie in the NY Observer). Quite good, really. Are those books still in print?

― Dave M. (rotten03), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Playboy aint so bad... I liked it best when it was still illegal for me to have sex and Lisa Matthews remains the most beautiful woman ever, but I can't tell you diddly squat about what the mag has done recently. I don't think it's as bad, in its outlook, as "Front" or "Loaded" and to be honest the layouts aren't that much riskier.

They have had some really good interviews, but I don't pay attention enough anymore to know when the last good one was. Hefner was into animal porn according to Linda Lovelace, don't know if it's true (nobody, after all, knows how much of what Lovelace said was ever true) but he has helped restore some classic films. "The Big Sleep" for one.

I think his outlook is horribly, horribly sexist though and I never quite comprehended why he went to great lengths to try and defend himself from such warranted accusations. But Larry Flynt is just shameful, and that sort of thing is gross in my opinion.

― Calz (Calz), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 20:42 (twenty-three years ago)

back in the day, Penthouse Forum = classic

― luna (luna.c), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 20:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Umm... what happened to Sherelyn Fenn? She didn't age well, sadly...

― ModJ, Tuesday, 19 August 2003 20:56 (twenty-three years ago)

I had the Drew Barrymore issue (it was given to me), but it was stolen when my house was broken into. I loved looking at them when I was in my early teens, before they could show pubic hair, but I think getting one once a month would kill any appeal they had because the women are annoyingly homogenous.

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 07:04 (twenty-three years ago)

four months pass...

My father has every issue back to 1963, but damned if any of it much interesting. Funny enough, I pretty much had unrestricted access to it since I was way too young to even really appreciate it; this also, obviously, made for ennui by age 14, which kinda sucked. Also awkward moments like when I'd have a bunch of friends over and each would slink away one at a time during the course of the evening to go to the basement (where they're all kept).

While I'm not at all enamored with Playboy, it certainly isn't the kinda weak shit my generation seems to be all down with, that being Maxim. I mean, what the fuck? If you want your celebrity/electronics masturbation magazine, might as well actually see the T&A, yes? I guess it's just become the Dads' magazine now.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, 3 January 2004 01:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I am not convince that Southall kept his promise upthread.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 3 January 2004 01:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Lisa Matthews is still the most beautiful woman to ever have lived.

― C-Man (C-Man), Sunday, 4 January 2004 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

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