In an interview with the New York Times, Playboy executives announced they will no longer feature naked women in their iconic magazine. Instead, they will showcase women in provocative poses and legitimize men's excuse of reading the magazine for the articles. Aiming for a target audience of millennials between the ages of 18 and 30-something, the new Playboy format will come into place in March 2016.
Since December 1953, Playboy has been introducing adolescent boys and desensitizing men to scantily clad women. In the beginning, the competition was thin and their degradation of women was heavy. Now, they are being crowded out due to the ravenous appetite of a highly sexualized audience.
According to Kassia Wosick, assistant professor of sociology at New Mexico State University, pornography is a $97 billion industry globally. $10 and $12 billion of that comes from the United States. 37 percent of the Internet is made up of pornographic material. Hollywood currently releases 11,000 adult movies per year, more than 20 times the mainstream movie production. And as of late, a personal sex tape going public is less of a shameful blunder and more of an introduction to fame and notoriety.
General Hugh Hefner was a leader of a sexual revolution that stormed the bedrooms of America. Triumphing over social mores and defeating societal values, Hefner transformed private desires into a public hunger. Over the years, his following has satisfied by his leadership and his Playboy products; however, as of late they have been leaving wanting more. According to the Alliance for Audited Media, Playboy's circulation has dropped from 5.6 million in 1975 to about 800,000 now.
John Biggs writes that Playboy could have gone one of two ways. They could either get cleaner or go harder, following after Penthouse and seizing audiences that flocked to 50 Shades of Grey. Playboy chose the former. "That battle has been fought and won," Playboy's Scott Flanders told the New York Times. "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture."
The battles of the sexual revolution have been going on for years. Sex sells things, it completes individuals, and it solves every problem according to 50 Shades of Grey. Contrary to popular lore, the sexual revolution began back in the 1940s, well before the Woodstock movement in the late 1960s.America was rebounding from the Great Depression and her soldiers were returning from the war as back-to-back world champs. Statistics from the 1940–1960 U.S. Census reveal staggering levels of premarital pregnancy and single motherhood.
Alan Petigny, a professor at the Univerity of Florida, found that "People didn't start having sex because Elvis Presley was shaking his hips or because Hugh Hefner came out with Playboy." He goes on to say, "After fifteen years of Depression and war, there was also a desire on the part of Americans to live in the moment and enjoy life, and they were accordingly less likely to defer to traditional restraints on their behavior."
While the sexual revolution was emphasized greatly through the media attention given to Woodstock, it was simply not talked about during the 40s and 50s. Social conventions and taboos continued to restrict discussion about it, though activity abounded. The announcement by Playboy may be one less source of pornographic material that degrades and dehumanizes women, but the revolution moves on.
Playboy is a small part of the problem; it is not the whole problem. It is the blossoming of a petal that was rooted in a desire for intimacy. Boycotting magazines and praying for their demise does not solve the problem. Such behavior may only heighten the problem by not fully addressing it and giving a false sense of victory. The fact that Playboy is making this move reveals more about our moral climate than about their business plan.
No longer satisfied with the products of Playboy, audiences are going elsewhere to gratify their yearnings. This is a part of the human experience, seeking after that which we love. Augustine of Hippo wrote in his seminal work Confessions: "My weight is my love, and by it I am carried wheresoever I am carried."
The numbers do not lie. Many have fallen in love with themselves and gratify their selfish and sexual longings by using other people's children to satisfy their appetite, may that be through pornography or prostitution. Using people, they gratify themselves. And in turn, they create markets whereby daughters and sons are taken and sold as property. This is because sexual longings are a voracious appetite, never content and always wanting more (i.e. Playboy's demise and the proliferation of pornographic material). Instead of using their gifts to love others, they have loved themselves by using others.
But for the Christian, the weight of our love will carry us as well. Jesus serves as our example in that we deny ourselves in order to bless and give to others. This love is primarily focused on God and manifested in acts towards others.
As Shakespeare said, love is the smoke raised with the fume of our sighs. Those are not sighs of judgment, but rather sighs of trying to catch our breath due to multiple acts of love. Kindness leads to repentance, not judgment. These addicted individuals are often isolated and broken. Thus they are in need of a love that binds the broken and draws near to the lonely.
As Shakespeare so eloquently quipped in A Midsummer Night's Dream, "The course of true love never did run smooth." Though the path may not be smooth, it is always worth it. Love well.
This post was written by Nick Pitts. You can find his post here: http://www.denisonforum.org/america/2009-playboy-bunnies-are-getting-clothes
Since December 1953, Playboy has been introducing adolescent boys and desensitizing men to scantily clad women. In the beginning, the competition was thin and their degradation of women was heavy. Now, they are being crowded out due to the ravenous appetite of a highly sexualized audience.
According to Kassia Wosick, assistant professor of sociology at New Mexico State University, pornography is a $97 billion industry globally. $10 and $12 billion of that comes from the United States. 37 percent of the Internet is made up of pornographic material. Hollywood currently releases 11,000 adult movies per year, more than 20 times the mainstream movie production. And as of late, a personal sex tape going public is less of a shameful blunder and more of an introduction to fame and notoriety.
General Hugh Hefner was a leader of a sexual revolution that stormed the bedrooms of America. Triumphing over social mores and defeating societal values, Hefner transformed private desires into a public hunger. Over the years, his following has satisfied by his leadership and his Playboy products; however, as of late they have been leaving wanting more. According to the Alliance for Audited Media, Playboy's circulation has dropped from 5.6 million in 1975 to about 800,000 now.
John Biggs writes that Playboy could have gone one of two ways. They could either get cleaner or go harder, following after Penthouse and seizing audiences that flocked to 50 Shades of Grey. Playboy chose the former. "That battle has been fought and won," Playboy's Scott Flanders told the New York Times. "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture."
The battles of the sexual revolution have been going on for years. Sex sells things, it completes individuals, and it solves every problem according to 50 Shades of Grey. Contrary to popular lore, the sexual revolution began back in the 1940s, well before the Woodstock movement in the late 1960s.America was rebounding from the Great Depression and her soldiers were returning from the war as back-to-back world champs. Statistics from the 1940–1960 U.S. Census reveal staggering levels of premarital pregnancy and single motherhood.
Alan Petigny, a professor at the Univerity of Florida, found that "People didn't start having sex because Elvis Presley was shaking his hips or because Hugh Hefner came out with Playboy." He goes on to say, "After fifteen years of Depression and war, there was also a desire on the part of Americans to live in the moment and enjoy life, and they were accordingly less likely to defer to traditional restraints on their behavior."
While the sexual revolution was emphasized greatly through the media attention given to Woodstock, it was simply not talked about during the 40s and 50s. Social conventions and taboos continued to restrict discussion about it, though activity abounded. The announcement by Playboy may be one less source of pornographic material that degrades and dehumanizes women, but the revolution moves on.
Playboy is a small part of the problem; it is not the whole problem. It is the blossoming of a petal that was rooted in a desire for intimacy. Boycotting magazines and praying for their demise does not solve the problem. Such behavior may only heighten the problem by not fully addressing it and giving a false sense of victory. The fact that Playboy is making this move reveals more about our moral climate than about their business plan.
No longer satisfied with the products of Playboy, audiences are going elsewhere to gratify their yearnings. This is a part of the human experience, seeking after that which we love. Augustine of Hippo wrote in his seminal work Confessions: "My weight is my love, and by it I am carried wheresoever I am carried."
The numbers do not lie. Many have fallen in love with themselves and gratify their selfish and sexual longings by using other people's children to satisfy their appetite, may that be through pornography or prostitution. Using people, they gratify themselves. And in turn, they create markets whereby daughters and sons are taken and sold as property. This is because sexual longings are a voracious appetite, never content and always wanting more (i.e. Playboy's demise and the proliferation of pornographic material). Instead of using their gifts to love others, they have loved themselves by using others.
But for the Christian, the weight of our love will carry us as well. Jesus serves as our example in that we deny ourselves in order to bless and give to others. This love is primarily focused on God and manifested in acts towards others.
As Shakespeare said, love is the smoke raised with the fume of our sighs. Those are not sighs of judgment, but rather sighs of trying to catch our breath due to multiple acts of love. Kindness leads to repentance, not judgment. These addicted individuals are often isolated and broken. Thus they are in need of a love that binds the broken and draws near to the lonely.
As Shakespeare so eloquently quipped in A Midsummer Night's Dream, "The course of true love never did run smooth." Though the path may not be smooth, it is always worth it. Love well.
This post was written by Nick Pitts. You can find his post here: http://www.denisonforum.org/america/2009-playboy-bunnies-are-getting-clothes
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