Playgirl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Playgirl | |
|---|---|
 April 2007 cover. |
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| Senior Editor | Colleen Kane |
| Categories | Women's magazines |
| Frequency | Monthly |
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Publisher |
Playgirl, Inc. |
| Year founded | 1973 |
| First Issue | January 1973 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, many others |
| Website | Playgirl |
| ISSN | 0273-6918 |
Playgirl is a monthly erotic lifestyle magazine published in the United States that features seminude or fully nude men. The magazine was founded in 1973 during the height of the feminist movement as a response to erotic men's magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse that featured similar photos of women.
The magazine is well-known for two publicity stunts when they offered Charles, Prince of Wales $45,000 to appear nude in a centerfold in 1990 and when they published a nude pictorial called "The Men of Enron" in September 2002 in which some former Enron employees "lost their shirts."
Though the magazine is marketed to heterosexual women, Playgirl's then-editor-in-chief Michele Zipp said in 2003, "The gay readership is about 30%." She went on to add, "It's 'Entertainment for Women' because there's no other magazine out there that caters to women in the way we do, but we love our gay readers as well."[1] Also in 2003, the President of Trans Digital Media, LLC (the brand management firm for Playgirl TV), Mark Graff, stated that 50% of Playgirl's readership is gay males.[2]
Playgirl is published by New York-based company Blue Horizon Media, which also publishes High Society, Celebrity Skin, Hawk, Chéri and a number of other hardcore pornographic magazines. Blue Horizon, then known as Crescent Publishing, was charged in 2000 by the FCC with over 180 million dollars of online credit card fraud, much of which was conducted on the Playgirl Magazine site. All Blue Horizon titles, including Playgirl were prevented from conducting any business on the web for five years. Then President Bruce Chew was subsequently indicted along with several prominent members of the Gambino crime family. Blue Horizon is owned by the reclusive millionaire pornographer Carl Ruderman, who prefers to be known as a leader of international tourism rather than as a publisher of pornographic titles.
Throughout the history of the magazine, Playgirl featured male frontal nudity except for the early issues in 1973 and then the infamous non-nude year 1987. In 1986, Carl Ruderman's Drake Publishers (later renamed Crescent, and renamed again to Blue Horizon Media) bought Playgirl and relocated it to New York. John Paul become the first full frontal centerfold in November 1987 after a disastrous non-nude year. Throughout the years the magazine has matured as erections, foreskin and non-Caucasian models have been shown in the magazine. The magazine generally featured models who have been circumcised but of late, layouts with uncircumcised models are featured.
Playgirl is available in English and has been published in numerous foreign-language and international editions during its history: Germany (1978-1980 and 1989-2003), France (1978), Australia (1985-88, and as Interlude in 1991), the Netherlands (1987-88), Great Britain (1992-93), South Africa (1995), Brazil, and Russia (2004-?), and in a Spanish-language edition (1992-93).
Apart from professional models, Playgirl features amateur models in a section called Real Men (formerly known as Snapshots). A Real Men of the Year contest is held annually where readers can vote the for the best layout of the year.
Every year in November, Playgirl dedicates an issue to nude college men. A nude centerfold calendar featuring the men of the previous year is usually included in the December issue of the magazine. Readers are asked to vote for the Man of the Year from the pictures of the calendar.
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[edit] Celebrity centerfolds
Playgirl has not been successful in persuading many male celebrities to disrobe, nor have any of its nude models risen to major stardom in films; the most famous is likely Sam J. Jones who went on to play Flash Gordon in a 1980 film several years after his nude layout. The magazine was somewhat more successful in getting name Hollywood actors to disrobe for layouts in its first years. Those who posed nude or semi-nude included:
The magazine has a monthly section entitled "Celeb Nudes" featuring photographs of various celebrities (including Leonardo DiCaprio) from movie scenes, usually nude. In Brad Pitt's case, candid shots of him appeared in another celebrity-oriented section named "Tabloid." The magazine has often used photographs of movie stars and celebrities on the cover, but due to publicity agents' restrictions on male nudity for their Hollywood clients, these stars are usually just interviewed or profiled and do not appear in a nude layout.
Fan hysteria over the November 2006 rerun of the April 2001 semi-nude shots of country superstar Keith Urban proved the demand for gender-equality in celebrity nudity.[3]
Vito LoGrasso, the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar, has recently posed for the April 2007 issue of the magazine.[4]
[edit] Trivia
- Geoff Minger sported Playgirl's first "full" erection in the historic January 1980 issue.
- The magazine selects one of the centerfolds from the past year also Man of the Year. One of these men, Dirk Shafer, later produced a comic mockumentary titled Man of the Year in which he discusses balancing being gay with working as a sex symbol.
- Shafer was not the only gay model of the magazine. Scott Merritt, Playgirl's 30th-anniversary centerfold, revealed in the August 19, 2003 issue of The Advocate that he is gay.[1] Brian Dawson, April 1978's Man of the Month would go on to win the title of International Mr. Drummer, a gay leather title, in 1989, as well as winning a bronze medal in the physique competition at the 2002 Gay Games in Australia. Jim Waldrop, centerfold in the January 1981 issue, was better known as gay porn superstar J. W. King. Similarly, February 1979's Man of the Month was better known as gay porn legend Clay Russell.
- In the June 2004 issue, Playgirl magazine featured its oldest cover model/centerfold in the magazine's 30-year history: Rick Dinihanian, a 54-year-old gay man.
- Kevin Michaels (also known as Kevin Talley), the April 2005 issue centerfold, was the first centerfold to reject the title of Man of the Year because of his Southeast Christian Church faith.
- Researchers Richard A. Leit, Harrison G. Pope, Jr. and James J. Gray in a 2000 paper published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders examined 115 male centerfold models in Playgirl magazine from 1973 to 1997 and noted that the Playgirl centerfold models have become increasingly dense and more muscular over time.[5]
- When the Russian Playgirl hit newsstands in June 2004, its Russian audience were confronted with an unfamiliar sight, photographs of nude, circumcised American men, as most Russian girls have never seen a circumcised man. Although common in the United States, Canada, Africa, and some Asian countries, circumcision is less common in Europe, being practiced mainly by the Muslim and Jewish communities.[6]
- Vito LoGrasso, the WWE superstar, has recently posed for the April 2007 issue of the magazine.[4]
- Dan, the centerfold for the January 2007 issue is the first ever centerfold to display a pierced penis. He had his nipples, navel and penis pierced in the layout.
[edit] Man of the Month (centerfold)
Two preview issues of Playgirl were published with race car driver Mike Hiss in the January 1973 issue; and the Hager Twins, Jim and John, from TV's Hee Haw in the February 1973 issue. Then Vol. 1, No. 1 appeared in June of 1973.
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[edit] References
- ^ a b Michael Rowe, "Great Scott: After years of struggling with his sexuality, Playgirl centerfold Scott Merritt is coming all the way out. To his surprise, so is Playgirl," The Advocate, Issue 895, August 19, 2003. Also available here.
- ^ R. Thomas Umstead, "A 'Playgirl' for Adult TV," Multichannel News, November 17, 2003.
- ^ Simona Gherman, "Keith Urban's Sexy Secret," Softpedia, November 28, 2005.
- ^ a b Kara A. Medalis, "Vito's dress comes off for Playgirl," WWE.com, November 2, 2006. Also available here and here.
- ^ Richard A. Leit, Harrison G. Pope, Jr. and James J. Gray, "Cultural expectations of muscularity in men: The evolution of Playgirl centerfolds," International Journal of Eating Disorders, Vol. 29, Issue 1 (December 19, 2000), pp. 90-93.
- ^ Carl Schreck, "Playgirl's men are a cut above," St. Petersburg Times, Issue 978 (46), June 18, 2004.
- Rivka Bukowsky, "Playgirl's hunks? The hairy, chubby & poor!," New York Daily News, August 17, 2005.
- Judy Cole, "Playgirl's Queer Canard," Nerve, November 27, 1997.
[edit] External links
- Playgirl, the main official website of Playgirl.
- Playgirl on Demand, a video-on-demand website of Playgirl.[1]
- Playgirl Magazine, the MySpace.com webpage of Playgirl.
- Sweet Action Magazine, a small zine started in 2004 as the "un-Playgirl."
