points & future

[RBinPerson@aol.com]

Hi all--
To answer the next couple of questions posed by Peggy (adding to her
points of what Playboy is and relating these to the future)....

I agree with her points, but one significant one was left out.
Playboy is SEXY.  Playboy is about sex.  I don't mean pornography
(even though there are some misguided souls out there in the world who
think of it as such), but it's about sexual attitudes.  Hef always
said he wanted to create a magazine that illustrates what men really
think about-- grown-up toys, clothing, the fine life, and... girls.
Let's face it... us hetero men are turned on by the girls.  This is
what attracted us to the magazine when we were teenagers (or younger)
and allowed ourselves to sneak peeks when we were probably too young
to do so.  Aside from the photographs of nude women, there are
articles and editorials about sex, e.g. there is the Playboy Advisor,
which often deals with sexual topics.  I would say that "sex" is the
first thing that will come to anyone's mind when the question is
asked, "What is Playboy about?"

And I say... great!  There's nothing wrong with sex.  Sex is a normal
part of our lives, again, even if there are those in the world who
seem to want to take issue with that fact.  There's nothing wrong with
thinking about it, there's nothing wrong with admiring the beauty of a
sexual being (e.g. a Playmate), there's nothing wrong with expressing
one's sexuality, there's nothing wrong with masturbation, there's
nothing wrong with consensual sexual expression between two (or more)
adults (!), and there certainly shouldn't be anything wrong in THIS
country is publishing a magazine about it!

Now I move on to the future.

--Playboy should retain its attitude of freedom-- in expressing
political views, sexual views, lifestyle views...

--While Playboy's marketing demographics most certainly target the
male between the ages of 18 and 30, perhaps they should think about
what they can do to cater to us older guys too.  Sometimes when I look
at Playboy (especially since 1990), I feel like an old man.  The girls
are young enough to be my daughters.  The fashions and lifestyle stuff
caters to college age guys.  I wouldn't mind pictorials of older women
every once in a while.  They've done it before, but not often enough.
Why they ever stopped the Playmate Revisited pictorials, I'll never
understand.  These were great and appealed to us over-40 crowd who
find the Playmates we knew as younger men even sexier now!

--Playboy should not be afraid to take chances.  It seems in recent
years the publication has played it safe in keeping to an established
format and form.  While I'm not advocating Playboy to become the next
Maxim or FHM, Playboy could experiment with visual styles and
editorial content.  What do I mean by this?  THIS IS THE NEXT TOPIC
FOR DISCUSSION!  :) :) In other words, how could Playboy experiment in
order to break out of what might be perceived today as "old
fashioned?"

That's all for now...
Raymond