What is Playboy?

RBinPerson@aol.com RBinPerson@aol.com
Mon, 28 Oct 2002 13:36:28 EST


Hello everyone!
An excellent way to start.
What is Playboy?  Hmmm, a magazine?  A club?  A brand name?  A lifestyle?  A 
famous guy who used to smoke a pipe and wear only pajamas?  
The answer is all these things and more.  

For me, Playboy began in the mid-sixties, around the time I became fascinated 
with James Bond.  As "Goldfinger" and "Thunderball" were coming out, I would 
sneak peeks at the "Girls of James Bond" features that started appearing 
(namely November 1965 is the first one I remember, although I also remember 
looking at the Ursula Andress pictorial in the summer of 1965).  As I wasn't 
old enough to actually buy the magazine, I had to be content with peeking at 
the store (there were some convenience stores in those days where the 
magazines were simply there on display).  Then, a little later in the 
sixties, an older kid on my block seemed to have a way of buying the mags, so 
I'd look at (and yes, read) his copies.  Sometimes he'd give me issues.  My 
very first issue that I owned and kept hidden in the drawer was July 1968.  
Melodye Prentiss was the centerfold.  Boy, was I in love with her.  She was 
so damn *pretty*!  I was 12 years old.    
I collected sporadic issues secretly through the rest of the sixties.  
Everything about the magazines was fascinating-- the artwork, the articles, 
the fiction, the cartoons, but like most males my age-- it was the girls that 
provided the fantasy.  The Playboy Playmates became goddesses.  Never in my 
richest imagination did I ever think I would know a Playmate, much less 
*meet* one.  (Thank you Glamourcon for changing all that!)

I turned 16 in 1971 and lo and behold, my parents didn't care when I said I 
wanted to start subscribing to Playboy.  So I did.  My first issue I owned 
that didn't have to be "hidden" was October 1971.  (I already had most of the 
issues from the 70s by that time anyway, heh heh.)  I've never missed an 
issue since.  

My work and Playboy intersected in 1997, when I suddenly found myself 
published in the magazine.  Un-f**king-believable.  More than a dream come 
true.  A dream I didn't think I was even allowed to dream.  And it got 
better.  I got to meet Hef, visit the Mansion, meet Playmates, attend the 
1999 Playmate Reunion, and was published five more times in the magazine.  

So, I consider myself inexplicably linked to Playboy.  Emotionally and 
literally.  It's one of those rites of passage that I experienced at an early 
age and stuck with because it touched my life in a profound way.  

I have gone from being much younger than the Playmates in the magazine to 
being, well, much older.  Styles have changed and looks have changed.  The 
Playmate today is not quite the same as what she was in the 60s and 70s.  (As 
my wife comments, it's interesting to note the evolution of pubic hair styles 
throughout the decades...)  A history of Playboy is a history of the latter 
half of the 20th century-- which is precisely when I've been alive.

Thus, Playboy represents, to me, a chronicle of my life.  Just like music 
does-- when you hear a certain song or album, it evokes the memories of that 
time period.  When I think of Liv Lindeland, or Cyndi Wood, or Debra Jo 
Fondren, or Denise McConnell, I recall where I was and what I was doing when 
I was entranced by that particular Playmate.  The same goes for the 80s and 
90s and beyond, even after real relationships and a marriage that continues 
today.  

Raymond Benson