Celebrities on the Newsstand

Steve Sloca Steve Sloca" <gokings@comcast.net
Tue, 22 Jul 2003 17:14:53 -0400


Dan Stiffler wrote:
"I am arguing that the playmate--with her story--gives the PLAYBOY
reader a more holistic sexual approach to his fantasy.  He learns
about the girl *at the same time* he sees her body on display.  Sure,
he may have "*loads* of preconceived fantasies" that will come into
play as he desires the playmate, but, if he takes the time to read her
story, he will also be able to fire his imagination in directions that
are not preconceived, that are playmate specific."

I think Dan has hit the nail on the head as far as the "mystique" of
the "girl next door" is concerned--as might be expected from his long
years of teaching and observing American culture. And when the
playmate's "story" is "I got out of high school with very little
actual education and movie-mag-fed dreams of being a celebrity; so I
got a balloon-sized boob job, dyed my hair platinum, and got a job
pretending to be Hef's girlfriend for 10 Grand a month," it sort of
ruins the fantasy!  [You'll note that none of the "Hefmates" ever tell
the truth about themselves in their "Playmate stories."]

But from 4 years experience in working with Playmates, I think that
male viewers of nude models can be divided into two categories: those
who, like Alfred, have their own pre-conceived fantasies into which
they want to fit the model; and those who want a greater taste of
reality in their fantasies by imagining a relationship with a real
person whom they could conceivably meet.  My partner, Victoria Zdrok,
always posts a story with each of her weekly picture galleries.  Some
of them are witty short stories, publishable in their own right, some
are historically based, some are erotic re-tellings of fairy tales,
and some are just behind-the-scenes insights into the shooting of the
photos; but all of them reflect her personality and character in the
same way in which the "Playmate story" gives the reader a view of the
Playmate as a person.  (She spends hours on these stories; and some of
them are really, really good.)  About half of her members read the
stories and get caught up in the fantasies she devises.  The other
half doesn't bother to read the stories and only want to download the
pictures.  As Dan notes, the same set of pictures satisfies both types
of men; but it was the uniqueness of "the Playmate as GND" which
provided those who want their fantasies to be about real women who
were theoretically accessible to them with the requisite fodder for
their imaginations.

IMHO, those men who only want the pictures to feed their pre-conceived
fantasies are also likely to be those who fantasize about undressing
celebrities.  They know in their hearts that there is absolutely no
chance of their having sex with a celebrity or a Playmate, so they
choose to objectify the woman in a fantasy which has no connection
with their daily lives.  Those who want to "get to know" the person
who is undressing for their viewing are men who feel that they are
capable of having a relationship with a Playmate or a woman as
beautiful as she; and thus their fantasies are spun from the
intertwining of the Playmate's life history with their own.  It was
Playboy's genius--or perhaps mere luck--that it found a large audience
among this second group of men and provided that group with something
no other mens' magazine has provided, before or since: the Girl Next
Door.

In recent years, Playboy has gotten away from its GND heritage,
feeding only the fantasies of the first group of men with "instant
celebrity" pictorials and Playmates whose only claim to that status is
based on plastic surgery and association with Hef.  The interests of
the second group of men for "real" women about whom they can fantasize
have been neglected; and that has alienated a large number of its
former fans.  As I have stated here before, the magazine needs an
editor who is familiar with the kind of women who actually live in the
world of the upwardly-mobile yuppies of today, for that is the kind of
GND who will appeal to them and bring them back to Playboy.  As for
the group of men who can't conceive of themselves having a
relationship with a Playmate, they will be just as happy whether the
Playmate is a GND or a stripper from a mens' club so long as the woman
is "hot" enough to fuel their pre-conceived fantasies--and for most of
this group, the more explicit the photography, the better.