PLAYBOY in a marriage culture

Steve Sloca Steve Sloca" <gokings@comcast.net
Tue, 18 Nov 2003 21:58:53 -0500


Peggy Wilkins wrote:
"I think that PLAYBOY thrived most as a handbook for the bachelor in a
marriage culture....We no longer live in a marriage culture, though
certainly people still do get married. However, the age of first
marriage has notably increased, and many women (and men) postpone
childbearing....I think there is still room for PLAYBOY to be elegant
and sophisticated....but it must do so in a different way. The
bachelor is no longer such an endangered species, and times have
changed such that men no longer require a championing voice leading
them away from the oppressive altar."

This is another way of looking at an issue I raised a few months back.
Our social customs and institutions have changed greatly since
1953--or even 1969--however, Playboy has not changed with them.  No
longer are women "expected" to marry and have children out of high
school, or even in their early 20's.  No longer are men "expected" to
"court" women until they say "Yes."  Women just as often take the
initiative in relationships.  No longer do men need Playboy to tell
them to enjoy sex without marriage.  Couples are living together all
the time and even having children without marriage; indeed, over 25%
of all children in America are born to single mothers (including many
Playmates of recent years).

So "bachelorhood" means something very different today than it did in
Playboy's heyday.  Today's bachelor may well have a live-in girlfriend
and a child or two by his present or past relationships.  The
girlfriend may well work full time at a higher-paying job, meaning the
bachelor may have more responsibilities to take care of home and
children; or they may be a "two-job" couple with a nannie for the kid.
Dating customs and patterns in this culture are way different than
they were in the '60's. Just watch "Sex and the City"!  But Playboy
has not kept up with these trends; instead, it still pitches itself to
the party-going, babe-grabbing bachelor culture of its early years.
Just look at the Mansion parties and the constant pitching of the "Hef
lifestyle"!

What men need now is a guide to how to achieve a "good life" in this
new culture of feminism and alternative (to marriage) lifestyles.
Many men are clueless as to how to act and what roles to play in this
culture--not surprising, since their parents only know the
conventional culture that Peggy describes.  However, as I said
previously, men are not going to be able to set the rules unilaterally
for this new era of relationships as they did for the old; and thus
Playboy cannot ignore the opinions of women in addressing concerns and
interests of the "new bachelor."  If it does, then the "Playboy man"
of the future may find himself alone and religated to
masturbation. That is why Playboy needs to phase out the "Hef
lifestyle" as its centerpiece and replace it with a lifestyle which
includes intelligent women with an equal say in living and purchasing
decisions.  The Playmates should be picked to fit into this kind of
lifestyle--which is one the bachelor of today will most often
experience--and should be a major voice in the magazine.  If Playboy
goes this route--which no other men's magazine has even approached--I
guarantee it will regain its lost prestige and circulation.