Craig T. Owens

Part of me wanted to cheer at the news that Playboy magazine will no longer publish pictures of nude women. But then I begin to ask myself, “Why would they do this?”

Here are some reasons they might be making this move…

1. Internet pornography is easier to access, cheaper to produce, and much more titillating than purchasing a magazine with pictures taken of professional models by professional photographers. 

The New York Times said, “For a generation of American men, reading Playboy was a cultural rite, an illicit thrill consumed by flashlight. Now every teenage boy has an Internet-connected phone instead. Pornographic magazines, even those as storied as Playboy, have lost their shock value, their commercial value and their cultural relevance.”

So basically internet pornography is putting a pornographic magazine on the ropes, because internet-produced porn is largely fueled by sex slaves.

2. Our porn-saturated society is no longer turned-on by the so-called “soft porn” that Playboy produced.

In their press release, Playboy CEO Scott Flanders said, “The political and sexual climate of 1953, the year Hugh Hefner introduced Playboy to the world, bears almost no resemblance to today. We are more free to express ourselves politically, sexually and culturally today…” (emphasis added). In another interview, Mr. Flanders said that nudity is “just passé at this juncture.” Nothing to see here!

So we now need to “express ourselves” more graphically in order to get the same sexual high than the generation before us.

3. Making Playboy a “PG-13” magazine helps legitimize the product.

The magazine will still feature pin-up centerfolds, but that doesn’t do anything to help with the objectification of women. In fact, it makes it worse. Making Playboy “safe for work” makes ogling scantily-clad women “acceptable” and “normal” for anyone who wants to lust.

Make no mistake about it, this is a plain-and-simple business move for Playboy. This does nothing to protect our society from the ravages of lust and pornography.

Speaking of which: if you struggle with lust or porn, here is a great resource to help you break free.