No more nekkid girlies in Playboy. The whole world has gone queer.


USA TODAY

Opening a copy of Playboy magazine on an airplane or at a hair salon may no longer have people raising their eyebrows.

Playboy will no longer publish images of fully nude women in its magazine beginning this spring. The move comes as part of a redesign that will be unveiled next March, the New York Times reported. The magazine will still feature women in provocative poses, but they will no longer bare all.

The onslaught of Internet pornography has made the nude images in Playboy "passé," Scott Flanders, the company's chief executive, told the Times.

"That battle has been fought and won," Flanders told the newspaper. "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free."

Last month, Hugh Hefner agreed to halt future publishing of nude photos in a meeting with Cory Jones, a top editor at Playboy, the Times reported.

Jones told the Times the new Playboy will be "PG-13" and more "accessible" to the target audience of millennials between the ages of 18 and 30-something.

The move to robe the magazine's Playmates is similar to Playboy's digital strategy over the last few years. In 2013, the Playboy app was touted as a more work-friendly version of the magazine with "best articles" and non-nude images. Likewise, a 2015 app implemented the same strategy with a mobile-first focus on the magazine's written content.

While publishing has ebbed and flowed throughout the magazine's lifetime, as with most print publications numbers have steadily declined over the past few decades. According to Alliance for Audited Media, the magazine sold 5.6 million in 1975 and has dropped to about 800,000 today, the Times reported.

The first issue of Playboy was published in 1953, and featured Marilyn Monroe on the cover. The centerfolds in the magazine have been a sort of rite-of-passage for many young men, and Jones notes he understands some may be turned off by the move.

"Twelve-year-old me is very disappointed in current me. But it's the right thing to do," he told the Times.

Some day, there won't be anything printed on paper.

The "twelve-year-old" comment reminded me of when I was that age. Anytime my friends and I would go to the drug store with our mothers, while they were shopping, we'd head directly to the magazine rack to check out the Playboy's. Little perverts.

A tribute. Marylin. From the very first issue. A true American Classic.

I guess we will see who is actually, just reading the articles. ;-{>8

I always thought playboy was the JV team in the PORN mag industry anyway...much better magazines out there

Like every kid, I bought Playboy for the girlie pics. But I soon discovered that it has some good articles in it too. I first discovered the writing of Hunter Thompson in Playboy.

Ed McClanahan pretty much launched his writing career with a piece he did for Playboy, Little Enis, an Ode to the Intimidations of Morality

Then came Little Enis. “I yam what I yam,” said Popeye the Sailor, and that was Enis; he was, emphatically and resolutely, what he was. He would say anything , absolutely anything. I once went with him to visit his old parents at their sweet little Toadvine homeplace, a small farm in Hogue Holler , Kentucky . “Now Carlus,” said his mama, “the preacher's comin' to Sunday dinner this week. You ort to come and meet him.” “You know, mommy,” Enis said reflectively, “ I shoulda been a preacher. I like fried chicken and pussy as much as anybody.”

Little Enis at Boot's bar. Lexington, Ky, Mid 70's

Haven't read one in years* but they used to have some of the best celebrity and political interviews in the business. Jimmy Carter's famous "lust in my heart" line was published in a Playboy interview.









Yes, there was a time I actually did read them...

Given that both print and digital media furnish things on the level of a gynecological exam, I find leaving just a smidge to the imagination is a bit more appealing. Either getting old here, or maybe caught the gay.

have not looked at a Playboy since the nineties. This is a non issue for me.

Damn, I thought that was 'flave and HIS posse.

Wait, What? There's articles?

I <ahem> almost always read it cover to cover.

Another American Classic, Raquel Welch...and yes, they're real AND THEY'RE MAGNIFICENT!

Wonder if Northern Dave could rebuild THAT classic body

BMT

Free nudity on the net. (whatever your flavor)

Has to reinvent itself as a lifestyle and fashion magazine.

Doing what it can to survive and keep Hughe's pipe lit.

Another American Classic...one word...Farrah. If you grew up in the 70's, she occupied many a young man's free time.

Never heard of Ravel's Bolero until "10"

This was the issue that had us neighborhood kids running to the woods to check out ----

I really don't think this has much to do with being PC on Playboy's part with all the internet porn available at anyone's fingertips including Playboys own.

It is too bad though as many a fond memory were made by young men discovering what girls were really all about lol.

Simpler more innocent times.

My dad sat in first class with Farrah back in her prime
No big hair
No makeup
Jeans
Baggies sweatshirt
Sun glasses
Said she was absolutely beautiful and vivacious
Best business flight he ever took

and hand.