Anna for August
Love the gender play in this video featuring queer icon Anna Shumate for Playboy. Directed by Brooke James.
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Playboy To Bring Back Its Print Magazine With Annual Edition
This story was originally published on Forbes.com in August 2024.
Playboy’s print magazine is being resurrected. Today, PLBY Group, Inc. announced it will return to issuing a print version of its legendary magazine, but this time around on an annual basis, starting with a February 2025 issue. In March 2020, Playboy stopped producing its 66-year-old print magazine, which had been published since 1953, citing the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic as the reason. Along with reviving the print magazine, the company is relaunching its Playmate franchise with a worldwide search for both the 2024 and 2024 Playmate of the Year and as of this week a newly designed website at Playboy.com.
In recent decades, Playboy has struggled to find its footing in a changing media landscape. When Hugh Hefner, the magazine’s founder and editor-in-chief, who died in 2017, launched the first issue of Playboy in December 1953 with a nude spread featuring Marilyn Monroe, the competition was limited to other adult magazines. In the ’90s, the internet distributed adult content with the click of a button and explicit sexual images became more risque without the limitations that had been imposed upon print publications. Then came a flip-flop. In 2016, Playboy stopped producing nudity in its magazine; the following year, it brought back the magazine’s nudes.
This time around, media veteran Mark Healy will be at the helm of Playboy. His resume includes senior roles at GQ, Rolling Stone, and Men’s Journal. The February 2025 issue will make its debut in conjunction with Big Game Weekend and Super Bowl LIX, which will take place on February 9, 2025, at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. According to Playboy’s latest announcement, “Original content will be produced with a keen focus on embracing the creator economy, partnering with some of the leading creators today to showcase their unique interests,” suggesting the target audience is young and flush with disposal income.
But the big question is not whether consumers will read still Playboy for the articles or the pictorials but whether or not it’s too little too late for an iconic brand that’s taken a beating in the marketplace and in the town square. PLBY Group’s second quarter report was released today, revealing total revenue for the second quarter was $24.9 million. The same period last year total revenue was $35.1 million. That’s a year-over-year decrease of $10.2 million or 29%. Meanwhile, a 2022 Secrets of Playboy 10-part A&E docuseries raised questions about what had really happened at the Playboy Mansion while other former Playmates rallied in support of Hefner.
Regardless of the history, PLAYBOY'S Playmate and Bunny Open Casting Call is underway. For those who aspire to don the bunny ears and tail, they can apply online. Wanna be Playmates and Bunnies must attend a casting call in a nearby city and submit an application with photos. But users of filters beware when it comes to sending your best shots. “Please avoid harsh lighting, skewed angles, and no filters,” the application advises. “The photos you submit can be professionally taken but should remain largely unfiltered and unretouched.” If you get picked to be in the magazine, that might change. But for now, they want to see you fully clothed.
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I Read It for the Articles
I bought this Playboy the other day at a vintage store in Atwater Village on the east side of Los Angeles. I had been planning on mentioning this very issue (October 1979) in the novel I’m working on, which I refer to as “The Porn Novel,” and so when I saw it there, on the table, I thought it was a sign. What kind of sign? Who knows. Sometimes you just need to go with them. Anyway, I paid $15 for it, which is a little steep, because I probably could’ve got it online for a little less, or maybe not, who cares. Anyway, I tweeted about it after I bought it, saying that touching this used copy had gotten me pregnant, which was a joke, of course.
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How We Become Who We Are, Porn Valley Edition
My latest newsletter trades in how the things that happen to us change who we are.
“As I recall it, when I asked the porn star about her background, she explained that when she was very young—a toddler, I think—her father killed her mother and then killed himself.”
Subscribe here.
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A Trip Down Memory Lane
My latest newsletter is out. Subscribe here. In this week’s edition, I ponder my life choices, consider the dominatrix, and contemplate the role of the sex doll during a global pandemic.
An excerpt:
“ […] but that all sounded so boring, and then I thought it would be more interesting to write about a guy who makes sex dolls and says they’re ‘a perfect COVID-19 companion’ because they ‘can be enjoyed without another individual in the room — and yet it feels as if there is.’ […]”
I’m a writer and a consultant. Subscribe to my newsletter.
Your 22 Minutes
In this week's newsletter, I try to remember how I ended up on Playboy TV, share how to recognize Your 22 Minutes, and reveal the famous men you encounter on dating apps when you live in LA. Read it here. Subscribe here.
An excerpt:
Last week I mentioned that one of Hollywood’s most famous (and shortest) TV executive producers hit me up on Tinder. When you live in L.A., dating apps are sprinkled with folks you’ve seen on the screen. Among those I’ve spotted in Swipeland: Mike Judge, The Allstate Guy, Stuttering John, Todd Bridges, and a porn director who shall remain nameless. I’ve since quit Tinder—again.
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Sex & Society
1 Likes, 0 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "My friend @valeriebaber interviewed me for her Sex & Society podcast. We talked #Playboy,..."
My friend Valerie Baber interviewed me for her “Sex & Society” podcast. We talked about Playboy, empowerment, and porn. You can listen to the first episode here.
[Image via my Instagram feed]
Buy my short story: “The Tumor.” It’s been called “a masterpiece of short fiction.”
Me on Kylie
Photo credit: Sasha Samsonova for Playboy
I wrote a post on my Forbes blog about Kylie Jenner posing for Playboy. It’s about the images, the interview, and the real question people are asking when they’re asking whether or not posing for Playboy is empowering.
So why are we still questioning whether or not it’s empowering for a woman to chose to pose nude? The body is hers, and the choice of what to do with it belongs to her alone. The same is true whether you’re #2 on “The Celebrity 100” and have a real-time net worth of $1 billion, whether you’re the 50-year-old star of a movie about strippers, or whether you’re a sex worker fighting for her right to do business without fear of being killed while doing so.
Get a copy of my latest digital story: “The Tumor” —“a masterpiece of short fiction.”
Yes, Posing Naked Can Be Empowering
If you’re interested in hearing my views on Kylie Jenner posing naked for Playboy, listen to a recent episode of “The Quicky”: “Why Would Billionaire Kylie Jenner Pose for Playboy?” At one point, the host asks me if doing so is empowering. It’s 2019. Are we still really questioning a woman’s right to use her assets as she sees fit?
Get a copy of my latest digital short, “The Tumor” —“a masterpiece of short fiction.”
Kylie Gone Wild
13m Likes, 134.8k Comments - Kylie ✨ (@kyliejenner) on Instagram: "When Houston meets LA .. 💛 @playboy #ComingSoon"
Tomorrow I’ll be on “The Quicky” on the Mamamia podcast network, where I’ll be talking about Kylie Jenner’s upcoming Playboy spread. She’s on the cover with boyfriend Travis Scott, and she’s not wearing much, it seems. The images were shot and / or creative designed by Scott. I’ve written about Playboy previously, and I was a regular on Playboy TV’s “Sexcetera” for five years. I still love the brand.
Get a copy of my latest short story, “The Tumor” —“a masterpiece of short fiction.”
The New Playboy
There’s an interesting article in today’s New York Times about the new Playboy. It’s intersectional, millennial, and Hefner-less. Personally, I’m looking forward to the launch of Cooper Hefner’s Stag Daily.
“Playboy no longer publishes its financial results, but Mr. Kohn said consumers spend some $3 billion on the company’s products and services each year. Relaunching the magazine, he said, made sense as a kind of ‘brand extension.’ He likened the future of the company to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop.”
Buy a copy of my digital short story: “The Tumor” — "a masterpiece of short fiction.”
Unconscious
9 Likes, 3 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "🐰"
It was a vintage store, and a stack of Playboys, and some shoes sitting on the top. It was only when I got home that I saw it could be interpreted as some sort of commentary. The boots on her face and body, almost obliterating her. Her eyes, a bit wide, peeping over the sole. In any case, I'm interested to see where Playboy Magazine goes in '18 with Cooper at the helm. I like what he's done already, and I think he has the ability to lead this brand into surviving--and thriving again.
Hugh Hefner: Misogynist or Revolutionary?
BBC Radio 5 Live had me on yesterday to talk about the social media controversy in the wake of the death of Hugh Hefner. On social media sites, feminists celebrated the demise of a man they asserted turned women into objects while others (like me) celebrated the life of a man who'd helped pioneer the sexual revolution and was a longtime champion of freedom of speech. The debate starts at the 1 hour 22 minute mark here.
With Love, to Hef
I woke up in the middle of the night, checked my phone, and saw there was a text from the BBC. Was I available to talk about Hefner? There was only one possibility: Hef was dead. Not long ago, I received an invitation from his son Cooper to attend the annual Midsummer Night's Dream part at the Mansion. I couldn't attend, and in declining, I wondered if it was my last chance to visit the Mansion while Hef was alive. I've been there two or three times before -- for various events. I worked for Playboy TV for five years, and at one event at the Mansion, I met Hef. He was smaller than I expected. I think he was wearing either a pink or a lavender shirt. He was friendly, and I was gobsmacked to be meeting a legend in the flesh. Wandering the grounds of the Holmby Hills property was another experience altogether. Pink flamingoes picked across the lawn. Little monkeys danced around enclosures in the yard. The grotto was unreal. It was a kind of Shangri-La. Here's to presuming Hef now presides over some equally paradise-like dominion in the sky, surrounded by bunnies.
I wrote an homage on my Forbes blog:
"For years, I proudly wore the Playboy bunny on the front of my shirt, in the shape of a pendant I hung around my neck, on a baseball hat. Unlike the feminists who had attacked Hef for his portrayals of female sexuality, I found in his entrepreneurial spirit, his unabashed love of women, and his unrelenting curiosity about our sexual selves a role model that gave me someone to be."
On the BBC
I did a short interview tonight with BBC Radio 5 Live. I believe it will be archived here.
We discussed my recent post on my Forbes.com blog: "Playboy Is Naked Again and It Is Awesome."
Years ago, I visited a Playboy shoot. As I watched, a naked young woman lolled about on the bed, smooshing her boobs together with her arms and pointing her toes like a retro pinup from a bygone era. Today, Hef is 90, and the new Playboy is decidedly contemporary. The cover features March Playmate Elizabeth Elam looking natural, the cover headline reads "Naked Is Normal," and the Playboy Interview isn't with a modern-day Norman Mailer but Scarlett Johansson, the top-grossing actor of 2016, who pulled in $1.2 billion in global ticket sales. The other nude layouts throughout the magazine are somewhere between classy and, well, sweet. Gone is the greased up and surgically enhanced Playmate of yesteryear. This is the 21st century feminist next door.
How'd You Like to Be the First Woman to Write for Playboy?
Susan Braudy has the scoop:
Almost as soon as I arrived in Manhattan to seek my fortune, I backed into a knuckle-bruising battle with Playboy’s Hugh Hefner.
My new city-slick literary agent Lois Wallace had signed me because she liked my articles in a zippy new Yale monthly called The New Journal. So after Playboy editors approached Lois about a piece on something called the new feminism, she lipped a smoke ring into her telephone and asked me, “How’d you like to be the first woman to write for Playboy?”
The year was 1969. I thought Playboy defined cheesy, but I was too timid to say so. Furthermore, I was afraid to admit I’d never heard of any new feminists.
Lois, however sophisticated, was a shouter: “You’re in New York, dammit, not in some ivory tower.”
Jim Goode, Playboy’s articles editor, contacted me that afternoon. Speaking more slowly than I thought a human could, he explained that Playboy wanted an objective account of the entire spectrum of the brand new “women’s lib” movement. “These women have important things to say, and I want our readers to hear them,” he said. “Let yourself go. Write anything you like but don’t pass judgment. Be fair.”
He concluded, “Write in a tone that’s amused if the author is amused, but never snide.”
[Jezebel]
Flashback
Playboy Bunnies, Years Later
Photo credit: Robyn Twomey
"These headshots, taken at the Former Playboy Bunny Reunion in Las Vegas, are the result of my interest in the women of Playboy and where they are now. The tight frame and non-retouched images allow space for one’s personal reflection on age and beauty. The body language suggests even more about who these women are: strong, beautiful, fragile, provocative, and everything in between. They are complex characters that are proud and empowered by their beauty and sexuality, at the same time stricken by the fleeting nature of it."
Mrs. Hef
Thanks, Playboy
Thanks to Playboy for mentioning my groundbreaking work in the field of aspiring male porn stars.
[Playboy]