But... but it's smut!

In 61 years of publication, Playboy magazine has become the seedy underbelly of the magazine world. Prior to the Age of the Internet, Playboy was one of the largest names in adult entertainment. With used copies passed about between friends, and favored issues hastily stored between mattress sheets, Playboy received widespread popularity. However, the magazine was founded during one of the most conservative times in our nation’s recent history. Hugh Hefner, on borrowed money, put all of his chips in play, and released Playboy #1 in December of 1953. (Playboy Enterprises 2012)

This isn’t as shocking as it seems. The widespread popularity of Playboy is primarily due to two reasons. Firstly, the Playboy of today is a far cry from that of the 1950’s. Far more written content can be seen. The first edition alone contains forty three pages of content, over half of which was written, in comparison with that of today, wherein less than a quarter contains written content. (Hefner 1953) The second reason pertains to Hugh Hefner’s mindset that Playboy was a “publishing need,” that it become a “freedom fighter,” an entity fighting both government oppression and the needs of the common man.

To this end, written content wasn’t made of simple smut stories, but of, as the intro to the first edition puts it “a quiet discussion on Picasso, Nietzsche, jazz, and sex.” Contained in the first edition is an argument over the role of Alimony in modern law, a serialized edition of Sherlock Holmes, a discussion over the Dorsey Brothers (jazz musicians), a fictional short story decrying the dangers of sloth, and a few pieces on sports and interior design. (Hefner 1953)

 

  

Cover of Playboy #1, highlighting the magazine as the “VIP on Sex,” and loudly announcing that it, unlike any other magazine, contained Full Color nudes of Marilyn Monroe. (Hefner 1953) 

Out of the 13 articles in edition number one, only three contain nudity or any references to sex. This trend continued throughout the decade. As Playboy began a lawsuit with the U.S. Post Office, who had begun to censor Playboy in certain areas, and even refuse to deliver certain images to Playboy for publishing, the magazine began a war against government censorship. (Playboy Enterprises 2012)

Not only did Hugh Hefner appear in several interviews, lawsuits, and dinner-table discussions, Playboy directed its content to serve this end. One of the first publishers of Ray Bradbury’s famed anti-illiteracy and government censorship novel Fahrenheit 451 was Playboy, who serialized the literary work in issues two, three, and four. Fahrenheit 451, “the temperature at which books burn,” outlines a dystopian future where books have been made illegal, and are burned by the government. (Hefner 1953) The novel was published at a time when the US Post Office had the ability to censor any materiel it deemed “obscene,” including Playboy.

The importance of Playboy as a “publishing need” was articulated in the first issue, comparing it to the Kinsey Report, as a both a benefactor to the “common man” and as a resource for “pleasure-priming.” (Hefner 1953) As the magazine grew and developed throughout the decade, the push for censorship grew, reaching congressional debate. Through careful placement of advertising only suited to the “Playboy image,” content modified to suit the magazine’s needs at the time, and constant debate by the magazine’s creators, Playboy not only managed to keep itself in publication, but to change both the legal standing on freedom of publication, as well as the mindset of the everyday American.