Playboy and the Future

In conclusion, the fifties were a time of strict sexual oppression, in not just the public eye, but in that of the media and government as well. The founding of the “nuclear family” brought with it the death of the flapper, and Rosie the riveter was now best off in the kitchen. Despite this, the fifties brought with it the inception of sex symbols so famous they remain in common dialogue over half a century later. Playboy, founded in 1953, grew rapidly from a small outfit in a Chicago kitchen, to a media giant spanning the planet.

This growth in the face of 1950’s repression creates an apparent dichotomy. How, in the face of the gentrification of sexuality present in the 1950s, did Playboy gain such rapid popularity? This dichotomy does not exist. The answer to Playboy’s rise lies in the intentions behind the magazine’s inception. Playboy displayed itself as the “perfect magazine for the modern man.” It wasn’t comprised of smut. It serialized works by famous authors, discussed jazz and philosophy, it marketed itself as having a holistic view on a high-class life for the middle-class young man. The focus on the “Playboy image” allowed the magazine to focus on embodying the idealistic lifestyle of white, middle class, heterosexual young men of the 1950’s.

In addition to this, Playboy didn’t simply use its audience as a sounding board for ideals of personal and sexual freedom, it lived them. Whether it be large, swinger mansions across the country, or with multiple court cases fighting the U.S. Postal Service’s aggressive censorship, Playboy promoted “personal freedom” and individuality above all else, especially intervention by the government.

This bled through to the political spectrum. As Congress debated laws to increase the power of both the States and the Postal Service to censor data, Playboy, alongside other publishers, was taking the Postal Service to court, arguing for a more strict interpretation of the first amendment.

Due to this, Congress created a committee, to determine the effectiveness and the legality of increasing governmental oversight to public communication. Not only did the committee recommend that increased governmental oversight was a bad idea as it hurt the notion of safe trade inherent to interstate commerce. In addition, the committee noted that the Post Office should be focused with “fast, safe, and efficient delivery,” instead of on monitoring the posted content.

 To further this end, Playboy focused heavily on displaying itself “appropriately” in the media. The “Playboy image” was paramount to the company’s success. Instead of advertising the nudity that accompanied every magazine, Playboy focused on additional content, from film to jazz, to simple bar jokes. In addition, Playboy, specifically Hugh Hefner, focused on being portrayed as fighting for personal, commercial, and political freedom in the face of the Cold War.

Perhaps due to these efforts, American society soon found itself in the sexually free, anti-establishment counterculture of the sixties, and Playboy became all the more relevant. The generation raised on Playboy went on to live the ideals so pushed for by the magazine. Freedom of both mind and body, liberation from governmental oversight, freedom of information, and the freedom to simply dress and act the way one wanted were all aspects of the new age. Society, in some ways influenced by Playboy, grew to embody the lifestyle exalted by the magazine itself.