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70 years ago this year, Hugh Hefner founded Playboy magazine. The first issue included a nude photo of Marilyn Monroe that he purchased and published without her knowledge or consent.
Hefner went on to build the Playboy brand on the back of countless women in its pages, whose beauty and representations of heightened female sexuality captivated generations of readers.
As Playboy approaches its 70th anniversary in December, it has undergone a fundamental transformation. With the magazine no longer being published, the Playboy Mansion being sold to developers, and London’s remaining Playboy Club set to close in 2021, what is the future of Playboy? The brand is changing to keep up with a post-#MeToo world.
Hefner’s death came a month after 2017 allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein surfaced, providing a backdrop for the #MeToo movement in which survivors of sexual assault and harassment speak out against their abusers. power.
In recent years, Many people reassessed Hefner’s legacy and relationships with women. The 2022 documentary series Playboy Secrets (which airs on Channel 4 in the UK) details sexual misconduct allegations against Hefner by several ex-girlfriends, including model Sandra Theodore and TV personality Hugo Leigh Madison.
Hefner and Playboy have always had a complicated relationship with women. Playboy is a early supporter abortion rights, Help fund The first rape kit, sometimes early supporter Inclusivity (for example, featuring transgender model Caroline “Tula” Cossey in the June 1981 issue). But most of the women in Playboy fit narrow beauty standards—thin, white, athletic, blonde.
Meanwhile, Hefner’s personal relationships with much younger girlfriends were reportedly follow pattern Control and emotional abuse. In her 2015 memoir, “Down the Rabbit Hole,” ex-girlfriend Holly Madison described Hefner treating her “like a glorified pet.”
Hefner’s death means he has escaped the reckoning of the #MeToo movement. However, Playboy responded by publishing a statement It affirmed support for the female characters in Playboy Secrets and called Hefner’s behavior “abhorrent.”
The statement announced that the brand will no longer be affiliated with the Hefner family and will focus on aspects of the company’s heritage that are consistent with its values of sex positivity and free expression.
Read more: “Cougar”: A brief cultural history, from Mrs. Robinson to Stifler’s mom
Today, Playboy is a very different company than the one Hefner founded nearly 70 years ago. About 80 percent of Playboy employees are women, according to the company, which has changed its motto from “Men’s Entertainment” to “Happiness for All.” The company’s shares are publicly traded, and 40% of its board of directors and management are women.
The company is also moving toward more creator-led content through its app Playboy Centerfold. Similar to subscription content service OnlyFans, Playboy Centerfold allows subscribers to view and interact with content from its creators, which it calls “rabbits.”
On the app, creators (or rabbits) can paint their bodies however they want, putting the power back into their own hands. Perhaps the future of Playboy is less about serving the male gaze and more about serving the audience Hefner ignored in his work. First letter from the editor:
“If you’re a man between the ages of 18 and 80, Playboy is for you…If you’re someone’s sister, wife, or mother-in-law and you picked us up by mistake, please pass us on To the men in your area ” live and come back to your ladies house partner. ”
Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt, stars of Playboy’s mid-2000s reality show, are also enjoying a resurgence among fans.
“The Girl Next Door” premiered in 2004. The show focuses on the lives of Hefner’s three girlfriends, Madison, Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson. It became E’s top show and created a new female audience for Playboy.
The Girl Next Door is a complex story of empowerment despite patriarchal interference. Its three leading ladies went from being known simply as some of Hefner’s many blonde girlfriends to becoming celebrities in their own right.
They both eventually broke up with Hefner, left the mansion, and went on to lead successful careers.
The show’s portrayal of Madison, Marquardt, and Wilkinson as empowered, interesting, and complex individuals who find joy and agency through expressing their sexuality is perhaps what draws so many female fans to the show reason. However, as the girls fight for agency, Hefner retaliates.
The series revealed that he had the final say on every photo of a Playboy girl and imposed strict curfews and spending allowances.
In Madison and Wilkinson’s memoirs, Down the Rabbit Hole and Sneaking Home, they claimed that production had been damaging them. They refused to pay for the first season, didn’t take credit until the fourth, and aired their uncensored nudity on foreign broadcasts and DVD releases without consent.
Read more: #MeToo in Space: We must address the possibility of sexual harassment and assault beyond Earth
Fan interest in “Girls Next Door” remains strong. In August 2022, Madison and Marquardt launched their podcast “Girls Next Level,” where they interview former playmates and interact with fans. They also look back on the episodes from their own perspectives and talk about their experiences working on the show.
As of February 2023, the podcast has been downloaded 10 million times, 14 years after the last episode of “Girls Next Door,” and its success reflects the legacy of the Playboy brand. It also shows that despite Hefner’s original editorial notes, Playboy resonated with some women.
Playboy is now in a post-Hefner era, and the images of women in old Playboy issues can serve as inspiration for others to enjoy their own sexuality. Whatever the company’s future holds, the concept of Playboy has become public property—whether it’s the appearance of the Playboy Bunny costume every Halloween or the popularity of cheeky Playboy logo tattoos or branded underwear and apparel.
In the post-#MeToo era, the women of Playboy are speaking out and taking over. With the mansion’s doors closed, the Bunnies have finally taken the brand back as their own.
Above: Hugh Hefner with Playboy “Rabbit” in London in 1966.
