Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

The Man Show: At age 30, Playgirl remains the answer to Playboy

In the late summer of 1953 Hugh Hefner created a stir by publishing the first mass-marketed magazine to feature nudity as entertainment: Playboy.

Men rejoiced. However, many women came to vilify the male-targeted magazine as yet another example of men objectifying women.

"What if men were treated as sex objects?" they wondered.

Nearly 20 years later they had their answer: Playgirl. Thus, "Entertainment for Women" was born.

"Playgirl came and women saw it as, 'Yes, here is a magazine just for us. Men have been objectifying us for all these years, and now it's time to turn the tables and objectify them,'" Michele Zipp, editor-in-chief of Playgirl, said during a recent phone interview from the magazine's New York offices.

"It was welcomed."

It was also a huge success. The first issue, featuring a celebrity centerfold (Lyle Waggoner of "The Carol Burnett Show"), sold out at $1 apiece.

Women finally had their own version of Playboy. With one difference: No full-frontal nudity.

"Everyone expected them to" feature fully nude men, Zipp said. "And people complained."

The full Monty actually arrived with the second issue, which featured actor George Maharis ("Route 66") in all his glory as the gatefold. Within a year the magazine reached its apex: 1.5 million in circulation in the United States.

The success of Playgirl, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a special edition now on newsstands, helped disprove the myth that women are not as inclined to nudity as are men, Zipp said.

"That's occurred because it's been so ingrained in women's minds that the male body is taboo and that you're not supposed to look at it and it's not sexy. Let's see what society has done to women all these years and that society has suppressed women's sexuality, and we're just so in tune to say, 'Oh no, we don't find the male body sexy,'" she said.

"But at the same time, if these are straight women, they're going to bed with men. They must find something sexy about it if they get turned on."

Still, Zipp acknowleged, Playgirl is not for every woman. "There are going to be women out there who just will not take to Playgirl," she said. "But I know a lot of my friends who have never read it before or looked at the pictures, take a look at it and say, 'Gee, well there are some really sexy shots in here.' You have the full frontal, but there's also gorgeous faces and gorgeous backs and gorgeous abs. Women will tune in to a certain photo and be like, 'this is something I find sexy,' rather than maybe the penis and the face. But there are women out there who want to see that as well."

While success often breeds imitation in the publishing world, strangely Playgirl faces few challengers at the newsstands. The monthly publication remains the only popular widely circulated women-oriented pornographic magazine.

Its only real competition is from magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Jane. While those fashion-focused publications may feature partially nude male models in sometimes racy photos and the obligatory tips on how to improve love lives, Zipp said Playgirl takes "it one step further."

In addition to myriad naked men, there are celebrity interviews, the occasional fashion stories (such as pieces on sexy shoes or lingerie) and, yes, tips on improving love lives.

Though the magazine is not known for its articles, as is its male counterpart, Zipp defends Playgirl's literary quality.

"We have up-and-coming authors or people who write a lot of erotica short stories," she said. "The theme is sex, so we have to keep it that way. Sex, romance, passion, fantasy."

Playgirl woes

But all has not been rosy for the women's magazine.

Since 1974 the magazine has watched its circulation numbers sink to 350,000. In fairness to Playgirl, the popularity for most of the leading adult-oriented magazines is down: Playboy from nearly 5 million to 3.15 million; and Penthouse from nearly 5 million to 650,000.

Part of Playgirl's decline can be attributed to the fact that, for many women, the magazine has become a novelty, given at bachelorette or birthday parties as a one-time-only gift.

Even the 30-year-old Zipp acknowledged she had never bought the periodical on a regular basis before she began working at Playgirl.

"It was like a bachelorette party thing for me," she said. But, "we do have a lot of readers who subscribe and our subscription base is very large and women come to us every month."

According to Zipp, 30 percent of Playgirl's subscription base are gay readers, but the typical reader is a 28-year-old woman.

"It's maybe like a middle-American-type woman," she said. "She's not really in a metropolitan-type city or an urban area -- especially a place like Las Vegas where you could be stimulated by just walking down the street."

In part because of its declining sales -- along with some ill-advised investments by a then-co-owner -- in May 1986 Playgirl filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to seek protection from its creditors, although it has since resolved its financial woes.

Then there were the magazine's well-publicized legal skirmishes in the mid-to-late '90s when Playgirl was sued separately by actors Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Leonardo DiCaprio.

In July 1997 Pitt filed a suit over use of unauthorized nude photos taken of he and then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow, which were to be published in Playgirl. The magazine countered they were already available on the Internet and were, essentially, public domain.

Playgirl lost the case and had to cease distribution of its August 1997 issue, though copies that had already been mailed were not recalled.

Less than a year later Banderas won an undisclosed settlement after Playgirl published nude photos of someone it claimed was the actor, who turned out to be a look-alike.

And in 1998 DiCaprio sued the magazine to prevent publication of unauthorized nude photos of himself.

The actor's suit led to the resignation of then-Playgirl Editor in Chief Ceslie Armstrong, who told the New York Post that publishing the pictures "goes against my ethics. It's an invasion of privacy and I can't be associated with it."

Zipp declined to comment on those lawsuits.

"All of that was before my time, so I can't comment on each of those things," she said.

"I personally wouldn't publish photos of an actor that were taken by paparazzi. I would rather get the celebrity myself and earn it and have him proud to be in Playgirl," said Zipp, who took over as editor-in-chief four years ago after reading a want ad for the position in The New York Times.

"I want the people in it to be proud they're in it."

Which begs the question: Is it difficult finding men to pose in the buff?

"Regular guys are willing to take off their clothes, but celebrities are very uptight about it," she said. "When a male is nude on film, it's considered taboo, and rarely do we see full-frontal nudity (by men) in movies, unless it's X-rated. And woman are constantly prancing around nude.

"It's kind of interesting how there is a taboo associated with male nudity and not to female nudity. And we're constantly fighting that and trying to convince celebrities to pose nude or semi-nude for us."

No shame in shedding

Playgirl's Man of the Year, Shannon Fuller, had no qualms about posing nude -- not once, but three times for the magazine: as a centerfold in 1999 and 2002, and now as its Man of the Year 30th anniversary cover model and centerfold.

"I don't like clothes anyway," Fuller joked before a recent autograph session at the Tower Records store on Sahara Avenue. Plus, posing nude "makes it easier because I don't have to change."

The 27-year-old Springhill, Tenn., native said modeling -- nude or otherwise -- was his only way out of a life that consisted of working on a farm and in manual-labor jobs.

"They were just dead-end jobs," he said. "At that point I was working at a factory 12 hours a day. It was like hell."

After winning a modeling competition against 2,000 other men, Fuller eventually found interest from Playgirl. His one stipulation: He would only pose as a centerfold.

But Playgirl agreed, and Fuller saw posing as an opportunity.

"I'm just a nobody hillbilly; a 'most likely not to succeed,' " he said. "I'm amazed it's gone this far. It's like living a fantasy."

Now living in Los Angeles while in pursuit of an acting career, Fuller has appeared in movies and commercials as a body double for Pitt and Stephen Dorff.

He's also found work appearing in various syndicated dating shows. Right now though, he's a bouncer at a country bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif., the Borderline Bar and Grill.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to appearing in Playgirl is the boom to his social life. Fuller said he has models attend his signings -- "women who used to never give me the time of day" -- and have him autograph various parts of their bodies while making it known they are available.

Fuller has even had several requests from women about having his children. He simply takes it all in stride. He's enjoying the ride too much to question motives.

Fuller doesn't even care that he was only paid $3,000 for his Man of the Year title, compared to Playboy's $100,000 award for its Playmate of the Year.

"It's reverse discrimination," he joked.

But again, it doesn't matter. Fuller is comfortable with his lot in life as beefcake and Playgirl centerfold.

"I know I'm just a piece of meat. I'm just eye-candy for the chicks. But I don't care," he said. "Being a piece of meat is pretty good -- a piece of meat in high demand."

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