This is a post I placed a few years ago on a now defunct Yahoo group, on the theme of our new thread. Thanks to Ellie for starting this thread. Many of us wish Playboy could be saved.
It is sad that Playboy’s readership is down, that its internet business has lost money, and that it has been forced by economic necessity to move into the hardcore business. They forgot what made their core business, the magazine, so popular and profitable in the 1970s and early 1980s. It could be so again, even in a hard core world, if it went back to its strengths. If I might be so bold, it celebrated not only natural beauty, but sexuality, in a proud and powerful way. Our favorite Playmates of that era shared the fantasy, it seems, of Playboy fans—of a woman who was proud of herself and her body, who revealed herself not only physically, but emotionally and sexually, and left us utterly seduced. There is no more powerful alternative to the more degrading forms of pornography and their contempt for women than the vision of a beautiful woman who laughs, has fun, flirts with us, and gets caught up in the moment, making her fantasy ours.
The odd thing is that the only seductive, sexually-charged performance that made it into the magazine in anywhere near its true form was Patti McGuire’s—whose appearance boosted sales, won her millions of fans, and helped lead her to a very happy life. If Playboy were to issue a complete, high-quality edition of her performance on the Cyber Club, it would draw new fans, whatever the hardcore folks were up to at the time. I’d love to see former Presidents Bush and Clinton doing ads for “Patti McGuire: The Complete Edition.” You know they fell for her when they read then-presidential candidate Carter’s interview in the November, 1976 issue. Every guy did!
Unfortunately, Playboy has hidden most of its seductive performances from its readers, and it continues to do so by and large in the Cyber Club, losing profits and customers, and letting hard core pornography rule by default. I suppose that Playboy had no choice but to enter the hardcore business if it hoped to survive. But it would be a terrible decision financially to give up on its original business, which could be profitable as well if it offered us more of great performances like Patti McGuire’s in the magazine and in the Cyber Club. Playboy has always been more than a business for Hugh Hefner, its staff, its Playmates, and its fans. It celebrates women, passion, and an acceptance of our sexuality. If Playboy had the courage of its convictions and took advantage of its greatest assets—those erotic, artistic performances by its staff and our favorite Playmates—it could make lots of money, meet the hardcore challenge, and be faithful to its original purpose.
My case in pictures: Patti seducing us, arousing herself, and leaving us speechless.
