Of “Playboy” and moral progress

Of “Playboy” and moral progress October 13, 2015

 

Hef's place in Chicago
The original Playboy Mansion in Chicago, before the operation and the operator moved to Southern California
(Wikimedia CC public domain)
Click to enlarge

 

Playboy has just announced that, effective next March, it will cease publication of images of naked women:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/business/media/nudes-are-old-news-at-playboy.html?_r=0

 

I know.  I know.  I had to check my calendar to make sure that it’s not April Fool’s Day.  For Playboy to give up naked women is as if Campbell’s were to stop making soup, or Kleenex to turn from tissues to building tractors.

 

Nevertheless, it’s true.

 

But the moralists out there, and those who feel (rightly, in my opinion) that Playboy objectifies women, should take no comfort from this decision.

 

The change is purely market-driven.  As the article indicates, the easy accessibility of online pornography has left Playboy looking a bit obsolete and old-fashioned.  It’s no longer at the “cutting edge.”

 

In other words, society has fallen below Playboy’s lofty standards of modesty and decorum.

 

That’s no cause for celebration.

 

 


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