Well, Playgirl Magazine is finished.
Writer Jamye Waxman confirmed the rumours in this blog post. She says it’s a shame because Playgirl could never quite be the intelligent sex magazine for women it wanted to be.
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The staff at Playgirl does get it, but what they were allowed to do with that knowledge never completely translated… both because their hands were always tied and because, well, the people who approve what you get don’t always understand where you’re coming from. Especially when they’re not the people who read a magazine like Playgirl.
Of course, the real issue is that Playgirl magazine has become a victim of technology. Why would anyone really bother with buying a hard copy sex magazine (and facing down the sales assistant as you hand over the money) when you can access smut online without leaving the house?
I actually suspect that Playgirl mag would have folded earlier if the company had been able to make use of their domain name before 2006. Up until that point a court order had prevented its use thanks to a wildly fraudulent episode with a scammer way back in 2000.
Nonetheless, it’s the end of an era. Playgirl mag was launched in 1973 as a feminist response to Playboy and it’s long been a flag of sexual equality for women… even though it’s usually considered a gay magazine.
As an Australian I’ve never actually read the US Playgirl. Our own version, Australian Women’s Forum, folded in 2001 thanks to censorship and declining readership. AWF had had its day. I like to think I carried the torch online – you’ll find many of the articles I wrote for AWF at For The Girls.
Meanwhile, Playgirl will use this news as a way to plug their membership site.
Interestingly, a search on Google News reveals that the main media outlets reporting on the magazine’s closure are gay websites.
Hi Ms. Naughty! I’m Megan Hussey, leader of the Playgirl Posse, Playgirl’s fan club. I just wanted to let everyone know that the Posse is still going strong and has its own page at Playgirl.Com. We look forward to Playgirl’s new ezine format, though we hope someday to see it back on the shelves in its print form. In one form or another, we believe there will always be a Playgirl.