Love it or hate it, Playboy magazine has been, and continues to be a big part of our pop culture and our celebrity culture. It has been in the centre of both feminist and free speech debates for decades. Playboy’s legacy is messy, complicated, and problematic as hell. I want to unpack some of that today, and examine why the Playboy brand is so entrenched in sex worker culture. This despite multiple allegations of abuse against Hugh Hefner, and the powerful men he let run loose at his clubs and mansion.
A couple points of order: first, Hefner was both enabled and an enabler of abuse. There are plenty of verifiable and credible sources and witnesses, including A&E’s recent documentary series, “The Secrets of Playboy.” For all intents and purposes, Hef was an abusive partner, and used his power to exert control over the women in his employ. (Hefner was popularly known as “Hef.”)
Women have said he pressured them into sex. Otherwise, they couldn’t grace the cover of his magazine. His girlfriends have said he coerced them into group sex, that he monitored their every move, including calorie intake, that he didn’t use protection, and that he drugged them and filmed them without their consent. Bill Cosby used to party at the Playboy mansion. His abhorrent behaviour, namely drugging and raping women, was kept quiet.
Secondly, there is room for debate as to whether or not nude modelling is considered sex work. Holly Madison, arguably Hef’s most famous ex-girlfriend, has said that she has no problem with sex workers, but doesn’t consider herself to be one, which is fair enough. There are plenty of women who have modelled for Playboy who don’t consider themselves to be sex workers. Having said that, I know a handful of Playmates, and they were all strippers at the time that they posed for Playboy. It was a very advantageous career move for them.
I remember when the abuse allegations against Marilyn Manson, creator of many classic strip club anthems, came out. I tearily watched Evan Rachel Woods give her statement, and was like “OK, I’m never dancing to his music on stage again” – out of solidarity. And then, a second, more complicated thought: “If I’m so quick to divorce myself from these songs, what should I do about the Playboy swag I own?” I’ve written before about how sex workers are culture makers. Now I was having a serious sit down with myself about how I, as a sex worker, consume culture.
In the good old, less digital days, strip clubs had feature entertainers. These women would travel around the country, do an amazing show with fancy costumes, fire, snakes, sometimes tigers (It was always something much more elaborate than the already impressive feat of sexy athleticism the rest of us were doing). Often, while introducing them on stage, the DJ would list their modelling achievements.
While getting into Hustler and Penthouse was a real feat, it was being in Playboy that was most appealing to the strippers. It was a sign that you made it, and that you had potential to leverage your modelling into mainstream success. Maybe you could be the next Pamela Anderson or Anna Nicole Smith.
It was a time when the bunny logo abounded in the clubs. We wore the classic cottontail outfit. The bunny hung from our belly button piercings. Some of us got the logo discreetly tattooed on our bodies. Some of us used a sticker of the logo while tanning; the lightest part of our flesh was now a discreet bunny outline at a time when tan lines were considered out of style. Achieving and maintaining the look that Playboy popularized meant increased opportunities for strippers. I know that standard of beauty is also a problem for many reasons, but that’s another column entirely.
In a way Playmates, the women who modelled for the magazines, and Bunnies, the women who cocktail waitressed at the Playboy clubs, were the original brand ambassadors and the original influencers. Working for Playboy was a chance at adventure, a chance to leave your impoverished small town in pursuit of good money and possibly fame. It was a chance to live outside of traditional gender roles. Notice that these are similar reasons a person would choose to engage in sex work. Namely, it was an opportunity to pull yourself out of poverty using your looks and charm.
The magazine did good work in promoting writers such as Nabokov and Malcolm X, giving way to the quip that some people read it for the articles. The clubs ignored Jim Crow laws and were fully desegregated both in terms of clientele and workers at a time when that was largely unthinkable. Hugh Hefner participated in many a legal action around the First Amendment and censorship, and was highly respected for his advocacy on the subject.
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Playboy magazine ceased to be a physical item and shifted to digital only. The whole world seemed to be on lockdown, including strip clubs, and we strippers wondered if there would even be a club to return to, or if owners would fold and sell.
I wept. I didn’t weep for a brand that in the end oppressed the very women it claimed to liberate. Rather, I wept for a whole generation of women who were able to make a living in a pre-digital world. Sure, you could start an OnlyFans, an online platform where adult content creators can connect with their fans who buy a subscription to their content. But that came with a devil’s bargain of the risk of being outed as a sex worker, and a risk of digital surveillance. Also, nowadays, with the DIY model, you have to be a photographer, a marketer, a copywriter, and a videographer. Once upon a time, you just showed up.
Last year, Cardi B announced that she’s going to helm Playboy as their Creative Director. I could barely contain my excitement at the fact that a former stripper was in charge; it felt like the perfect transfer of power. I’m not so naive that I don’t see what a brilliant marketing strategy that is for the brand, and how successful it ultimately was. Playboy’s revenue increased by 63 per cent the very first year that Cardi B had creative control of the brand, its merchandising and their new creator led platform, CENTERFOLD, a more exclusive version of OnlyFans. The company has recently, very publicly distanced itself from Hefner and his family, and has expressed support for Hefner’s victims.
Coming back to the documentary, in one of the first scenes, Sondra Theodore, a former playmate and Hefner’s girlfriend from 1976 to 1981 said, “There’s always gonna be a guy like Hef in the wings.” While I have deep respect for her and understand how the whole documentary was framed as a cautionary tale, and I’m not naive to the presence of predators in the world, I somewhat disagree.
What if current or former sex workers were the bosses at adult businesses? What if sex workers were in charge of all sex work and related businesses? The answer is clear: higher profits and bad bitches in the wings, instead of bad men.
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
