Marge in Playboy
Oh, Marge. The thing is, I have never liked Playboy. I think the whole line of Playboy being a feminist magazine is just ridiculous. But I kind of have to admire the move to put Marge on the cover. Because now, they are no longer faking it. The magazine says – ‘look here’s the plastic, submissive, big breasted woman you’ve always wanted’. Her hair is blue, her legs are lean, and she won’t ever walk out on you for being a giant jerk – it’s like a porn viewers dream right? In fact, I think all of Playboy should become cartoons.
Plus, it made national news so I have to hand it to the genius who managed to put this tired rag back in the spotlight.
Would Marge, if she were real, actually do this? I tend to think so, mainly because Marge is so easily suckered in or swayed when someone appeals to her vanity or gives her just a few minutes of undivided attention. Lisa would have a fit though.
What do you think of this cover? Oh, another reason I’m glad it’s a cartoon is because it is seriously unsanitary to sit in what looks like a cafeteria chair without underwear. I’m just saying…
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Hey Nathan!
Ok, I can’t really tell if you’re joking or being serious so I’m going to go with serious cause you bring up some good points.
The articles – oh sweet baby jesus in his tiny tiny manager how I love the “articles” arguement. The thing is you can read much of what’s said in playboy other places. Stephen King’s stories will be reprinted, Bencio Del Toro won’t say anything you haven’t heard a thousand times before and all those self-help or political articles are interesting but not something I think anyone should base their life around. Plus, I think your mom might be a bit disappointed to find out that playboy had more of a say in how you treat women than she did 
Hey, how come I never met your mom?
I don’t at all think you’re a douche. I think you’re a man who can actually think for himself and who, like most men even if they don’t always admit it, wants a loving and equal relationship. Looking at a few naked ladies in playboy isn’t going to suddenly send you over to the dark side, in fact I’ve bet you’ve flat out laughed at some of the over the top spreads.
What bothers me is not the extreme side of people that pornography can bring out – though I do think that is a problem, especially with young men or teens who have yet to have a relationship. But the subtle societal acceptance. I have no problem with nudity or sex (check out my yaoi collection) but this is sex without context. It’s like violence without context and slowly we begin to add context to it – because humans are a rational bunch, we want answers; we want things to mean something. And the meaning we put on this is: women have value if they are naked and young and laid out on a couch for my viewing pleasure.
The idea that even good guys can say ‘well a woman can sure be a commodity as long as she’s paid good’ is kind of sad, don’t you think? And it’s not just men, women accept this too, even try to emulate what they see.
Here’s the part where I point out that as well compensated as these women are they aren’t nearly as well off as Hef. They won’t ever be. I doubt they own any rights to the images taken of them and as soon as they gain weight, cause a scandal or *gasp* age their compensation and value is immediately shot to zero. Which sends the message to men and women alike that once a woman is undesirable, she can be replaced. Of course, lots of other things contradict this message which is why most men don’t completely turn into douches. However, enough of the message has sunk in that we almost don’t even see it.
It’s not like I think Playboy is the ruin of feminism, cause there are far worse things – the Oklahoma Legislature for instance. What bothers me is that Stephen King can publish playboy stories for twenty years and Miss November won’t even make it til December – even worse, noone’s going to ask her what she thinks about that.
Yup, i was serious. of course my family and friends played a much bigger part in forming who i am. my point is that playboy, in my opinion at least, is the least of our concerns as far as societal acceptance of the exploitation of women. it could maybe be likened to a gateway drug? a lot of stuff online makes me wanna vomit, so i for one am glad that there are classier depictions of the nude female form. as for the age thing, they’ve recently had carol alt pose, she’s over 50. they have events with previous playmates going as far back a the magazine does. they plug charities and business ventures for them as well. i really liked your run down on this, i agree with the point, just don’t hold playboy responsible for it. it’s a respect thing, there’s always gonna be porn, but at least playboy has some class and respect thrown in with the smut. cool?
Sadie you’re a genius. but damn. i totally agree playboy is NOT feminist, but i still like it. people really do read the articles.playboy taught me how to be a gentleman and respectful of women, not the pics, the advisor and articles. i don’t consider myself a douche bag and i think playboy is partially to thank. the women are top notch, hef treats ‘em right and they are WELL compensated for posing. we all know it’s airbrushed and fake, but it’s fantasy. just like graphic novels and manga. hope i didn’t piss you off.