Playmate

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A playmate (English for "playmate, playmate") is a female model whose nude photos are or have been published as a series of pictures in the men's magazine Playboy . In each issue there is an editorially selected "Playmate of the month", which is also referred to as "Miss (of the month)". B. "Playmate of the month | Miss July ". At the end of the year, the readers will then choose the “Playmate of the Year” from these twelve candidates.

Carmella DeCesare , 2004 Playmate of the Year

development

After the magazine was founded in 1953, it was primarily the full-page photos of lightly clad, later naked women in the middle of the magazine that were responsible for Playboy's resounding success . Janet Pilgrim was the first Playmate to appear on a double-page spread in the June 1955 issue. The three-sided, fold-out centerfold has been around since March 1956 . Marilyn Monroe , who graced the middle of the first edition, was presented as the Sweetheart of the Month . The first Playmate of the Month was Margie Harrison, who featured in the second issue, January 1954. The first Playmate pubic hair featured in Playboy belonged to Liv Lindeland and was featured in January 1971.

While the Playmates were initially anonymous, after a few years the magazine switched to adding short texts in which the names and personal backgrounds of the women can be read. While critics of a feminist color in particular emphasized that the Playboy degrades women to pure sexual objects and portrays the Playmates as smooth, soulless and willing beings, more recent evaluations come to positive conclusions. For example, the psychologists James Began and Scott Allison emphasize in their study of the American Playmates from 1985 to 2001 that the accompanying texts - whether fictitious or truthful - conveyed the ideal of a strong, self-determined and ambitious woman.

The playmates are in many ways a mirror of social role models , but also of sexual preferences in the course of the ages. For example, in a study of the physiognomy and constitution of American playmates from 1960 to 2000, American researchers came to the conclusion that in times of economic crisis and social insecurity, women of more mature age, stronger stature and wider hips were depicted. In a study by the Playmates from 1978 to 1998, Canadian researchers found no significant changes in body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio , but came to the conclusion that 70% of the 240 women had a BMI of less than 18.5 and were therefore underweight . The finding was interpreted as evidence that the ideal-typical physique, as propagated by media such as Playboy, is problematic from a medical point of view and is partly responsible for the accumulation of eating disorders in young women.

See also

literature

  • Gretchen Edgren: The Playmate Book. All Playmates from six decades (OT: The Playmate Book ). Taschen-Verlag, Cologne, 2005, ISBN 3-8228-3977-9 .
  • James K. Beggan, Scott T. Allison: Tough Women in the Unlikeliest of Places: The Unexpected Toughness of the Playboy Playmate. In: Journal of Popular Culture. Volume 38, No. 5, August 2005 (English).

Web links

Commons : Playboy Playmates  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Playmate  - Explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Allison, Began, p. 800 ff.
  2. Terry F. Pettijohn, II and Brian J. Jungeberg: Playboy Playmate Curves: Changes in Facial and Body Feature Preferences Across Social and Economic Conditions . In: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin . Volume 30, No. 9, 2004. P. 1186–1197 ( Abstract ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to instructions and then remove this notice. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / psp.sagepub.com
  3. ^ PT Katzmarzyk and C. Davis: Thinness and body shape of Playboy centerfolds from 1978 to 1998. In: International Journal of Obesity . Volume 25, 2001, pp. 590-592. ( Abstract )