by James H. Burns

PLAYBOY helped teach me a REVERENCE for the female form.

I suppose that some would suggest that any nude photography of women, or men for that matter, can't help but objectify them.

But having been raised on PLAYBOY pictorials in the magazine's greatest era, I gained an even higher appreciation for all varieties, shapes and forms of the gloriousness of a lady's figure.

Had not God devised women, in all their rapture?

My parents had already taught me to respect the "opposite sex."

Mr Hefner--Hugh, that is, the magazine's publisher and editor-in-chief of course--helped illustrate all the myriad ways in which an American beauty could be lovely.

I wonder how many people remember now that one of Playboy's precepts and slogans used to be about honoring "The Girl Next Door..."? The publication only lost its way, pictorially, when they began featuring models who would have been at home in any other fashion shoot, or venue.

PLAYBOY could, of course, mislead a young man. It was disconcerting, at first in my youth, to realize that most women were not as perfectly airbrush-refined as the magazine's photo-retouchers would make their centerfolds.

But there was also some kind of epiphany when you encountered a partner who was nearly as flawless as the Playmates. (The gal I wound up dating for most of the 1980s, in fact--someone I fell in love with as a person, somewhere between our first kiss, and our initial tryst--had a figure that almost exactly resembled those so lovingly depicted by one of PLAYBOY's most famous cartoonists, who favored slim, and elegant women.)

Hefner and his magazine was a pioneer in civil rights, and spent a fortune helping to finance many civil liberties causes. The articles and fiction in the magazine were indeed first rate, and the monthly in-depth interviews with celebrities, intellectuals or political leaders were among the best of their kind, and occasionally, headline-making, (Many of the magazine's non-fiction features remain top-notch.)

PLAYBOY hurt its own brand when they ventured into cable television, over thirty years ago. The channel wound up being sleazy, something one would much sooner associate with one of the magazine's prurient knock-offs, rather than the classy image the corporation had strove so hard to establish.

THE PLAYBOY CHANNEL may make a fortune for the company, but it's at the cost of cheapening its most valuable asset: The PLAYBOY name.

For a couple of generations of American men, "Playboy" meant class, and a guidebook, really, via its lifestyle features, to how one could try to explore a more fulfilling existence--not by necessarily becoming a cavalier in the night, but by experiencing a variety of cultural, culinary and esthetic experiences.

Hefner, who was such a figurehead, and eloquent speaker for the cause of individual freedom with responsibility, has long since become a cartoon, an odd septuagenarian who, as he entered his eighties, starring on reality shows, actually seemed to believe that there was a reason why young women apparently enjoyed dancing with him, other than his fame and money.

PLAYBOY, of course, has announced that it will remove naked women from its pages, that the proliferation of such images on the internet has made their presence unnecessary. Most media coverage of the decision ignored that MAXIM, PLAYBOY's chief competitor in the men's magazine field, has almost always held a similar policy, and by targeting a young demographic, captured much of the audience that once belonged almost exclusively to Hefner's domain.

(MAXIM's circulation has been higher than PLAYBOY's distrbution, for years.)

To be sure, Hefner hasn't made the key business decisions at Playboy Enterprises for decades. But I believe his associates are making a mistake.

The magazine could return to its former glory, and sales-numbers, by embracing what it once did so well:

Celebrating the beauty of women in an innocent, and lovely fashion, and finding the best way to celebrate what has become an even greater panorama of our nation's feminine charms.

Everyone, after all, knows a girl next door.

James H. (Jim) Burns, has written features for such magazines as GENTLEMAN'S QUARTERLY, ESQUIRE, HEAVY METAL and TWILIGHT ZONE; and Op-Eds or essays for NEWSDAY, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE SPORTING NEWS and THE NEW YORK TIMES. He has become active in radio, and contributed to Broadway, and Off-Broadway, productions.

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