Research Catalog

Title

Bachelors and bunnies : the sexual politics of Playboy / Carrie Pitzulo.

Author

Pitzulo, Carrie.

Publication

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

ix, 240 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

For a lot of people, thoughts about the sexual politics of Playboy run along the lines of what Gloria Steinem reportedly once told Hugh Hefner: "A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual." Hefner's magazine celebrates men as swinging bachelors and women as objects of desire; ergo, it's sexist. Not so fast, says Carrie Pitzulo. With this book she delves into the history of the magazine to reveal its surprisingly strong record of support for women's rights and the modernization of sexual and gender roles. Taking readers behind the scenes of Playboy's heyday, Pitzulo shows how Hefner's own complicated but thoughtful perspective on modern manhood, sexual liberation, and feminism played into debatesabout how Playboy's trademark "girl next door" appeal could accommodate, acknowledge, and even honor the changing roles and new aspirations of women in postwar America. Revealing interviews with Hugh Hefner and his daughter (and later Playboy CEO) Christie Hefner, as well as with a number of editors and even Playmates, show that even as the magazine continued to present a romanticized notion of gender difference, it again and again demonstrated a commitment to equality and expanded opportunities for women.

Alternative Title

Sexual politics of Playboy

Subject

• Hefner, Hugh M. 1926-2017
• Playboy (Chicago, Ill.)
• Men's magazines > United States > 20th century > History
• Sex role > United States > History > 20th century
• Sex role > History > United States > 20th century
• Sex > United States > History > 20th century
• Sex role in mass media > History
• Sex in mass media > History
• Men's magazines > United States > History > 20th century

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Playboy : the sassy newcomer -- The womanization of Playboy -- Inventing the Girl-Next-Door : The pulchritudinous playmates -- Selling the dream : Playboy and the masculine consumer -- Lack of love is a tragedy : Playboy and romantic values -- The battle in every man's bed : Playboy and the fiery feminists -- Feminism, the Playboy Foundation, and political activism.

ISBN

• 9780226670065 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 0226670066 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2010044987

OCLC

• 666235072
• SCSB-12430909

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library