Register Now!

Media

  • scannerscanner
  • scannerscreengrab
  • modern materialistthe modern
    materialist
  • video61 frames
    per second
  • videothe remote
    island
  • date machinedate
    machine

Photo

  • sliceslice with
    american
    suburb x
  • paper airplane crushpaper
    airplane crush
  • autumn blogautumn
  • chasechase
  • rose & oliverose & olive
Scanner
Your daily cup of WTF?
ScreenGrab
The Hooksexup Film Blog
Slice
Each month a new artist; each image a new angle. This month: American Suburb X.
ScreenGrab
The Hooksexup Film Blog
Autumn
A fashionable L.A. photo editor exploring all manner of hyper-sexual girls down south.
The Modern Materialist
Almost everything you want.
Paper Airplane Crush
A San Francisco photographer on the eternal search for the girls of summer.
Rose & Olive
Houston neighbors pull back the curtains and expose each other's lives.
chase
The creator of Supercult.com poses his pretty posse.
The Remote Island
Hooksexup's TV blog.
61 Frames Per Second
Smarter gaming.
Date Machine
Putting your baggage to good use.

Scanner

WIRED Analysis: Playboy's Incredibly Shrinking Women

Posted by Colleen Kane

 

WIRED crunched some numbers, namely the proportions of Playboy models from 1954 to the present day, and determined what we've noticed just through casual observation: earlier Playboy models had a bit more meat on their bones compared to the models of today, who are proportioned more like anime characters. This is in contrast to the average American man and woman, who is getting larger over time. But somehow, the breast sizes of models have mysteriously stayed in the C-D cup range, even though the bust sizes have gone down.

Surprisingly, while to us this study emphasises that women were beautiful back in the 50s and didn't have to mutate to their current unnatural format, the findings have proven rather controversial in the comments of the WIRED article...

LOL! Post a story like this trying to extrapolate that Playboy is sexist and has unrealistic ideals of womanhood, and a bunch of number-crunching nerds go, "wait, the ideal has remained remarkably consistent, modern women are just pigs"... I love it...

Why is this a problem? No, really? It's a mildly interesting fact, perhaps a good cocktail party starter, but . . . who cares? Women who constantly compare themselves to Playboy models (note "models", not "regular women") are like guys who constantly compare themselves to a sports figure or Donald Trump: woefully insecure. Fantasy is fantasy, not ideology, folks.

Playboy doesn't "want" its readers to lust after androids. Playboy simply provides images that guys want to see. If guys liked looking at pics of 200 pound women, that's what playboy would publish. The models are simply getting skinnier and in better shape because they workout, where as in the 60's women never did.

This article is just another in a long line of sad attempts by women to rationalize men's lust for skiny, big boobed hot chicks. Sorry ladies, its not the media or playboy's fault. Nobody has brainwashed us. Its just the way we are.

 

This response seems kind of grim for the future of women's morphing bodies, or at least the bodies of women who aspire to be in Playboy.

Related:

Bye-Bye Bunnies: Playboy Hops Away From NYC

Playboy's Presidential Sex Quiz A Welcome Distraction From Boring Obama Stories

Who Would You Rather: Joe "Boobies" Francis vs. Hugh Hefner?


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Monique said:

How depressing.

February 9, 2009 11:21 AM

About Colleen Kane

Colleen has been an editor at BUST and Playgirl magazines and has written for the endangered species of dead-tree magazines like SPIN and Plenty, as well as Radar Online and other websites. She lives in exile in Baton Rouge with her fiance, two dogs, and her former cat. Read her personal blogs at ColleenKane.com.

in

about the blogger

Emily Farris writes about culture and food for numerous publications and websites you've probably never heard of, including her own blog eefers. Her first cookbook, Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven was published in 2008. Emily recently escaped New York and now lives in a ridiculously large apartment in Kansas City, MO with her cat, but just one... so far.

Brian Fairbanks is a filmmaker living in the wilds of Brooklyn. He previously wrote for the Hartford Courant and Gawker. He won the Williamsburg Spelling Bee once. He loves cats, women with guns, and burning books.

Colleen Kane has been an editor at BUST and Playgirl magazines and has written for the endangered species of dead-tree magazines like SPIN and Plenty, as well as Radar Online and other websites. She lives in exile in Baton Rouge with her fiance, two dogs, and her former cat. Read her personal blogs at ColleenKane.com.

Send us links!


Tags

we recommend

partners