Before Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox and Amanda Simpson, there was Caroline “Tula” Cossey.
She was a striking 6-foot-tall British model whose face graced magazine covers and was displayed in national ad campaigns for vodka and lingerie in the late 1970s. Tula debuted as a Bond girl in For Your Eyes Only, to promote the film with other Bond girls, in a Playboy photoshoot, in June 1981 (Image 1).
Playboy is known as the most famous and bestselling American men’s magazine in the world evolving from just a magazine to a full-on enterprise including but not limited to — Playboy online, TV, and radio.
Due to growth of a new wave feminism and technological advances, we must ask ourselves is Playboy Enterprises really needed anymore? Or has Playboy run its’ course for content and innovation?
Women are breaking down the walls of traditional gender roles every day and changing the way the society functions and exists as a whole. Meanwhile, the internet is simultaneously working against them with online communities and forums that fetishize certain types of women or support strange and disturbing sexual activity with women, human trafficking is at large, and dating apps like Tinder, Bumble or OkCupid offer society a chance to find love on the go.
So, what is Playboy’s purpose today, if not, sex, culture and music/media?
On September 27, 2017, Hugh Hefner died at the age of 91 in the Playboy Mansion surrounded by friends and family. It is said that he died of natural causes. He lived a good, long life as the man who built the Playboy Empire, established in 1953. The first issue of Playboy was published in December of that same year with no cover date because Hefner was unsure if there would even be a second issue. However, with Marilyn Monroe on the front cover sales sky rocketed, selling more than 50,000 copies. Hefner worked his way to becoming a household name and built a legacy that is continuing to turn heads all over the world.
Continue reading “Hugh Hefner’s Legacy: Playboy, Activist, and Rebel”
Playboy has expanded since its’ inception in 1953 to the Playboy Club & Playboy Bunny in 1960 to Playboy TV in 1982 and Playboy Fashion in 2002 to the 60th anniversary in 2013. The company has grown from being a conservative entertainment magazine for men to a liberal enterprise with various media outlets that allows all types of women to have a voice free from censorship and embrace their constitutional rights under the first amendment through visual art.
Playboy has changed the game, and continues to be groundbreaking till this day! So, I just want to take a moment to appreciate a little history of Playboy that led us to today.
Check out the Top 10 list of the Most Iconic Playboy Issues in the gallery below:
In 1953, writer and illustrator, Hugh Hefner, incorporated HMH Publishing Co. Inc. in Delaware on October 1st. The first issue of Playboy, a men’s adult entertainment magazine, was published in December of that same year with no cover date because Hefner was unsure if there would be a second issue. However, with Marilyn Monroe on the cover page, it sold more than 50,000 copies and set anticipation for more to come.
