# Hotter: Playboy Playmates or Penthouse Pets **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204 "2010-11-28T21:05:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/1 "2010-11-28T21:05:59Z")
I picked Playmates. The Girl-Next-Dooriness coupled with nudity seals the deal for me. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/2 "2010-11-28T21:09:57Z")
Too many fake-boobed blondes in Playboy. Of course, it’s been many years since I’ve seen either. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/3 "2010-11-28T23:05:16Z")
The last issue of Playboy I can remember buying had a Margaux Hemingway pictorial. I think she’s been dead for 15 years or so, which may tell you that my opinion is not worthwhile here. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/4 "2010-11-28T23:08:01Z")
I grew up on Playmates that were only airbrushed, not surgically enhanced. Give me a mid-Sixties era Playmate any day. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/5 "2010-11-28T23:17:20Z")
Guccione was a genius ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/6 "2010-11-28T23:42:21Z")
> [@](#): > > The last issue of Playboy I can remember buying had a Margaux Hemingway pictorial. I think she’s been dead for 15 years or so, which may tell you that my opinion is not worthwhile here. That, or that you like zombie porn. \ ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/7 "2010-11-28T23:47:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That, or that you like zombie porn. > \ I need you around to answer physics questions. Thus, when you are impudent, I unleash the bees on Nancy Grace. I hope that’s okay. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/8 "2010-11-28T23:52:00Z")
I haven’t read either in decades. I have to go with Playboy for sentimental reasons, though. And, honestly, I did read the articles. Though admittedly, not first. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/9 "2010-11-28T23:55:33Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I haven’t read either in decades. I have to go with Playboy for sentimental reasons, though. And, honestly, I did read the articles. Though admittedly, not first. I can easily believe that you read the articles; Playboy had good articles, at least in the 80s and early 90s. Penthouse and Hustler were for the pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/10 "2010-11-29T00:05:29Z")
Let me think about this - Hugh Hefner had the girls who pseudo-intellectual WASP hipsters wanted to fuck; BoB Guccione had the girls who urban wanna-be wiseguys wanted to fuck, and Larry Flynt had the girls who truck drivers and factory workers wanted to fuck. As a member of the assumed-to-be-sexless geek demographic, I was glad to have underground comix. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/11 "2010-11-29T00:19:28Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Playboy had good articles, at least in the 80s and early 90s. 70s weren’t shabby either. I discovered girls at about the same time I discovered music. If I recall correctly, the first Playboy I read had a poll with great disagreement about whether Ringo Starr was a good drummer. The more things change . . . Good fiction, as well. And there was a Playmate in the latter part of the decade that I’m still 75% convinced I knew in junior high. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/12 "2010-11-29T00:22:30Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > 70s weren’t shabby either. I discovered girls at about the same time I discovered music. If I recall correctly, the first Playboy I read had a poll with great disagreement about whether Ringo Starr was a good drummer. The more things change . . . Good fiction, as well. > > And there was a Playmate in the latter part of the decade that I’m still 75% convinced I knew in junior high. I’d expect the 70s to be a lot better than the late 90s and after, as there would be a lot fewer breast-enchanced types. And I think (though I’m not sure) that I discovered the great Andre Dubus in Playboy. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/13 "2010-11-29T00:48:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Let me think about this - Hugh Hefner had the girls who pseudo-intellectual WASP hipsters wanted to fuck I’m not seeing that at all. The Playmates are the kind of women who are college cheerleaders and Playboy’s demographic is presumedly frat boys. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/14 "2010-11-29T02:29:02Z")
“Other” is an option? Give me Suicide Girl-types any day. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/15 "2010-11-29T02:38:51Z")
I grew up with Playboy being the one magazine you could see nude women regularly. I still find the airbrushed look sexy. They were idealized fantasy women, and that’s better than reality. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/16 "2010-11-29T02:53:48Z")
I recall liking Penthouse style ladies more than Playboy ones. But the term “Pet” irritated me in a way that “Playmate” didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/17 "2010-11-29T04:09:22Z")
Generally, I liked the Penthouse Pets–until they started peeing on the furniture. That’s where Guccione’s tastes and mine parted ways. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/18 "2010-11-29T05:16:49Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > “Other” is an option? Give me Suicide Girl-types any day. I wholeheartedly agree with this. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/19 "2010-11-29T05:27:27Z")
Overall, I’d say the Playmates were sexier than the Pets. The only issues of Penthouse I ever saw were from the mid90s on, when Penthouse started moving into hardcore. The Playmates of the 60s/70s were indeed far sexier; today’s Playmates are attractive but they’ve got that annoying generic blonde look today. It’s like Playboy has started cloning its centerforlds. Actually, I’d say the old Playboy Bunnies were way sexier than the Playmates. That outfit was seemingly engineered to make women look as good as possible. And when they had the “Bunnies of [this locale]” pictorials in Playboy they seemed far more casual than the centerfolds and thus far more approachable. I read a book on the Bunnies that stated when both Playmates and Bunnies appeared at the same events, the Bunnies got much more attention. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204/20 "2010-11-29T06:03:15Z")
Playboy, because Playboy girls look like they smell better than Penthouse girls. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotter-playboy-playmates-or-penthouse-pets/562204.md?page=2)