# Is Playboy porn? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791 "2011-07-21T01:25:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/1 "2011-07-21T01:25:54Z")
Hot debate with some coworkers a few days ago, strictly divided among gender lines. The women said yes, the men said no. I opined that Playboy is “soft” porn, but still porn. IS it porn? Yes, there are actual articles in it – but there’s still naked women. But there are naked women in Hustler, too, and there’s _definitely_ a difference between the 2 magazines. On the other hand, I can’t put Playboy in the same “not porn” category as Better Homes and Gardens. So whatcha think? ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/2 "2011-07-21T01:33:52Z")
Of course not. Pictures of a naked body isn’t porn. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/3 "2011-07-21T01:39:18Z")
Well, if the test is would I feel OK reading it in front of family members/co-workers/etc…then no. It doesn’t pass the “I’m not embarrassed of it” test. Not that that’s an official thing or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/4 "2011-07-21T01:43:30Z")
At any time in your discussion did anyone want to perhaps discuss what the meaning of the word “porn” is for purposes of the discussion? Or do you work in a factory or something? Playboy is of course both porn and not porn depending on the definition of “porn.” My own personal feeling on the meaning of “porn” in the abstract would include pictures of naked people designed to tittilate the viewer (as opposed to, say, designed to teach the viewer something about human anatomy). So, Playboy is porn. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/5 "2011-07-21T01:45:48Z")
Of course it is. Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > The word is similar to the modern Greek πορνογραφία (pornographia), which derives from the Greek words πόρνη (pornē, “prostitute” and pornea, “prostitution”), and γράφειν (graphein, “to write or to record,” derived meaning “illustration,” cf. “graph”), and the suffix -ία (-ia, meaning “state of,” “property of,” or “place of”), thus meaning “a written description or illustration of prostitutes or prostitution”. No date is known for the first use of the word in Greek. > The word did not enter the English language as the familiar conjunction until 1857 [4] or as a French import in New Orleans in 1842.[5][dead link] Oxford English Dictionary: (bolding mine) > [@](#): > > 1. a. The explicit description or exhibition of **sexual subjects or activity** in literature, painting, films, etc., in a manner intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic feelings; printed or visual material containing this. A distinction is often made between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ pornography, on the basis of how explicit or taboo the material in question is held to be. See HARD adj. and n. Compounds 2; SOFT adj. Compounds 4. A photograph of an attractive individual posing nude in a position designed for erotic appeal clearly fits the definition of “exhibition of sexual subjects … in a manner intended to stimulate erotic rather aesthetic feelings”. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/6 "2011-07-21T01:46:45Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > At any time in your discussion did anyone want to perhaps discuss what the meaning of the word “porn” is for purposes of the discussion? Oh yes, we went a few rounds with that too. I just figured that issue has probably been hashed to death on here. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/7 "2011-07-21T01:49:17Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Well, if the test is would I feel OK reading it in front of family members/co-workers/etc…then no. It doesn’t pass the “I’m not embarrassed of it” test. Not that that’s an official thing or anything. To me that’s way too vague of a test. There’s a lot of stuff that has no titillation factor but I wouldn’t be caught dead reading in front of family members, coworkers etc. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/8 "2011-07-21T02:01:23Z")
Some of it’s porn, some of it isn’t. The naked girls posed seductively are porn, articles on non-sex-related things aren’t porn. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/9 "2011-07-21T02:30:47Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Some of it’s porn, some of it isn’t. The naked girls posed seductively are porn, articles on non-sex-related things aren’t porn. Porn is a spectrum, and contextual. The photo spreads in Playboy probably register as “porn of the exceedingly mildest variety.” ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/10 "2011-07-21T02:34:14Z")
Of course it is, next question. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/11 "2011-07-21T02:37:28Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Of course it is. > > Wikipedia: > Oxford English Dictionary: (bolding mine) > A photograph of an attractive individual posing nude in a position designed for erotic appeal clearly fits the definition of “exhibition of sexual subjects … in a manner intended to stimulate erotic rather aesthetic feelings”. Porn == wank material. Is that the purpose? Then it’s porn. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/12 "2011-07-21T02:47:36Z")
Soft porn is still porn. I would consider _Playboy_ to be just on the porn side of the porn threshold, while _[American Phtotgrapher](http://www.coroflot.com/louiscruz/publication-covers/7)_ would be on the non-porn side. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/13 "2011-07-21T02:47:53Z")
Yes because it exists only to excite ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/14 "2011-07-21T03:13:40Z")
If my choices are porn or not porn, then it’s porn. Just barely, but porn. I however, read it for the articles. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/15 "2011-07-21T03:18:38Z")
In the 1950’s-60’s, it was the porniest porn you were likely to see in polite society, and some polite societies didn’t like it a whole lot. That was before Hustler and the Internet. How things change. I was asked to put a Playboy away in a restaurant in the 1980’s even though there was no exposed flesh and I was simply reading an article to a girlfriend. It offended the manager that much. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/16 "2011-07-21T03:27:02Z")
Of course it’s porn. Even a book full of classical nudes is porn if it’s used or especially marketed as erotic material. (I’d draw the line at a book with only a handful of classical nudes since while people may also use it as a wank material there’s no way it was intended as such, while a compilation of entirely classical nudes may be iffy.) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/17 "2011-07-21T03:34:25Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Of course it’s porn. Even a book full of classical nudes is porn if it’s used or especially marketed as erotic material. (I’d draw the line at a book with only a handful of classical nudes since while people may also use it as a wank material there’s no way it was intended as such, while a compilation of entirely classical nudes may be iffy.) Then I guess a Sears catalog would be out. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/18 "2011-07-21T04:26:34Z")
I haven’t looked at a Playboy mag since I was a kid and my dad had a subscription to it. I’ve watched porn and don’t believe that the photos in Playboy quite qualify as “porn.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/19 "2011-07-21T04:33:36Z")
Of course it’s porn. I mean, not all of it–Playboy has or had its share of great writing and cartoons, but the centerfolds and model pictorials, of course it’s porn. Mild, inoffensive porn (in my opinion), but porn nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791/20 "2011-07-21T05:09:27Z")
Yeah it’s porn. It’s marshmallow fluff porn, but it’s porn. But it’s somehow, I don’t know, “respectible porn”, if that makes sense. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playboy-porn/589791.md?page=2)