Playboy magazine is coming back – sorry, is it 2024 or 1954?

At a time when misogyny is already on the rise, the return of the iconic smut mag represents a big step backwards for women everywhere, writes Flic Everett

The magazine will relaunch in February (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty)

Just when you thought things might be improving for women, this week sees another swift uppercut to the face of feminism with reports heralding the relaunch of Playboy magazine next February.

The “storied, iconic” mag shut down during Covid, after the death of Hugh “Hef” Hefner in 2017. Hefner was the “storied, iconic” owner of the brand, who well into his eighties was still iconically picking off aspiring models in their late teens to come and “play” with him in his silk sheets at the increasingly shabby Playboy Mansion. This process is described in stomach-churning detail in his wife Crystal Hefner’s book Only Say Good Things, tellingly subtitled Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself.

“It all felt odd and robotic,” she writes of her first group sex party in Hef’s sleazy bedroom, describing it as “transactional”.

You might hope the toxic dream of Playboy had died along with Hefner. But now, the magazine featuring naked women glossed, shaved and buffed like dressage horses, (and let’s not forget, “high-end fiction” and interviews with fascinating men), is returning as an annual edition.

And to whip up excitement, they’re also reviving the “Playboy Franchise”, with a global search for Playmate of the Year – and “a new class of Playboy Bunnies, who will represent the brand at exclusive events and experiences”.

The relaunch comes as the photographer behind the next Pirelli calendar, which stopped featuring nude models in the wake of the #MeToo movement, announced that its forthcoming edition will be returning to its naked roots, saying, “We all come into this life naked. It’s kind of the best way to capture our true selves.” Quite.

Back in 1963, iconic, storied feminist writer Gloria Steinem went undercover as a Playboy bunny for a month. “My feet were still so swollen from the night before that I could barely get my regulation three-inch heels on,” she wrote, “and I had gauze wrapped around my middle where the costume had dug in.” This was over 60 years ago, before the idea of equality had taken root, and long before we were ever horrified at the idea of trussing up young women and presenting them to businessmen like chum for circling sharks.

For decades, becoming a bunny was presented as a desirable, fun career path for pretty, slim girls, with young teenagers snapping up Playboy-branded merchandise in the Noughties, and an episode of Sex and the City focusing on a glamorous visit to the Playboy Mansion, which regularly hosted A-list celebrities, alongside the group sex sessions starring the octogenarian owner.

It would be hard to find one “Playmate” who hasn’t given in to the pressure to have long hair, thin, tanned limbs, a tiny waist, a breast enhancement, a nose job, lip fillers, botox, a butt lift, liposuction… all to ensure they fit the mould of perfection dictated by the American porn industry.

Crystal Hefner describes her deep reluctance to go under the knife – and how she eventually gave in to her insecurities, to ensure she’d finally bag the coveted Playmate centerfold spot.

It’s only recently, in a world where the weary old Playboy aesthetic is siloed into the skimpy fantasies of Love Island, and young girls hope to emulate Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift rather than Katie Price and Jodie Marsh, that a harsh light has fallen on Playboy’s outdated sexism.

Ex-bunnies have written tell-all confessions, revealing the sleaze behind the glamour. The TV shows and merch have dried up, and the world has moved on.

Now, of course, we have incel favourite Andrew Tate preaching misogyny to teenage boys – but the upside is, a bald alleged sex offender ranting from a bunker doesn’t carry quite the cachet of giggling Playmates when it comes to encouraging young women to shed their clothes for the delight of watching men.

Perhaps we thought this view of women had died out, along with Page 3 and Nuts Magazine. Maybe we fondly imagined that feminism was finally getting somewhere, with actors speaking out during the #MeToo movement and young, female pop stars covering up and letting their talent shine brighter than their sequinned bikinis.

But it seems we were wrong. Porn remains one of the world’s most successful industries, and the sanitisation of pornographic images is one way to encourage the younger generation to keep on clicking – girls who long to be desired, and boys who want to be assured that it’s normal and aspirational to desire.

It can be, but the creaking Playboy model presents women as little more than objects for men to want, choose, and discard. Hef may be long dead, but his legacy lives on in his queasy idea of perfection, of what constitutes consent, and of what a happy, free woman looks like. And here we go again.