Playboy will no longer feature nude women in its print edition

Playboy

(Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images for Playboy)

Times have changed at Playboy.

Starting next year, the publication long known for showcasing the female physique will no longer feature models in the nude, according to a report in The New York Times.

The decision apparently rose from a meeting with Playboy editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner and an editor at the magazine, amid discussions about a forthcoming update.

The Times' Ravi Somaiya writes that now that Playboy has effectively accomplished its founding goal of "normalizing" the female body by introducing women to the world in their au naturel state, the magazine's mission has been accomplished.

Keep in mind that in the days before Playboy landed on magazine racks (in the 1950s), female nudity was taboo.

Playboy CEO Scott Flanders is quoted in The Times: "That battle has been fought and won ... you're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free."

Flanders is essentially saying that the internet has made the thrill of eyeballing naked women "passé" and that Playboy can no longer let that be its primary commodity.

Evidence of that can be found in a report by the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM), The Times notes, which says Playboy's 5.6 million circulation in 1975 has taken a staggering fall to just 800,000.

Playboy Magazine

(AP Photo/Joe Coomber)

According to AAM's magazine-circulation figures from 2014, the most popular magazine in circulation among the top 25 in the US was "AARP The Magazine."

AARP stands for the American Association of Retired Persons, an organization primarily focused on baby boomers. Its magazine had a total paid and verified circulation of 22.8 million as of 2014.

The second-most-circulated magazine is another AARP publication, boasting circulation of 22.2 million in the same year.

Perhaps most telling about the decline of the adult magazine is its slow disappearance from newspaper stands. The Times notes that many have been relegated to "specialist stores" instead.

Playboy's biggest foes now, according to The Times' Somaiya, are digital news outlets like the $2.5 billion juggernaut Vice Media, which could be eating Playboy's lunch at the moment, with an entire vertical dedicated to the genre that made Playboy famous.

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