Playboy gave us a glimpse into life

After 70 years Playboy is packing up its centerfold and heading to the antique and collectible shops.  The magazine will not be published again, although you can still get some of its content on-line.

For those of us who grew up with Playboy and learned about life from its pages, losing this icon of the American Century is like losing an old uncle who taught us the facts of life.

Its pages were filled with news and information.  Award-winning authors like Arthur Clarke, Ian Fleming and Saul Bellows were regular contributors.  I liked its racy cartoons, particularly those drawn by Shel Silverstein.

OK – I like the pictures too.  A teenage boy growing up the 50’s and early 60’s, we had little access to sexual information.  If we were able to get a copy of Playboy it was passed around from kid to kid until there was little of left.  It was through the pictures that we learned about girls.  Granted, it was exploitative, erroneous, lecherous and oh so much fun.

We marveled at the beauty of the woman.  Ogled their bare breasts and yearned for a little more of their private parts, which Playboy eventually unveiled although long after our teenage years.  And, while it may have sent us off with a wrong understanding of women, it did get us through those rough teen years.  I doubt that teenage girls had anything to help them on the way to womanhood.

Now, porn is rampant through the internet, on television and in what few magazines still exist.  Teenagers have so many outlets that something like Playboy is dying along with those of us who first learned about life from its pages.

Do I miss it?  No.  I just miss the idea of it.