Playboy Magazine

Playboy Magazine is a "gentleman's" adult entertainment publication that features, among other pictures and articles, pictures of nude or semi-nude women. That's the technical definition. The extended, real-life definition would include Playboy's profound affect on American culture and image of women as we know them today.

Playboy was founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953 and has grown into the massive empire that is now known as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. The magazine is translated into more than a dozen languages and distributed to nearly 30 countries worldwide. The conglomerate also publishes Playgirl, the male-centric version of the adult entertainment magazine meant for a female audience.

Playboy is known for their famous bunny logo and their Playmates, the models that pose for the magazine's layouts as well as work for Playboy events, appearances and autograph signings. Playboy's first Playmate in 1953 was none other than Marilyn Monroe. This edition sold in mint condition for $5,000 in 2002. To this day, Playboy continues to set trends with their Playmate selection. They broke new ground by featuring an African-American Playmate, Jennifer Jackson, in 1965 and have featured numerous celebrities including Pamela Anderson, LaToya Jackson and Debbie Gibson.

The Playboy Interview
Besides Playmates, Playboy Magazine is also known for its famous interviews of effective change makers of our time. These include Malcolm X, Miles Davis, John Lennon, Fidel Castro, Ayn Rand, Martin Luther King, Jr., Orson Welles, Ralph Nader and Stephen Hawking. The interviews are famous for their bold, confrontational nature and exhaustive process--the interviews can take up to 10 hours to complete.