The History of Girly Magazines and Censorship

From Girly Mags vs. the Censors, a review of The History of Girly Magazines by Dian Hanson:

In the U.S., by contrast, the government still tries to draw a line between mere sexual explicitness, which is protected by the First Amendment, and obscenity, which is not. Because this distinction is based on “community standards,” which are influenced by what publishers manage to get away with, the line is constantly moving. By running pictures of topless women along with serious articles by well-known writers, Hugh Hefner inspired a horde of imitators (including Duke, a short-lived Playboy for black men with a button-eyed mannequin instead of a rabbit as a mascot) and helped make sexual content acceptable, if not respectable. By 1970, 17 years after Playboy’s premiere issue featuring a nude but discreetly posed Marilyn Monroe, community standards were accommodating enough to allow what Hanson identifies as “the very first pubic hair to appear on the American newsstand.” It belonged to a snorkeler photographed on a beach for Penthouse, a publication that embodied Bob Guccione’s vision of a magazine for men who thought Playboy was too hoity-toity (which makes his title choice a little puzzling).