PHILIPPINES: Playboy launches Philippine edition of their magazine targeting mature men; women's rights advocates warn against objectifying female body

Record ID: 858701

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Playboy launches Philippine edition of their magazine targeting mature men; women's rights advocates warn against objectifying female body
  • Date: 6th April 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PLAYBOY PHILIPPINES, EDITOR, SAYING: "We do not want to go overboard, we just want to produce a really great magazine. And it has to include women because it's a men's magazine. It's a men's lifestyle magazine. Can you imagine a men's lifestyle magazine without women? It doesn't make sense."
  • Embargoed: 21st April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • City:
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVADUSANW6GC4VJ4DXLEJERTYTAP
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Playboy magazine made a splash in news stands around the Philippine capital on Thursday (April 3), while a women's rights group cautioned against treating women as sex objects.
    A crowd of mostly male yuppies attended the magazine launch at a posh hotel in Manila on Wednesday (April 2) night, smoking cigars, drinking liquor and posing with women dressed as Playboy Bunnies.
    "Look at those Playboy Bunnies. Today Playboy Bunnies is a world-renowned brand for beautiful women in those bunny costumes. That's why we would like to be like Hugh Hefner with that Playboy mansion," said a banker at the launch party.
    Mens' magazines displaying risque photos are popular in the Philippines despite a conservative Catholic society that frowns upon sexual liberation.
    The men's magazine sector comprises 50 percent of the market.
    Playboy Philippines' editor-in-chief, Beting Dolor, said they target mature men with a taste for literary journalism and artistic nude photography.
    "We do not want to go overboard, we just want to produce a really great magazine. And it has to include women because it's a men's magazine.
    It's a men's lifestyle magazine. Can you imagine a men's lifestyle magazine without women? It doesn't make sense," Dolor said.
    Gabriela, a women's Rights Advocacy Group, disagrees with how such magazines tend to objectify women.
    "We have an appreciation for beauty. We have an appreciation for biological desires. What is alarming is if turns out there are factors of exploitation, taking advantage, or creating a culture that women are sex objects," said Emmie De Jesus, Gabriela's Secretary General Founded in 1953, Playboy has some 20 local editions around the world that cater to local taste rather than simply exporting and translating its U.S. content. As English is widely spoken around the archipelago, Playboy Philippines is the only English-language edition outside the U.S.
    The first issue touts articles by well-respected local authors and a mix of reviews, interviews and fashion spreads. The nude photos did not show full exposure.
    "I'll buy this. They can get the message out to the people that it's not this wild anymore. Well, it would be better and safer for other people, like for the Catholics in the Philippines. Well, if FHM is here and the other brands and if Playboy is going to be like this, and let the priests read them also," said mall customer Marcus Obieta.
    The magazine will be distributed in hundreds of news stands around the country at 199 pesos (4.80 USD) per issue, and 70 percent of the content is local.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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