#ThrowbackThursday

#ThrowbackThursday: “Playboy,” 1953

Marilyn Monroe cover for ‘Playboy,’ Dec. 1953 (NY Daily News)

“Playboy” creator Hugh Hefner put out the first issue of his influential magazine in December 1953. It featured actress Marilyn Monroe on the cover and centerfold. Hef knew exactly what his mag (originally titled “Stag Party”) was all about: The introduction to Volume 1, Number 1 clearly states that the periodical isn’t a “family magazine.”

Today, this legendary first issue that spawned an empire is up for auction. Put up by Nate D. Sanders in Los Angeles, it’s expected to go for $2.7K. This first issue is very rare, as only around 54K copies were printed since Hefner wasn’t sure if it would be successful. Luckily for him, it took off immediately, and American culture was never the same.

#ThrowbackThursday: Violet Gordon-Woodhouse

Violet Gordon-Woodhouse (The Clarion Review)

Here’s someone you might not have learned about in history class: British musician Violet Gordon-Woodhouse was born on this day in 1872. She’s known for bringing the harpsichord back into popularity, and used it to make some records. Gordon-Woodhouse was the first person to make a harpsichord recording, and the first musician to broadcast a performance with the instrument.

But her story is also infused with sexuality. She married Gordon Woodhouse in 1895, taking both his names for her professional one, and finagled a marriage very beneficial to her needs: She insisted on time to pursue her career, and to open the marriage. At one point, Gordon-Woodhouse’s menagerie of men swelled to three others besides her main husband. (Sadly, I couldn’t find any photographic evidence of this ménage a cinq.)

I first read about Gordon-Woodhouse in Betsy Prioleau’s 2004 book, “Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love.” (It’s a great book, if you’re interested in learning about women taking a no-holds-barred approach to their life and loves.) We should all aspire to lead our lives as open as Gordon-Woodhouse did.

#ThrowbackThursday: Helen Mirren’s Stripper Shoes, 2013

Helen Mirren’s stripper shoes (The Cut)

In 2013, Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren showed up to the LA premiere of “Red 2” wearing an elegant emerald dress…and clear, extremely high stripper shoes. She referred to the shoes as her personal leg-lengthening trick, and has apparently owned them for years.

I love seeing an older woman who hasn’t been shoved aside and told that she’s irrelevant, and is instead living her life with gusto and enthusiasm. (Also, I love Helen Mirren.) It’s rare to see, but I always hope more people follow suit.

#ThrowbackThursday: Don Draper and Bobbie Barrett’s BDSM Session, “Mad Men” 2008

‘Mad Men’ season 2 still (Live Auction Group)

This week, we’re examining sexuality data from the 1960s, in celebration of the upcoming final half-season of “Mad Men” beginning Apr. 5th.

Remember this scene? In season 2, Don (Jon Hamm) began sleeping with Bobbie Barrett (Melinda McGraw), the wife of a performer that Sterling Cooper hired for an Utz Potato Chips commercial. In the episode “Maidenform,” we learn she has a penchant for being tied up during sex. But she doesn’t get satisfied, as she tells Don she’s been discussing his sexual prowess. He abruptly leaves, and that’s the end of their affair.

It’s actually the first of two BDSM-tinged scenes the show has depicted. The second one occurred in the sixth season during one of Don’s sessions with Sylvia Rosen (Linda Cardellini). Each scene effectively ended its respective affair. While two instances aren’t enough data from which to extrapolate a pattern, it’s certainly worth noting.

#ThrowbackThursday: Adam and Eve’s Phil Harvey, 1991

Phil Harvey, 1991 (IndyWeek)

This year, Adam and Eve founder Phil Harvey will give CatalystCon East’s closing keynote address.

Harvey founded Adam and Eve while getting his master’s degree in family planning administration at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC). In 1970, he began a mail-order business selling condoms, flouting the Comstock Law.

Harvey has two businesses: Adam and Eve, the nation’s largest mail-order adult product business (headquartered in Hillsborough, North Carolina) and Phil Harvey Enterprises, Inc. The latter company is a non-profit devoted to bringing contraception to underserved countries. This led him to win the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists’ (AASECT) Humanitarian Award in 2006.

With that history, Harvey’s keynote should be a must-see.

#ThrowbackThursday: Dr. Alfred Kinsey Lecturing at UC Berkeley, 1949

Dr. Alfred Kinsey lecturing at UC Berkeley, 1949 (The Guardian)

Dr. Alfred Kinsey, known to be one of the (if not the) father of modern sexology, lectured to a packed house at the University of California, Berkeley in 1949. This lecture capped off a big decade for him: He began by teaching a class on marriage (attended mostly by women) in which he espoused his beliefs on sexual frankness and equality for both genders. In 1947, he founded the Institute for Sex Research (now called The Kinsey Institute) at Indiana University. The following year, he wrote the breakthrough work “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.”

I couldn’t find any further information on this image. But look how many people are there to hear him speak! I’m sure it helped that his book had sold 200K+ within the first two months of its release. He was truly a rockstar, and I wonder what it would’ve been like to hear him speak.

#ThrowbackThursday: The Comstock Act, 1873

The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice seal (Loyno)

Praise be for mail-order sex toys. We wouldn’t have that option if the Comstock Act was enforced.

Enacted on Mar. 3, 1873, the Comstock Act (named after the bill’s cheerleader/goody-two-shoes Anthony Comstock) made it illegal to send sex toys, erotica, and items used in abortions, as well as information pertaining to said items, through the U.S. Postal Service. All of these things were classified as “obscene, lewd or lascivious.” The full title of the act was “The Act for the “Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use”. (What a mouthful, no wonder it was cut down to the Comstock Act.)

But what exactly was banned was a bit confusing. In some cases, medical textbooks showing basic human anatomy weren’t allowed to be sent through the mail. Because of this, the Act was understandably difficult to enforce. Though it remains on the books today, aspects of it have been torn down.

Thank god, because I can’t imagine a world where Adam & Eve, The Pleasure Chest and countless other retailers aren’t allowed to exist and flourish, and send us hours of pleasure packed in a brown-paper-wrapped box labeled with discreet shipping.

#ThrowbackThursday: Abercrombie & Fitch Ad, 2012

Abercrombie and Fitch ad shot by Bruce Weber (Towleroad)

Three years ago, acclaimed photographer Bruce Weber shot a promo for Abercrombie & Fitch that featured handsome male models doing things all guys do: wrestling, showering, and kissing.

That last one is depicted up top. Later, the clothing brand claimed that the video (and three related others) were part of an official A&F campaign, even though Weber had identified the video as such on his Facebook page.

Regardless, it’s still a cool image. Abercrombie will always be the first softcore your 13-year-old self squealed over, but it’s at least made some strides towards acceptance (certain other inflammatory comments from former CEO Mike Jeffries notwithstanding).

#ThrowbackThursday: Vintage Lingerie Ad, Date Unknown

Estetica bra advertisement (Hot Pinups Tumblr)

I found this image on Pinterest, which led to me The Lingerie Addict and Hot Pinups (NSFW) Tumblrs. I don’t have any information on this ad (I’m not entirely positive that Estetica refers to the company), but I love it!

The bra looks similar to Madonna’s cone bra circa her “Blonde Ambition” World Tour in 1990, no? Maybe Madonna saw this ad while coming up with costume concepts.

#ThrowbackThursday: Hitachi Magic Wand, 1968

Magic Wand packaging, pre- and post-rebranding (Engadget)

On April 25, 1968, Japanese company Hitachi listed its Magic Wand for business in the U.S with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Originally advertised as a massager in the 1970s, it quickly gained a new (and arguably larger) reputation as a powerful vibrator.

Sex educator Betty Dodson was the first person to recommend it, using the device in her classes on female masturbation. For women uneasy about going to a sex shop to purchase a toy, the Magic Wand filled a previously-unknown niche: Dodson got hers in the small appliance section at Macy’s.

It looks almost orthopedic, with a “tennis-ball-size” head sitting at the end of the white plastic shaft. (And it’s almost as long as the model’s forearm on the old packaging.) The Magic Wand has two speeds: low (5K vibrations per minute) and high (6K vibrations per minute). It weighs 1+ pound, and measures 12 inches. But nationally-known sex shop Good Vibrations reports that the Magic Wand has been one of their best-sellers since 1977.

In 2013, Hitachi rebranded the massager, as they were uneasy as being unofficially branded a covert sex toy. (I guess it took them 46 years to catch on?) Hitachi’s name doesn’t feature on the new packaging, but it doesn’t obscure what everyone knows: The Cadillac of vibrators is inside.

Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang

Statistics. Economics. Sex.