Editing Playboy (section)

===1960s–1990s===
[[File:Playboy Staff in 1970.jpg|thumb|right|The editorial board of ''Playboy'' in 1970. Back, left to right: [[Robie Macauley]], Nat Lehrman, Richard M. Koff, Murray Fisher, Arthur Kretchmer; front: Sheldon Wax, Auguste Comte Spectorsky, Jack Kessie.]]
In the 1960s, the magazine added "The Playboy Philosophy" column. Early topics included gay rights,<ref name="sixties"/> women's rights, censorship, and the First Amendment.<ref name="sixties">{{cite news |last1=Batura |first1=Amber |title=Opinion {{!}} How Hugh Hefner Invented the Modern Man |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/opinion/hugh-hefner-playboy.html |work=The New York Times |date=28 September 2017}}</ref> ''Playboy'' was an early proponent of cannabis reform and provided founding support to the [[National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws]] in 1970.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

From 1966 to 1976, [[Robie Macauley]] was the fiction editor at ''Playboy''. During this period the magazine published fiction by [[Saul Bellow]], [[Seán Ó Faoláin]], [[John Updike]], [[James Dickey]], [[John Cheever]], [[Doris Lessing]], [[Joyce Carol Oates]], [[Vladimir Nabokov]], [[Michael Crichton]], [[John le Carré]], [[Irwin Shaw]], [[Jean Shepherd]], [[Arthur Koestler]], [[Isaac Bashevis Singer]], [[Bernard Malamud]], [[John Irving]], [[Anne Sexton]], [[Nadine Gordimer]], [[Kurt Vonnegut]] and [[J. P. Donleavy]], as well as poetry by [[Yevgeny Yevtushenko]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.webdelsol.com/AGNI/ag-08tk.htm |title=Kennedy, Thomas E., "A Last Conversation with Robie Macauley", ''Agnii'', Vol. 45, 1997 |publisher=Webdelsol.com |access-date=December 7, 2011}}</ref>

In 1968, at the feminist [[Miss America protest]], symbolically feminine products were thrown into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of ''Playboy'' and ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' magazines.<ref name=Greenfieldboyce>{{cite web|last=Greenfieldboyce|first=Nell|title=Pageant Protest Sparked Bra-Burning Myth|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94240375&from=mobile|publisher=NPR|access-date=February 6, 2012|date=September 5, 2008}}</ref> One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by [[Robin Morgan]], which listed ten characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women;<ref name="modern">{{cite web|url=http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/modern/No-More-Ms-America.html |title=No More Miss America! |publisher=The Feminist eZine |access-date=February 8, 2012}}</ref> it compared the pageant to ''Playboy''{{'}}s centerfold as sisters under the skin, describing this as "The Unbeatable [[Madonna–whore complex|Madonna–Whore]] Combination".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redstockings.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65&Itemid=103 |title=No More Miss America! |publisher=Redstockings.org |date=August 22, 1968 |access-date=May 24, 2018}}</ref>

Macauley contributed all of the popular ''Ribald Classics'' series published between January 1978 and March 1984.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

After reaching its peak in the 1970s, ''Playboy'' saw a decline in circulation and cultural relevance due to competition in the field it founded—first from ''[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]]'', then from ''[[Oui (magazine)|Oui]]'' (which was published as a spin-off of ''Playboy'') and ''[[Gallery (magazine)|Gallery]]'' in the 1970s; later from pornographic [[Videotape|videos]]; and more recently from [[lad mags]] such as ''[[Maxim (magazine)|Maxim]]'', ''[[FHM]]'', and ''[[Stuff (magazine)|Stuff]]''. In response, ''Playboy'' attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to the content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in the "''Playboy'' Interview".<ref>{{cite web|last=Rosenstiel|first=Thomas B.|date=1986-08-25|title=Magazines in Decline : Sex Losing Its Appeal for Playboy|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-25-mn-16028-story.html|access-date=2021-04-25|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> In February 1974, [[Ratna Assan]] became the first women of Indonesian descent to be featured, shortly after a positively received role in the film ''[[Papillon (1973 film)|Papillon]]'' (1973).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhawono |first=Aryo |title=Ratna Assan, Perempuan Indonesia Pertama di Majalah Playboy |url=https://news.detik.com/berita/d-3664236/ratna-assan-perempuan-indonesia-pertama-di-majalah-playboy |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=detiknews |language=id-ID}}</ref>

[[Christie Hefner]], daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, joined ''Playboy'' in 1975 and became head of the company in 1988. She announced in December 2008 that she would be stepping down from leading the company, effective in January 2009. She said that the election of [[Barack Obama]] as the next President had inspired her to give more time to charitable work and that the decision to step down was her own. "Just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is the time to make changes in my own life as well", she said.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article5310203.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515005812/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article5310203.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 15, 2011 |title=Hefner's daughter Christie walks away from Playboy Enterprises |work=The Times |location=London |first=Christine |last=Seib |date=December 9, 2008 |access-date=May 22, 2010}}</ref> Hefner was succeeded by company director and media veteran [[Jerome H. Kern]] as interim CEO, who was in turn succeeded by publisher [[Scott Flanders]].<ref>{{cite news |title=As Business Falls Off, Playboy Looks For Buyers |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2009/02/20/100906383/as-business-falls-off-playboy-looks-for-buyers |access-date=2022-06-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=MCN Staff |date=2009-07-08 |title=Jerome Kern Exits Playboy Board |url=https://www.nexttv.com/news/jerome-kern-exits-playboy-board-364258 |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=Multichannel News}}</ref>