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A couple of months ago we discussed the cultural legacy of the Playboy mag of all things under an effort post by @FiveHourMarathon. I was reminded of this by a recent lame-ass political scandal in Hungary in which a local/district volunteer coordinator of the main opposition party and apparently a single(?) mom was doxxed by some pro-government journos as a former porner / sex worker. Technically I’m supposed to call her a former porn actress, but the actual level of ‘acting’ that is involved in all of this makes me decide against doing so; supposedly she also appeared in a grand total of one casting video only (by Pierre Woodman) so calling her an actress would be a big stretch either way. Pretty much the only factor fueling this whole thing was that the party leader and MEP was pictured shaking hands with the ‘lady’ during some public events.
What does Playboy have anything to do with this, you might ask? Well, said party leader decided it’d be a swell idea to reverse the accusation of sleaziness and would also be some sort of clever gotcha to point out that a 51-year-old woman who’s a government commissioner and a former ‘Secretary of State for Sports’ (if you’re one of the few female politicians in Eastern Europe, it’s the sort of government position of lesser importance you can ever hope to fulfill, I guess) appeared in a photoshoot in the local edition of Playboy ages ago.
Anyway, I’m aware that culture wars are waged with maximal cynicism, dishonesty and opportunism, and this is a case of culture-warring alright; no need to remind me of that. Still, I found myself asking the rhetorical question: who the heck actually believes that posing for a photoshoot in a completely mainstreamed, slick, high-class magazine which eventually shifted to a women's fashion and lifestyle brand is the cultural/moral/social equivalent of anonymously getting your holes stuffed and swallowing cum/urine on camera for a handful of cash?
Both are monetizing sexuality in a fairly direct way, one is just a bit further along the spectrum. If you're saying the two can be distinguished, sure. If you're saying one is disqualifying for public office while the other isn't, I disagree.
With regards to the spectrum it was pointed out in the original thread that Playboy has become completely normalized as a mainstream product with a multitude of otherwise average wives (mostly suburban middle-class and higher-middle-class ones I imagine, but still) being OK with their husbands buying and reading it. This is an important difference. What obviously happened in this case is that a former porn ‘actress’ wasn’t knowingly selected for a political role i.e. whoever permitted her to be a district coordinator didn’t bother to do any serious background check.
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You know, I'd actually vote for President Mandingo if he promises to "fuck them canadians all to death".
Wait, wasn’t that a South Park plot?
It was indeed. Garrison gets turned into a parody of Trump, and runs for president with his platform being to "fuck them all [illegal immigrants from Canada] to death".
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