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Magdalene Taylor is the senior editor of Playboy and creator of the Substack e-newsletter Many Such Instances, which explores intercourse and relationships. Underneath Taylor, Playboy not too long ago launched a Substack, providing a mix of recent writing alongside a mixture of archival materials, fiction, private essays, and longform content material.
This interview has been edited.
Mark Stenberg: Why did Playboy launch a Substack?
Magdalene Taylor: We wish to reintroduce Playboy as a literary publication to an viewers of people that learn. I see what we’re doing as very a lot within the custom of what Playboy has traditionally completed. We wished it to be as modern and enjoyable and attractive as is smart, but in addition have lots of respect and a little bit of nostalgia.
Mark: Is that this a part of a broader shift on the writer? The writing has felt very modern.
Magdalene: Since I joined in April, we now have centered on what it means for Playboy to exist in an editorial capability. We’ve launched two print points, one thing on hiatus since 2020, and revitalized the web site. We’re on TikTok, on Reddit, and now on Substack. Actually although, Playboy has at all times been a spot that publishes actually good writing, alongside attractive photos.
Mark: It looks like we live via a very fraught second for intercourse and romance. What makes Playboy certified to attempt to make sense of it?
Magdalene: I’ve been attempting to dissect this second for years, to untangle what has occurred with gender. I really feel aligned with Playboy in that mission. On the one hand there’s gooning, and on the opposite there are individuals afraid of intercourse scenes in motion pictures. There’s a polarity between hypersexuality and puritanism. Playboy is a imaginative and prescient of sexuality that may be enjoyable and playful and unashamed with out being extreme.
Mark: I had heard the jokes about how good the writing was however by no means truly learn any of it earlier than. I used to be stunned to see an interview with the Reverend Jesse Jackson that you just resurfaced after his dying.
Magdalene: If any person was a big determine from 1955 onward, there’s an excellent probability that they have been interviewed for Playboy, wrote for Playboy, or posed for Playboy. It has an extended custom of publishing each erotic content material and tales that have been the primary of their variety to defend civil liberties and articulate political stances that individuals now see as a given. Playboy has at all times been a specific voice of sexuality’s place in a civilized world.
Mark: Did you attain out to Substack earlier than launching, simply to be sure to have been within the clear?
Magdalene: We did speak with Substack forward of the launch, principally to see what they thought could be finest practices. We wished to ensure that we wouldn’t be shadow-banned or get in any hassle for having nudity—we don’t have any kind of exception, that’s simply their coverage.
Mark: Do you have got a dream interview or story you wish to see written? Magdalene: My dream could be to interview Camille Paglia.
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