Ageism In Playboy :: essays research papers

Ageism in man-about-townDefinitions 1)Content analysis is the process of picking apart and closely observing a subject matter. 2)Ageism is the diversity of people based on their age.Hypothesis That I will find no women over the age 30 pictured in an slue of playboy Magazine.In this paper I plan to prove that the supposal stated above is true because in society younker is considered a both dishy and desirable quality to posses. Because Playboy Magazine is a popular magazine aimed at male readers, and because this magazine uses both youth and beauty to handle itself, it could be concluded that men desire female images that manifest beauty in youth. I chose to look at Playboy because Playboys interest is to sell magazines that satisfy the desires of males. Why does Playboy satisfy the desires of males? It is because in their magazines women between the ages of 18 and 29 are featured nude displaying the youth that their bodies posses. I chose to test this hypothesis by looking at Playboys 1997 January slew and reading the descriptions of the models such as their height, weight, bust, hips, and most importantly age. This particular issue happened to have on the whole models in the running for Playmate of the Year so I had 12 subjects to observe. If this hypothesis holds true, then the real underlying question will surface What makes youth beautiful?My hypothesis was proven true to a certain point. As I thumbed through the twelve models in the running for Playmate of the year, as I suspected, none of the models were over the age of 30. The oldest of the 12 models was age 26. However, my hypothesis stated that I would not find any women in an entire issue of Playboy, not just the models. On page 51 of the 1997 January issue was and interview featuring Whoopi Goldberg. There was not one, not two, but three photographs of the 41-year-old actress. In this entire issue of Playboy, there was a woman over the age of 30 thus my hypothesis was proven wrong. However, I still conclude that ageism still existed in this issue of Playboy Magazine. Why? The answer is because no models over the age of 30 had been chosen to appear nude in this issue. I believe it is because Playboy wants to portray youth as beautiful to its selected reader. The firm bodies and youthful smiles of women under the age of thirty is what Playboys editors consider beautiful.