Playboy Redux

The Playboy Gaze: “It’s a little like being in a gender studies class."

This from the New York Times today.  Playboy is back, fully nude, without the Hefners (link).  "Nude is normal," is its theme.  It's a new Playboy for the #MeToo world.  I don't want to try to explain.  Read the article if you are interested.  There are some precious lines like this one.

“We talk a lot about when something is objectification versus when it is consensual objectification versus when it is art,” Mr. Singh said. “I think objectification removes the agency of the subject. Consensual objectification is the idea of someone feeling good about themselves and wanting someone to look at them. Art means, O.K., we can hang this on a wall. And if it’s both, for us, that’s the major win.”

Ili and I were discussing the ideas of right and wrong as human and social constructs last night.  Nature is not moral, I said, nor immoral.  It is value free.  Nature, the cosmos, just "is."  That was my stance.  It isn't a good one or a bad one.  It is a construct I've put together from the things I've read, the conversations I've had, the experiences I've lived through.  I have a personal coda.  It is nothing to brag about.

But people do.  Brag, I mean, about what they believe to be right or wrong.  Morality is a political struggle about who wields power.  So, I think the new Playboy will be interesting to observe.  Let's see if they can convince people that they have the right moral code.

Shit.  Such talk is boring, especially in the morning with coffee.  It was much more interesting last night when I was in my cups.

I spent a long time getting beautified before the conversation.  I don't recognize myself in the mirror today.  It's alright.  I go to a new dentist this morning.  He won't know.

Jesus.  I don't want to go to the dentist.  But that's the way it is.  Such is Nature.