Adult magazines banned from sale on military bases

Based on an article from X Biz see full article

A Pentagon panel has determined that magazines that previously had been sold on military bases, including Wet and Blonde and Beyond, should no longer be sold on U.S. bases.

However some softcore adult magazines, such as Playboy, can continue on U.S. military bases, ruling that the magazines are not “sexually explicit.”

Leslye Arsht, the deputy under secretary of defense for military community and family policy, wrote in a letter last week that following a careful review of the materials, a Pentagon committee has determined that there is nothing sexually explicit about publications like Nude Playmates, Celebrity Skin and other adult publications.

The Pentagon’s latest review of on-base adult materials resulted from a letter sent by antipornography nutters in May, in which the activist groups called for stronger enforcement of the Military Honor and Decency Act signed into law in 1996. The law prohibits the sale or rental of sexually explicit material on property under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense.

As defined in the law, the term “sexually explicit material” means an an audio recording, a film or video recording, or a periodical with visual depictions, produced in any medium, the dominant theme of which depicts or describes nudity, including sexual or excretory activities or organs, in a lascivious way.

While conservative groups and some military pastors also have called on the Pentagon to enforce the law with regards to sexually explicit materials that soldiers obtain online, the statute itself does not provide for such regulation, as the law pertains only to “officially provided” materials.

The law states that a member of the armed forces or a civilian officer or employee of the Department of Defense acting in an official capacity may not provide for sale, remuneration, or rental sexually explicit material to another person, but the statute does not address the question of soldiers obtaining such material through other means.

Arsht said that the Pentagon panel soon would conduct an “expeditious review” of other adult publications, including Playboy’s Vixen and XXX to determine if those magazines qualify as sexually explicit.

   
Declining sales of lads mags

From The Independent see full article

Fears that the scantily-clad bottom has fallen out of the "lads mag" market appeared to have come true as it emerged that both monthly and weekly men's magazines suffered a huge slump in sales over the past six months.

Loaded was the worst hit, losing a quarter of its circulation in just half a year.

ABC circulation figures for the first six months of 2007 showed that other mainstays of the lad's mag market, including FHM, Maxim and rival weeklies Nuts and Zoo were also hit by a significant drop in sales.

Nuts saw its sales fall by 6% while the circulation of rival Zoo dropped by an 8.7%. FHM, the traditional leader in the men's monthly market, despite remaining the best seller, saw a year-on-year downturn of 26%

The internet is believed to be responsible for the drop in sales as more and more men go to the web to view scantily clad women.

Esquire, which has been relaunched in "manbag" size, is one of the few men's titles to have recorded a slight increase in circulation - up 2%.

   
Zoo Magazine offends (again) with 'win a boob job' competition

From Border Mail see full article

The Australian Federal Government has reported Zoo Weekly to the media authority for displaying photos of women entering its contentious contest to win a $10,000 breast enlargement.

The magazine launched a promotion this week urging men to “win” their girlfriend a boob job by sending in shots of her cleavage.

The prize goes to the woman whom readers believe most “deserves” an enlargement, with the website stating: We can help turn your lady’s itty bitty titties into massive mounds of magnificence.

After widespread outcry from academics and plastic surgeons, the NSW Government on announced it would investigate the legalities of offering a surgical procedure as a prize.

Now the Federal Government has joined the chorus, with a spokeswoman for Communications Minister Helen Coonan yesterday confirming that the Australian Communications and Media Authority was involved.

The authority would investigate whether topless competition photos appearing on the Zoo website were classified R18 and should therefore be restricted to adults-only access.

Currently, people of any age can access the site. If found to be in breach, Zoo could be ordered to remove the offending contend from its website.

   
Iternet video up and magazines down

From AVN see full article

Playboy Enterprises is boasting that it has doubled its first-quarter profits compared to 2006.

With the help of a 77% increase in licensing revenues and a reduction in some expenses, Playboy posted a net first-quarter income of $1.5 million, up from $0.8 million during this period a year ago.

Despite the rapid jumps in both its licensing business — mainly due to the new Playboy club in the Palms casino in Las Vegas — and its "new" media, such as mobile and online services, analysts had thought these gains would fail to compensate for sluggish prospects in the company's publishing and TV divisions.

As predicted, the company's flagship magazine continued its decline, posting an operating loss of $2.4 million. Playboy's domestic TV revenues fell 12% compared to 2006, a loss the company attributed in part to growing competition from VOD.

Contributing to the hype for God of War II

Based on an article from the Daily Mail see full article

Electronics giant Sony has sparked a row over animal cruelty and the ethics of the computer industry by using a freshly slaughtered goat to promote a video game.

The corpse of the decapitated animal was the centrepiece of a party to celebrate the launch of the God Of War II game for the company’s PlayStation 2 console.

Images of the party have appeared in the company’s official PlayStation magazine – but after being contacted by The Mail on Sunday, Sony issued an apology for the gruesome stunt and promised to recall the entire print run.

At the event, guests competed to see who could eat the most offal – procured elsewhere and intended to resemble the goat’s intestines – from its stomach. They also threw knives at targets and pulled live snakes from a pit with their bare hands.

Topless girls added to the louche atmosphere by dipping grapes into guests’ mouths, while a male model portraying Kratos, the game’s warrior hero, handed out garlands.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare said it was "outrageous" that the animal’s death had been used "to sell a few computer games". A spokesman said: We are always opposed to any senseless killing of an animal and this sounds like a gruesome death. We condemn Sony’s actions. It is stupid and completely unjustified.

The party features across two pages of the latest edition of the company’s PlayStation magazine, which was due to hit newsstands on Tuesday but has already been sent to subscribers.

The article, based on a Sony Press release, shows more vivid pictures from the event under headlines such as Topless Girls! and Flesh Eating? It asks readers how far they would go to get hold of Sony’s next-generation console, the PlayStation 3.

How about eating still warm intestines uncoiled from the carcass of a freshly slaughtered goat? At the party to celebrate God Of War II’s European release, members of the Press were invited to do just that . . .

In God Of War II players follow Kratos into battle against a series of fearsome characters from Greek mythology. Sony describes it as an adult-rated, fast-paced bloodbath – and enormous fun to boot. Bigger, better and as brutal as ever.

Former Minister Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East and a long-time campaigner against violent computer games, branded the stunt "distasteful and irresponsible: The slaughter of animals is not something that should be done to advertise a product. Sony as a global entertainment company has a social responsibility. At this event it failed in that responsibility. I think people should think very carefully before bringing games like this into their homes. I would understand if customers wanted to boycott other Sony products such as their televisions because of this controversy."

The company, which released the game in the UK on Friday, admitted that the stunt had been a mistake. In a statement it said: Sony does not condone or sanction any inappropriate behaviour by its staff or sub-contracted staff. It has come to our attention that at the God Of War II launch showcase, an element of the event was of an unsuitable nature. We are conducting an internal inquiry into aspects of the event in order to learn from the occurrence and put into place measures to ensure that this does not happen again.

The Sony spokesman said the animal had not been slaughtered for the event but had been bought from a local butcher by the Greek company hired to stage the event.

PlayStation Magazine removes God of War article

From the BBC see full article

Future Publishing has put off distributing the latest edition of a computer magazine because it says images it contains are in poor taste.

The first print of the Official PlayStation Magazine featured a double-page spread showing a dead goat from a press launch for a the new game, God of War II.

About 2,000 subscribers have already had their copies.

The remaining 80,000 magazines will have the double page removed and the sale will be delayed until next week.

Will Guyatt of Future said: We appreciate our readers may have found the coverage of Sony's European God of War II press launch (in Greece) distasteful so we have taken the decision to have the offending images removed from copies destined for the UK news stands with immediate effect.

The images which are not from the game itself but from the press launch party showed entrails from a slaughtered goat.

   
Shell reclassifies Penthouse & Playboy as sophisticates

Based on an article from World Net Daily see full article

Shell Oil Co. has determined Playboy and Penthouse no longer are pornography, but instead are "adult sophisticates," according to a company statement.

The issue arose when nutters of the Florida Family Association contacted Shell about the sale of such magazines at convenience stores owned by Circle K in southeastern parts of the United States.

David Caton, executive director of the pro-family organization, said his group asked Shell to require Shell-branded Circle K Stores to stop selling the pornography, as it has done in the past with other retailers: However, Shell Oil Company has decided instead to change their definition of pornography, unlike all other major oil companies, to exclude Penthouse and Playboy magazines which are sold by Circle K Stores.

The confirmation came in an e-mail from Otto O. Meyers III, a Shell executive, who told the Florida Family Association those stores selling Penthouse are not selling pornography: In regard to your inquiry about specific Circle K locations, our investigation has concluded that these stores are not selling pornography as one would think the general public defines it, but rather 'adult sophisticate' magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse.

   
Armenian Literary magazine suffers bookstore censorship

From Armenia Now see full article

Three bookstores in Yerevan, Armenia have refused to sell the second issue of the Inknagir literary magazine and returned it to the distributor in objection to text seen by some as obscene.

Inknagir was founded by poet Violet Grigoryan, who edited Bnagir magazine before it shut down. That journal, too, had run afoul of traditional standards, for allowing sexually-explicit language.

The second issue of Inknagir, published in 250 copies and sold for 1,000 drams (about $3) came out three weeks ago, more than one year since its maiden issue in November 2005.

According to the distributor, bookstores are refusing to accept Inknagir because of lyrics to songs that appear on page 38 of the 160-page magazine. The lyrics, meant to voice a “punk” attitude, use language common to American “alternative” poetry.

The songs are written by Areg Arakelyan and Arman Martirosyan. Arman said he feels bad his lyrics caused problems for Inknagir, while the second author says he’s glad for the attention.

Yerevan’s largest bookstore, Bukinist, known for its diversity of books on sale and where texts by Russian and western authors with explicit sexual descriptions and arguably racier language can be found, also refused to sell Inknagir. Bookstore director Khachik Vardanyan says that he returned the magazine after reading the song lyrics, reasoning: How can I put it on sale?

The magazine is on sale at Artbridge and Akumb bookstore cafés, which the Inknagir editor calls “islands” where: we don’t yet feel like foreigners in this country.

   
Muslim mob predictably call for killing of playboy editor

From X Biz

Prosecutors have demanded a judge impose a harsh two-year prison sentence for the editor-in-chief of the Indonesian version of Playboy. Erwin Arnada was charged in June with distributing indecent pictures and profiting from their sale.

More than 100 muslim protesters attending the hearing thought the prosecution’s demands were too lax. The raucous group chanted “Hang him, hang him” in the courtroom.

Playboy’s offices have moved to Bali where there is considerably less Islamic influence. The magazine is still available at newsstands throughout the country, and the government has made no move to ban the publication.

The judge, according to Indonesian laws, heavily weighs the prosecution’s sentencing demands.

   
So Indonesian editor cleared

From the BBC see full article

The editor of Playboy magazine in Indonesia has been acquitted of charges of publishing indecent material.

Erwin Arnada oversaw photo shoots and selected revealing pictures for the magazine, prosecutors argued.

But Arnada said the magazine, which went on sale last year, contained no nudity and was tamer than other Western-style magazines on sale.

The pictures could not be categorised as pornography, said South Jakarta district court judge Efran Basyuning.

   
Back Catalogue of Playboy magazines to be released on DVD archives

From AVN

The entire 53-year print run of Playboy is going to be made available on DVD in a series of box sets. Each DVD set will include the entire decade’s worth of content from the original print editions.

The first set, which features every issue from the 1950s and 1960s, will hit stores in October 2007 with additional sets slated for a 2008 release.

The digital archive will contain articles, interviews, cartoons, photographs and advertisements as they appeared in the original print editions.

In order to bring the digital editions of Playboy to life, Bondi Digital Publishing will scan and re-type all 636 issues of Playboy (a total of 115,880 pages and more than 93,000 photographs). The DVDs allows for fans to browse, search, organize and read every digital replica of the magazine.

Each box set will come with a 200-page companion book with never-before-seen photographs and correspondences, a Playboy timeline and highlights of selected pages from the magazine. Retail price is $100.

   
Declining market for lad's mags

From The Times

Felix Dennis, the magazine proprietor, yesterday put the men’s magazine Maxim up for sale, after it was revealed that sales of the ten-year-old monthly had collapsed by 29% to 131,497 in the second half of last year.

The decision came after the publication of dismal figures for the entire “lad’s mag” sector, which five years ago was on a seemingly unstoppable growth path. However, men’s titles suffered a dramatic 14% decline in circulation in the second half of last year.

Sales of Maxim remain at a steady 2.5 million in the title’s key American market, but it is thought that the weakness in the original UK market could be an indicator of trends to come elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Zoo, Emap’s men’s weekly, also gave up 22%, ending the year at 204,564 — significantly behind its direct competitor, Nuts, whose sales eased by only a modest 4% to 295,002. FHM — Emap’s monthly title, which once dominated the lad’s mag genre ahead of Maxim — suffered a 26% collapse in sales to 371,263.

   
Australian company ban lads' mags from the workplace

From The Age

Workers at a Queensland Rail (QR) workshop in central Queensland have been warned not to take men's magazines such as FHM or Zoo Weekly to work or face the sack.

The rail provider said several men's magazines including Picture, People, FHM and Zoo Weekly were considered inappropriate by management.

At least some members of the all-male workplace, who did not wish to be identified, were upset by the stance, complaining in a letter to the local newspaper that their rights had been violated: The question has to be asked - does QR have their own review board on offensive material? We believe this is an invasion of our basic human rights.

QR's position also drew the ire of Zoo Weekly's editor Paul Merill, who compared the company's stance to Hitler's Third Reich: This is the worst form of censorship, taking away a bloke's basic right to be able to read what he likes. Hitler tried to ban any literature he didn't like, and now the poor rail workers are suffering in a similar way. We'll certainly be looking at how we can airlift some copies in as a stop-gap measure. We just hope the men are bearing up in the meantime.

QR chief executive Bob Scheuber stood by the ban, saying the magazines breached the company's 12-year-old code of conduct which was supposedly supported by most staff members: As a values-driven organisation QR is committed to creating work environments that show respect for people in all our actions. I make no apologies for this.

He said the code of conduct banned all sexually explicit, violent and criminal material as well as offensive, abusive, threatening, harassing and bullying material.

   
Loaded downgraded at Tesco

Commercial decisions must surely be masking an awful lot of censorship

From Media Week see full article

Tesco is downgrading its stocking of Loaded in favour of rival men's magazine Maxim.

From April, Tesco will only carry IPC's Loaded in one in seven of its flagship stores and plans to stock Maxim in more of these outlets.

As part of its latest magazine range review, the supermarket downgraded Loaded from a Grade A title to a Grade C. Maxim, meanwhile, is promoted from a Grade C to a Grade B. Emap’s market-leading FHM will remain on sale in all 575 shops.

The men’s lifestyle category is in decline and has been for some time now, a Tesco spokesman said. Our range of magazines in all categories reflects customer purchasing habits. However, the move is at odds with the January to June ABCs, in which Loaded’s news-stand sales of 164,150 were more than double those of Maxim.

Loaded is also priced 80p lower than FHM and Maxim and, while its overall retail sales value was around double that of Maxim in the January to June 2006 ABCs, Tesco is thought to be concerned about the future revenues it is likely to get from Loaded due to the magazine’s lower cover price.

Tesco is understood to be alone among supermarkets and high-street retailers in its move, with both Sainsbury’s and WHSmith confirming that they were not planning similar changes to their men’s magazine ranges.

   
Indonesian Playboy editor on trial

From the BBC

The editor of Playboy magazine in Indonesia has gone on trial on charges of publishing indecent material.

Erwin Arnada, oversaw photo shoots and selected [not so] revealing pictures for the magazine, prosecutors said.

Arnada has argued that the magazine, which went on sale earlier this year, contained no nudity and was tamer than other Western-style magazines on sale.

The Indonesian version of Playboy went on sale for the first time last April, featuring several scantily-clad models but no nudity. The magazine drew weeks of protests, despite the fact that pornography is widely available in Indonesia. Muslim groups in particular were worried about its effect on local morals.

The trial has been adjourned until 14 December when witnesses will be called.

   
Indonesian Playboy targeted as the world's icon of pornography

From Pravda

Indonesian Playboy was targeted for prosecution by a hardline Islamic group because it is the world's icon of pornography, a prominent member testified in the trial of Playboy's editor.

The co-chairman of the Front for Islamic Defenders, who goes by the single name Baharuzaman, filed a complaint with police which led to the indecency charges against editor-in-chief Erwin Arnada. He could face up to 36 months in prison if convicted.

Appearing as a witness at the South Jakarta District Court, Baharuzaman said Playboy violated norms of morality and politeness. Our organization targeted it because it is the global icon of pornography, he said.

Unlike dozens of foreign editions, the Indonesian version has no nudity. There are not even women in lingerie. All the models are wearing gowns, long dresses or skirt-jacket combos.

Indonesian tabloids publish more explicit photos than Playboy and pornographic films are widely sold at black markets across the country.

 

   
Destroyed the morals of the nation

From X Biz

Havoc broke out after a judge closed to the public the trial of Playboy Indonesia's editor-in-chief, who faces indecency charges.

Under Indonesian law, indecency trials are closed when witness testimony is being heard to supposedly avoid obscene material or discussions being made public.

Nearly three dozen Islamic protesters chanted "God is great" outside the South Jakarta District Courthouse, trying to force their way into the courtroom before court officials intervened. They threatened to bust the doors open if they weren’t granted access to the proceedings.

With the court’s closure, the protesters accused the judge of being partial toward Playboy, which they said had destroyed the morals of the nation.

   
Protesting about Indonesian Playboy centrefold

From Mainichi

Islamic protesters hurled abuse at Playboy magazine's first Indonesian centerfold, calling her a prostitute and saying they hoped her daughter would be raped.

Andhara Early did not respond to demonstrators as she left the South Jakarta District Court after testifying in the indecency trial of editor Playboy's Indonesia editor, Erwin Arnada.

Islamic conservatives loudly protested what they dubbed a global icon of pornography.

   
Penthouse re-launches in the UK

From X Biz

Penthouse Media Group announced plans to relaunch its magazine in the UK and Ireland as part of a licensing partnership with Trojan Publishing, a publisher of pulp fiction magazines.

Penthouse magazine is slated to make a reappearance on magazine shelves Dec. 28, after a 12-month absence.

The UK relaunch issue will feature Lauren Pope as the UK’s Pet of the Month.

Update: Penthouse Goes soft

There will be nudity but the softcore kind, and less of it. It shouldn’t be the creepy, seedy side of pornography, says editor Stu Messham. Some 70% of the editorial will be lifestyle coverage, including articles on gadgets, interviews with movie and music stars, product reviews, plus stories on politics and popular culture.

   
Obscenity Charges May Land Gay Turkish Editor in Prison

Based on an article from Sunday Mail

Umut Guner, the editor and owner of Turkey's only gay magazine, Kaos GL, has been charged under a Turkish Penal Code which prohibits the publication of obscene images and may face three years in prison:

Turkish Penal Code, Article 226 says: A person who broadcasts or publishes obscene images, printed or audio material or who acts as an intermediary for this purpose shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of six months to three years.  Kaos GL’s requested during the Penal Code review in 2005 to amend the “obscenity” article in the Turkish Penal Code by clearly defining what constitutes 'obscenity'.

An appeal to the Turkish Supreme Court by the magazine's editor was turned down and no further appeals will be allowed, so he's turning to the European Court of Human Rights.

   
Turkey tries editor of gay magazine

From adnki

Umut Guner, the editor in chief of Turkey's first and only lesbian and gay magazine, Kaos-GL, will be tried Thursday in the Turkish capital Ankara. Guner is charged with violating morality laws in a special edition of the magazine on pornography published in July. The prosecution seeks up to three years in prison for Guner, who is also the owner of the publication representing the Ankara-based Kaos Gay-Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos-GL).

In July, a judge in Ankara ordered the confiscation of the Kaos-GL's edition, following the prosecution's immorality charges. Kaos-LG was notified of the decision on 24 July, when Turkey celebrates 'Press Freedom Day' and also the 98th anniversary of the official end of censorship. Later in August, the court in Ankara rejected an appeal against the confiscation order.

It is obvious that the Kaos-GL journal has nothing to do with those dozens of ‘erotic' or ‘pornographic' journals being published in our country, said the magazine in a statement: As the Kaos-GL, since the beginning in 1994, we have been struggling against associating homosexuality solely with sexuality and sexuality solely with pornography.

Kaos-GL was created over a decade ago as a civil society initiative promoting gay rights in Turkey through the publication of the Kaos-GL journal. In July 2005,the authorities gave Kaos-GL the status of a non-governmental organisation under the name of the Kaos Gay-Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association.

However, in September, the deputy governor of Ankara demanded that a court shut the association down, claiming it violated morality laws. The Ankara prosecutor's office however decided not to take action, noting that there was nothing immoral in the name or regulations of the organisation.