Vulnerable but Aloof Versus Naughty and Nice: Contrasting the Presentation of Male and Female Nude Models in Viva and Playboy

Abstract

The current research examined contested meanings of nudity by comparing images of nude men and women that appeared in Viva, a 1970s women's magazine founded with the intention of foregrounding male nudity, to corresponding issues of Playboy. A major difference was obtained between male models and Playboy Playmates regarding direction of gaze and nudity. Although gaze aversion is often interpreted as a sign of submission and direct gaze is seen as a dominance cue, men in Viva displayed a high level of gaze aversion and women in Playboy often gazed directly at the camera, especially when their pubic area was exposed. Additional content analysis examined the personality characteristics attributed to male models in Viva and Playmates in Playboy in their biographical sketches. In Viva, men were presented as possessing “bad boy” traits that may have been intended to compensate for the loss of power associated with male nudity. Playmates could be viewed as being naughty (by virtue of posing nude) and nice in the characterization of their personalities.

Notes

Note. Degree of body part exposure was ordered pubic, buttocks, and chest/breast, from most revealing to least. Pictures classified as displaying the pubic area may have also exposed the chest. Numbers in parentheses are standard deviations. The sample size for each cell was n = 16. In some instances the total number of pictures in the layout would not equal the sum of the number of pictures across categories because some pictures did not feature any nudity.