Abstract
Virtually no research has explored men's phenomenological experiences with sexually explicit material. The present research examined men's self-reports regarding how they felt reading Playboy magazine had affected them and influenced their conceptualization of and interactions with women. Qualitative analysis of 22 Playboy readers' self-reports indicated that first exposure to Playboy is a very memorable event, that Playboy served as a source of sex-related information, and that Playboy contributed to the development of a sexual self-concept. Playboy readers' attitudes toward Playmates lacked a misogynistic component. The possible influence of Playboy as a means of socializing boys into men is noted.
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