Meet the Gay Publisher Behind 'Playgirl Magazine's Bold Relaunch
When Los Angeles nightclub owner Douglas Lambert and editor Marin Scott Milam teamed up to launch
Playgirl’s first issue in 1973, no one could have anticipated the public response. At the height of the feminist movement, when print titles continued to objectify women’s bodies against the backdrop of a growing revolution,
Playgirl offered a different perspective.
The magazine welcomed the notion that women, in fact, could be authoritative voices on sex, culture, and their own existence. At its peak in the mid-to-late ’70s,
Playgirl was selling nearly 1.5 million copies at about $1 per issue. It was revered for its tasteful male nudes as well as its provocative storytelling, welcoming contributors like Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, Joyce Carol Oates, Eve Babitz, and more.