This morning, I got a note from the “Playboy Advisor” – yes, the man who, for every generation, knows how to tune your stereo, tie a Windsor knot, and find the g-spot with a blindfold on:
Hi Susie,
Our new issue, on newsstands next week, includes a list I compiled of the “55 Most Important People in Sex” of the past 55 years.
I wanted to see if you might like to respond with a letter to the editor that addresses anyone you feel is ranked too high or too low — and/or argue for anyone who isn’t on the list but should be.
We plan to publish responses in the April issue. Thanks for considering it.
Chip Rowe
Senior Editor
Playboy Magazine
Hi Chip,
You should be on the list. So should I!
I’m sure you can guess; your list pissed me off – it has way too many sad pin-up girls, who are only there because of some Svengali in their lives, not because of their own efforts or sexual initiative. There’s not a single man of that ilk on the list.
And how about Terry Southern?…
I do like the many scientists you included, because people will be amazed to know their achievements. The real question is, who does one have to sleep with to get on the list?
Susie
(Keep reading — there’s much more after the jump!)
S,
You actually were on the short list, but let’s just say I lost some arguments about the final 20.Tell me two or three names of women you would have included!
Chip
Okay… Where is Simone de Beauvoir, Shere Hite, or Pat Califia? Joani Blank, Anais Nin, Pauline Réage?
Then there’s gay liberation. How can we imagine sexual revolution without it? Kinsey was bisexual. Dan Savage deserves a place near the top.
S.
Wonderful! In my defense, the list is limited to last 55 years; de Beauvoir’s most influential work, The Second Sex, was from 1949- and Nin is best known for her erotic diaries from the 1930s, although they weren’t published until the 1960s, so you have me there. Story of O was 1953, although that’s certainly close enough. Dan Savage and Southern, those are good.
Chip
Señor,
Okay, I actually chewed over those elder entries! Beavoir almost single-handedly led French feminism in 60s & 70s, w/out being a prude, like Steinem.
And Anais made the decision to release Delta of Venus, et al, on 70s , when they had greatest impact
The best known names are always dead, sadly. I can’t wait for my posthumous PB tribute!
SB
Susie,
Good points. Can I add that comment about Beauvoir?
Here’s the list:
1 Alfred Kinsey
2 Dr. John Rock
3 Hugh Hefner
4 Alex Comfort
5 Marilyn Monroe
6 Monica Lewinsky
7 The Rolling Stones
8 Timothy Berners-Lee
9 Peter Dunn and Albert Wood
10 Madonna
11 Helen Gurley Brown
12 Charles Ginsburg
13 Ruth Westheimer
14 Elvis Presley
15 Masters and Johnson
16 Howard Stern
17 Ed Meese
18 Brigitte Bardot
19 Estelle Griswold
20 Bo Derek
21 Catharine MacKinnon
22 Vladimir Nabokov
23 Anita Bryant
24 Farrah Fawcett
25 Erica Jong
26 Barney Rosset
27 Germaine Greer
28 Christine Jorgensen
29 Pamela Anderson
30 Frank Sinatra
31 Nancy Friday
32 Jenna Jameson
33 William O. Douglas
34 Philip Roth
35 Charles Keating Jr.
36 Candace Bushnell
37 Dr. Mary Calderone
38 Beverly Whipple
39 Alberto Vargas
40 Potter Stewart
41 Linda Lovelace
42 Mike Nichols
43 Betty Dodson
44 Dr. David Reuben
45 Ian Fleming
46 Lenny Bruce
47 Gloria Steinem
48 Robert Mapplethorpe
49 Danni Ashe
50 J. Edgar Hoover
51 Gay Talese
52 Rock Hudson
53 Bernardo Bertolucci
54 Dell Williams
55 Rudi Gernreich