MAI Curiosity

When we first see a Playboy magazine

I have just read a feature about Playgirl magazine on radaronline.com and feel a strong need to write something.

My first time to look at a Playboy magazine with my naked eyes was 2 years ago, when my daughter is 3 years old (she is now 5). The very charming photos of a nude teenage girl cost much working time and discussion. Reactions are varied when the magazine from Paris was passed around the office and in my family. Of course, all men loved to see the magainze, even the ladies though they were a little bit shy.

I still remember one married colleague said she wouldn’t let their husband watch the photos as they will refuse to sleep with them tonight.

Cover of a Playboy magazine

We are not the Muslims but for years, we have been educated and got used to the habit that women shouldn’t show off their sexy style and should dress in standard clothes. Together with the transition to the market economy in 1986 and internet introduction in 1997, Vietnamese women get more freedom to represent their beauty and the society has wider eyes on the new tendency. However, nude images and magazines like Playboy/Playgirls are not allowed to publish or sell in the street.

It seems like a secret habit for anyone who likes to watch those photos if you don’t want to be regarded as a naughty man/woman.

Cover of a magazine for young people in Vietnam

Western people thought that the Communist rule made this trend but we know that it is the conventional social rules dating back since the feudal regime which demands women with faith, beauty, good language, standard virtue. Those rules have strong impacts on personal thoughts, on media, on the leaders and the whole society.

Not long ago, our law makers or the deputies of the National Assembly even discussed whether or not to accept a regulation that bans female singers on the stage from wearing the “very sexy dresses”!!! Of course, this rule has fallen into obvilion because no one can measure how sexy a singer can be allowed?

The release of a private sex album could make Paris Hilton famous in the US but in my country it has put an end to the career of a 20-year-old actress.

These days, young Vietnamese girls look much more fashion and stylish in the streets but media still honours traditional values. Models on fashion magazines and media are seen on beautiful and standard fashion.

What should I support: traditional values or more freedom for women? I’m in the middle. I want to see sexy photos and artistic nude photos but I never want my daughter to be seen naked on magazines. I will not oppose to the introduction of Playboy magazines in Vietnam but I discourage my husband to buy them.

Maybe, I still belong to the so-called outdated generation. And that’s not good for being a journalist. That’s why I want to study and live in Australia to experience the life of democracy and freedom.

It’s possible that I will change my mind after this Master course of journalism next July.