I used to find Penthouse and other nude magazines when GIs were ready to ship off from the nearby Army base. Every so often there would be a box with a few dozen (or hundred!) near the dumpster of the nearby apartments. Lots of other magazines too, such as Penthouse’s sibling publication “Omni”. And even “Dragon”!
It was my introduction to the strange and disillusioning world of softcore not-porn. How and why is/was Penthouse considered “pornography” by most people if there was never any actual sex in it? It’s not unlike the whole Skinemax / grindhouse phenomenon of movies which lured people with an interest in seeing sex - yet had no intention of showing any. This has always perplexed me. Sure, show erotica, show not-erotica, but why the deliberate grey-area in between? It puzzled me then and still puzzles me now. I still suspect that it’s a symptom of living in a culture with schizoid attitudes about sexuality.
That said, Penthouse was an OK magazine, text content-wise, at least until the mid-80s. I haven’t read it since I was a kid.
