How Times Change:The Evolution of Maxim Magazine

The New Maxim

The Old Maxim

If We/we needed more evidence of the emerging Female led society lets look no further than to some of the recent changes occurring at Maxim magazine, that icon of the male gaze and frat boy lifestyle.

Maxim was founded in the 90’s during a period i feel was the last hurrah of uninhibited male sexuality. Maxim emerged (along with FHM) as a sort of ‘Playboy Lite”. Light on female nudity (though not leaving much to the imagination) and light on serious journalism. By eschewing full nudity but keeping it very sexy Maxim managed to both achieve easier distribution then Playboy or Penthouse while at the same time convincing many Female celebrities to grace its pages who wouldn’t be interested in posing nude.

Maxim was widely read by males during the 90’s and early 00’s and  achieved great success. This was also an era when male oriented porn exploded onto the scene thanks to the internet and Female porn stars such as Jenna Jameson became mainstream celebrities. These porn stars were uninhibited and unashamed with regards to Their raw sexuality, actually something positive about this era. Porn was suddenly everywhere and watched by everyone, well every male anyway. Women would usually be exposed to it out of curiosity  and / or through Their boyfriends who wanted their Girlfriends to be ‘into it’ and replicate the onscreen performance in the bedroom. Most Women I knew at the time found this material ridiculous and were frustrated by men’s fascination with it. This was an era when i witnessed many males discussing porn scenes in mixed company. Something Women really didn’t appreciate.

This was also the era of Baywatch. i doubt there is a male around today who saw that show who doesn’t recall watching the scenes of the beautiful Pamela Anderson and Yasmine Bleeth running on the beach in the red, tight swimsuits. So many males watched these hypnotic scenes that it became a running joke (recall Joey and Chandler on ‘Friends’). Can any male actually describe the plot of a single Baywatch episode. Not really.

So while men at the time probably viewed this era as a golden age of uninhibited male sexuality i feel all the signs of the coming Feminine age were emerging. Many males were just too busy pleasuring themselves to notice.

In mainstream media this was the era when the Strong Female leading character began to emerge.  Xena Warrior Princess and even more so Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These shows portrayed Women who were strong, or who learned to be strong to triumph over great danger and, often, male aggression. These shows portrayed Women as leaders with great strength, confidence and intelligence. i think that’s why so many Women gravitated towards these programs. They saw characters Who were more like They perceived Themselves to be or at least aspired to be. Many males also took notice of these shows and appreciated the message. i for one had great doubts about the pervasive ‘cock’ culture of the time. It was obvious to me how smart and ambitious the Women around me were. i don’t think i was the only male to be in awe of them.

Gradually i began to notice a pattern among my Female friends at the time. Take my friend Lynn as an example. She was a double major, president of a theater club and worked part time as well to pay Her way through University. She was always insanely busy yet made the deans list year after year. i was completely awestruck by Her. She was in a relationship through most of University with a shallow, lazy, selfish guy who never put Her before himself. It was always so depressing for me to see and hear how he neglected this stunning Goddess. What many people thought was a stable relationship ended suddenly after four years. Lynn had enough and with graduation approaching She decided that this guy was just dead weight who would contribute nothing to furthering Her ambitions.

I saw the same pattern play out again and again. Tara was a stunning, super intelligent blonde. For nearly two years She dated a guy who didn’t listen to Her, always resisted Her demands and even cheated on Her. A typical ‘Maxim man’ You / you could say. This relationship also ended suddenly when She dumped his ass. Tara went on to have a super successful career leaving him eating Her dust.

I saw this pattern repeated again and again. males who had bought into this whole selfish culture of porn, sports and video games were flailing when i came to sustaining real relationships with Women. The onscreen starlets they were so fascinated with may have acted like the cock hungry ‘dumb blonde’ but the real Women they interacted with everyday were full of intelligence and driving ambition and were increasingly unwilling to tolerate with the horny, lazy males this culture produced.

This was a culture in which most guys were content to just scrape buy and who gave little thought to the future. males whose free time was taken up by watching porn or sports while the Girls studied, worked and planned Their futures. It’s remarkable to see today just how much more successful my Female classmates from that era have been compared with the men. It was an era of clashing sexual cultures and though at the time it looked like the males were running the board any careful observer saw all the signs of Female triumph that lay ahead. In the end the Girls won and that’s a good thing. They deserved to win.

Not every couple at the time clashed this way of course. Take Amanda and todd. i knew todd first and he introduced me to this brainy business major he started dating. When i met Her i instantly responded to Her confidence and intelligence. todd was so deferential  and submissive around Her. If She told him to do something he hopped to it straight away. Her ambition was to conquer the world, todd’s singular ambition was to help Her do it. i really didn’t realize just how dominant Amanda was until the Female business students put on a ‘Mistress/slave’ themed party. Nothing serious, just for fun really though it had clear elements of Female triumphalism to it. I managed to finagle an invite via Amanda and went with Her friend Janet who brought me along on a leash, which thrilled me as you might expect. But Amanda was something out of this world. She wore a black leather bra and pants with stiletto boots while wielding a riding crop and holding a collared and leashed todd who wore only a g-string. todd waited on Her hand and foot and She would occasionally bend him over and spank his ass with Her crop which todd seemed to rather enjoy and the other Women seemed to appreciate.

Amanda and todd remain together today and have one of the most loving and strong relationships i have ever seen.  Amanda is the CFO at Her company. While todd also works outside the home Amanda accounts for about 80% of the the household income. When i visit Their/their home it’s obvious just how devoted and in love with Amanda todd remains. It’s also obvious that Amanda ‘wears the pants’ in that relationship as well. She earns the bulk of the income and makes the key decisions. When She tells todd to do something he still snaps to it. If he delays Amanda still shoots him ‘the look’ and he obeys straight away. he remains as devoted to Her and Her success as he always has been.

I introduced Goddess to Amanda a few years ago and needless  to say They became fast friends having much in common. Both being driven successful career Women with devoted, submissive, obedient males at home. todd and i often joke about our status but agree we are two of the luckiest men in the world.

So lets return to today and the changes at Maxim. The magazines owners obviously felt the need to change with the times to remain relevant to today's male audience. And just how have they decided to do that? Well, by putting a Women (Kate Lanphear ) in charge, of course. Now this is not the first time a Women has run a men’s magazine. Christy Hefner deserves to be recognized for that at Playboy. That however was a different era and She didn’t really change the Playboy formula.

At today’s Maxim the new editor is really shaking things up. The most noticeable change is the move away from the tits and ass cover shots. A few years ago just about every single monthly Maxim cover image would have been of a beautiful Women in a bikini or lingerie, arms raised, breasts or ass out inviting the male to run his eyes over Her alluring curves and open the pages for more.

Over the past few months anyone who picked up a copy of Maxim could not help but notice a huge difference. For the most part the full body bikini cover shots are gone. These have been largely replaced by a tight close of shots of a Women’s face. A beautiful Women to be sure but again only Her face.

The male gaze is met head-on by the Female gaze. The male reader is instantly confronted by an intimate image of confidence and beauty gazing back at him. She’s sexy and sexual but no mans sex toy. The recent cover featuring the lovely Taylor Swift being a great example. She exudes style, confidence and intelligence. The male observer senses right away that this is a real Women, not just some fantasy but One far more talented and successful than he’ll ever be. Instantly he gets the message not just about Her sexual power, that was always there, but about Her superior social and financial status. he feels instantly inferior to Her. This seems like a far more appropriate way for the modern male to begin reading his favourite magazine. It’s also far more realistic. men today are most likely to encounter confident, highly educated, financially independent and more dominant Women in their everyday lives now more than ever. The beautiful Women a male interacts with every day is more likely to be his boss than a bikini model. i think Maxim is starting to send the right message here. Yes Women will always be the subject of male sexual fantasy and the male gaze, that goes back to the cave, but males today need to understand that modern Women deserve, in fact demand, respect for Their intellect and accomplishments both of which are more than likely superior to his own. Maxim acknowledging this sends a powerful message especially to younger men who, by the way, should by now be used to being outclassed by Women. This message should be right in sync with the world they actually live in.

Another welcome change is the realignment of the ‘Hot 100’. Previously this list was simply a contest of physical beauty and popularity. The new list, topped by Taylor Swift, emphasizes not just a Women’s beauty but Her level of success, accomplishments and power. Powerful, successful Women are ‘Hot’. That seems like a much better message for male readers to absorb. From the website We/we take this quote;

“We can talk about “inner beauty” all we like, but as my mother often says, “We eat with our eyes first.” For better or worse, looks matter. Physical attraction is undeniably human. However superficial we may find it, there are people who catch our eye or make us lose our breath.

But as you enjoy the indisputably beautiful women of Maxim’s Hot 100, consider the people behind those beautiful faces. And when you close the pages of this magazine, allow yourself to appreciate a broader range of beautiful skin, fuller bodies, and complicated surfaces. There is a beauty standard, no doubt. But we can and should widen that standard. Beauty of all kinds is all around us. All we need to do is open our minds.”



Maxim asking its readers to consider different kinds of beauty and asking them to consider the Women as actual “people”. Interesting isn’t it?


Finally the content of the magazine seems to be shifting more towards encouraging men to be more stylish and sophisticated. In other words to become the kind of man that might actually show some maturity and be of interest to today's driven career Women. Heck they even put a man on the cover recently to drive home this point.

The open question of course being, is the readership of Maxim mature enough to follow along with all the changes. Will they grow up with the magazine and embrace the changes within it and within the larger society? males can be stubborn and resistant to change. Society will change whether they like it or not. men therefore have a choice. Embrace the new more Feminine order and find a productive role within it or be left behind and marginalized.