The Sweetheart of the Month

A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of Playboy magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOM). The PMOM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, as well as a short biography and the "Playmate Data Sheet", which lists her birthdate, measurements, turn-ons, and turn-offs. At the end of the year, one of the twelve Playmates of the Month is named Playmate of the Year (PMOY). Currently, Playmates of the Month are paid US$25,000 and Playmates of the Year receive an additional US$100,000 plus a car and a motorcycle. In addition, Anniversary Playmates are usually chosen to celebrate a milestone year of the magazine.

In the 1950s, it was generally agreed that nude photographs were not pornographic unless they showed pubic hair. Respectable photography was careful to come close to, but not cross over the "line of decency." With Playmates, it was usually the case that the pubic area would be obscured by an item of clothing, a leg, or a piece of furniture. Eventually, after Playboy's rival magazine Penthouse had appeared (in 1965 in the UK), both magazines strove to show just a little bit more than the other, the so-called "Pubic Wars". A few more glimpses of pubic hair appeared in some pictorials and centerfolds, but it wasn't until January 1971 when Liv Lindeland, after 18 years and 216 issues, showed clearly visible pubic hair in her pictorial, generating a tremendous amount of media and popular attention. The first Playmate to clearly have the first full frontal nude centerfold was Miss January 1972, Marilyn Cole. Incidentally, both women went on to become Playmate of the Year.

Patti McGuire was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for the November 1976 issue, and the 1977 Playmate of the Year. Her pictorial spread gained notoriety as it appeared in the controversial Jimmy Carter issue of Playboy.