Ezra Miller in Playboy
Playboy is a media outlet I have always considered to be objectifying and heteronormative, as it's bunnies are usually thin, white and photographed for the male gaze. I didn't think people even actually read the articles but just looked at the magazine to look at the women.
However this week, Ezra Miller was interviewed and photographed for Playboy in a way that celebrates gender non-conformity and challenges hegemonic standards in sex, romance (like monogamy), and sexuality. Miller discusses queerness, polyamory, abuse, and much more and it is really a beautiful article and beautiful photographs that I would never expect to read or see in Playboy. The article ends with the journalist, Ryan Gajewski, referencing the need or desire for Miller's ideologies surrounding gender and sexuality to impact Hollywood, although he expresses he does not believe that will happen.
Playboy has been around for 65 years. I believe this is the first time that it is challenging hegemonic gender constructions. Hugh Hefner was the first solo male cover star right after his death last year. Ezra Miller is the opposite of what the magazine has featured as a cover. This magazine was created for men with the male gaze. However, this issue shows that some men also desire male presenting individuals and gender non-conforming people.
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