Brittany Barbour, Cyber Girl of the Week, August 30, 2010

This light-eyed cutie closes out this incredible month of August. Brittany Barbour has that very cute, girl-next-door look. I have a feeling that we'll see much more of Ms. Barbour in the very near future.

Photography by Stephen Wayda

Brittany Barbour

Hometown Sherman Oaks, California

Date of Birth January 2, 1987

Height 5'2"

Weight 98 lbs.

Measurements 32C-23-32

"Cooking in lingerie should be a requirement in the kitchen," says Brittany, who would be a welcome sight in our galley. She hopes to open her own restaurant where she'll undoubtedly be a very sexy master chef. Despite her love of great meals, Brittany has a sure-fire way of keeping her ridiculous figure in shape: "Sex is the only exercise I get!"

Erika Mayshawn, Cyber Girl of the Week, August 23, 2010

Erika Mayshawn comes to us as our Cyber Girl for the week. This beauty has been a veteran on the Playboy Girls Network scene and finally has the spotlight on her in the Playboy Cyber Club.

Photography by George Georgiou

Erika Mayshawn

Hometown Detroit, Michigan

Date of Birth May 3, 1983

Height 5'10"

Weight 125 lbs.

Measurements 32DD-26-38

Don't let her pretty face (and body) fool you—Erika has brains! "Most of my life has been about studying and doing homework," she says. All the hours in the library paid off when she earned college dean's list honors and graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Those laurels helped her find a job in the fashion industry, where she works as a merchandiser and stylist. She's even started on plans to open a chain of clothing stores. "I'm not too far off from launching the online portion," she says. It's going to take a lot of hard work." We hope she stocks up on her favorite items: her sexy clothes. "You know, the ones I keep in the top drawer!"

Response to 'Should My Kid Read Playboy Magazine'?

The article from The Orange County Register is written by Marla Jo Fisher, who had recently found that her 13-year-old son and his friends were looking at internet porn. And with that, she was considering to buy him a subscription to Playboy. At first, I thought, why not? I mean, I was interested at that age. I loved classy, beautiful women. But as I thought about it more and read the article. I don't think it's a great idea, but not for the reasons that you might think. Looking at Playboy as a 'replacement' for internet porn isn't the answer. Playboy has a history. Playboy is a brand. Playboy is a culture. 

I became a teenager at about the same time when the internet blew up and just started to change our lives. When the internet entered our home, when I was about 13, I immediately went to the Playboy website, which had just about launched that very same year. I went to the website, not because there were naked girls, well, that was part of the reason, but it was Playboy. Everyone knew that Playboy was the classy magazine, and with all that we can see on the internet these days, it still is classy.

As I have said before in this blog, in my early teenage years, I was curious about Playboy. I heard of my friends taking out the magazine from the library and looking through them. In my late teens, I became a fan. I found the Playboy Mailing List when I was 15, and years later, the Playboy message boards. There I could chat with other Playboy fans as well as Playboy models to discuss everything Playboy. And then, into my twenties, I became a connoisseur. It all led me to create my own blog dedicated to Playboy. As a teen, I didn't only find the beautiful centerfolds, but learned about Playboy's history and how Hugh Hefner started the revolutionary magazine. I also found the Playboy Philosophy. Mr. Hefner and his philosophy, in some way, inspired me to go take the creative path in my life and become a graphic designer. They inspired me to hopefully create my own magazine one day.

In the 1990s, Playboy had tried to take steps to try to keep up with their 'frat-boy' counterparts, like Maxim and FHM, but soon realized that was not what they were all about. Recently, the magazine is trying to keep up with the fast rise of the internet and impending doom of the print industry. Like Marla's son and his friends have found, porn is right at your fingertips. Playboy does have Playboy TV and bought Spice TV, the porn pay-per-view channel. So Playboy has dipped its hand into porn, but to me, Playboy magazine, itself, is not porn. Having met and gotten to know a few Playboy models, it is still about that Girl Next Door today than it was in its golden years of the 1960s and 70s.

Playboy impacted me in a way that I wanted to change the world and shape it in the way that I see fit. I wanted to create a culture and a way of life. So in a way, Playboy magazine, as Reverend Roy Larson said in the Playboy Philosophy, "is a sort of bible which defines his values, shapes his personality..." For me, to replace internet porn with Playboy magazine is a bit sacrilegious. But honestly, Playboy isn't what it once was in its glory days. But it is still around and trying to catch the attention of that horny teenager. That teenager becomes a fan of Playboy, and when he grows up, he'll still be a fan. Maybe even a connoisseur.

Why I Pose...Dana Applegate

Dana Applegate first came to Playboy in 2006 as the Co-ed of the Week for July, 20, representing Texas Tech University. Then she came back to shoot for the Playboy Girls Network as a part of Playboy's Sexy Wives. I'm happy that she let me share her thoughts on why she posed for Playboy!

Dana Applegate

Photography by Chernoff-Urh

Hi Albert! I am surprised Playboy gets many critics on the west coast... we get a lot of that here in Texas!

I posed for Playboy for a couple of reasons. First, I love the female body. It's gorgeous and I don't know why some people are uncomfortable with it. I'm not sure why so many people in this country are so uncomfortable with nudity in general... it's perfectly natural and the Europeans seem to have that figured out! Because I love the female body, I like showing it off  I am very comfortable with myself. Second, I am a very sexual person. It makes me feel very sexy and confident to pose nude and have people enjoy my pics. I think when you are self-confident and love yourself, you want to show it off.

Hope this helps!
Dana

Jelena Timofejeva, Cyber Girl of the Week, August 16, 2010

Jelena Timofejeva is this week's Cyber Girl of the Week. This beauty is truly captivating with her amazing eyes pulling you in. Here is the sexy, Ms. Timofejeva.

Photography by Stephen Wayda

Jelena Timofejeva

Hometown Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Date of Birth February 25, 1989

Height 5'9"

Weight 130 lbs.

Measurements 36D-24-36

How does Jelena like to spend a romantic evening? "Dinner on the beach watching the sun set then skinny dipping in the ocean!" Her date shouldn't be surprised when her dog Tootsie makes an appearance. "I can't be without her for more than a couple of hours," Jelena admits. Thanks to her diet of fruits and vegetables, Jelena has the body for skinny dipping during the daylight, too—but don't try to find her at the gym. "I hate working out, it bores me!"

Kaki West, The Ballbreaker

Meet Kaki, the latest Ballbreaker from The Smoking Jacket, the new 'safe for work' website from Playboy! But, please, no LOL-ing, topping twits! The gorgeous Kaki, Playboy supermodel and actress, gives us her pet peeves about tweeting and telling stories.

Please visit Kaki at her website, kakiwest.com or follow her on twitter, @KakiWest10, but be careful what you tweet, she'll break your balls!

Why I Pose...April Katherine

April was one of the first models that I went to and she was more than happy to help me out. I just recently featured April in last week's Highlights of the Week and as I said then, she is taking the Playboy world by storm! At the beginning of the year, she attended the Orlando Casting Call and was one of twelve featured in the Playboy Cyber Club from that Casting. A few weeks after that, she got a call from Playboy and was on her way for her first photo shoot with Playboy. She has been seen in the Playboy Girls Network and I'm sure it's not the last that we'll see of her!

I have had a lot of fun doing the research to find the answer to the question, why do women choose to pose for Playboy? I went to each and every model that I could find and introduced them to the article that inspired me to start this project, and asked them two questions, why did you choose to pose for Playboy? and why do you think women choose to pose for Playboy? So, here is the response from the beautiful April Katherine in my first 'Why I Pose' feature.

April Katherine

Photography by Lisa Boyle

I personally feel that every woman wants to feel as if they are the most Beautiful woman in the world! When I say this, its not that simple. A woman may know she is Beautiful but not in the eyes of the world. Beauty is MUCH more than just looks...its personality, class, spirit, charm, sexiness and even more than that. Playboy is KNOWN for featuring The Most Beautiful Women in the world. Yes, one may have bigger hips, but her wisdom or personality may Shine above all perfect sized hips! We are all given a body of Art, which should be recognized. If you have to confidence to present yourself infront of the entire world Naked, You arent hidding your fears; you're Pure, Real and Powerful!! And you can be all of those with clothes on but I think it is excentuated more in nakedness..

All the extra things such as, traveling, meeting new people, being treated special, etc those are all great! Those are the rewards of chasing your dreams and conquering them!!!

I hope this helps you understand where I am coming from...Remember every girl is different and may have a different response. However this is what I feel in my heart and hope one day I will be given the honor of becoming Playmate...Not only Playmate,but the first Playmate to share the same name as the month she is featured. Hence- Miss April 2011, April Katherine.

Xoxo April Katherine