Playboy exploits sex the way Sports Illustrated exploits sports.

Hefner’s line is a defense-by-analogy: he frames Playboy’s use of erotic imagery as a form of specialized, commercial “coverage,” comparable to a mainstream magazine’s treatment of its subject matter. By invoking Sports Illustrated—widely seen as legitimate, even wholesome—he argues that Playboy’s presentation of sex is not uniquely corrupting but rather a market-driven packaging of a popular human interest. The word “exploits” is pointed: it concedes commodification while normalizing it as standard media practice. The comparison also implies editorial selectivity and aestheticization—sex, like sports, is curated, photographed, and sold as entertainment.