When Maxim readers got its February issue in the mail, most were expecting the softcore fare that has become the modern “gentlemen” magazine’s hallmark. The cover was titillating enough: “Bikini Blitz!” Pages of mostly topless women modeled bathing suits for readers’ masturbating pleasure.
The preoccupation with the female body is what Maxim knows best. And any magazine that has the, er, balls to publish articles about “tornado” oral sex and the lot should be commended. With the clinical sex education children get in elementary school, grown adults need magazines such as Maxim and Cosmopolitan to give them more insight as to needs in the sack.
But a much more ugly picture overshadowed the normal combination of sex-ed articles and underdressed models in the February edition. In a three-page spread, Maxim used video game-like illustrations to portray how hand-to-hand combat can be good exercise.
In “Maxim’s Kick-Ass Workout,” an illustration of a white man, wearing a wife-beater shirt emblazoned with “Muscle,” was shown kicking and tossing about a bludgeoned and extremely emaciated likeness of Mahatma Gandhi.
Among other violent exercises, Maxim advocated strangling to “strengthen your man-titties and your ego.” In one panel, Gandhi is depicted lying on the floor with the “muscle” man standing over him. The text reads, “… quickly ask Gandhi if he can see the change in your physique. No response? Keep working out.”
Another gem was this: “A way to exercise the leg muscles is to focus on his head and use it as your personal trampoline. Mauling the guy’s face is a full butt and thigh workout.” Gandhi is shown lying on the floor with blood spurting out of his head while the other character stomps on his skull.
Understandably, the South Asian community didn’t take this caricature lightly. IndiaCause, a U.S.-based activist group created the most noise and even swayed Maxim’s editor-in-chief, Keith Blanchard, to issue a formal apology last week.
“We apologize if our cartoon … was interpreted as offensive,” Blanchard said. “An edgy sense of humor, laced with irony, has always been a central element of Maxim’s editorial.”
To its credit, Maxim’s sophomoric sense of humor extends to everyone, not just Gandhi. In the same article, readers were encouraged to “drop a rock on a fat, Speedo-Sportin’ Euro.” And the magazine also has a regular feature with a Japanese character named “Hiroki” who speaks in broken English: “Picture look good. Shell too crunchy — metal hurt my teeth!”
Maxim’s content isn’t as offensive as it is just plain stupid. But in an age of politically correct Nazism, Maxim’s attempts to push the envelope are almost refreshing. Italian Americans have complained about their depiction on “The Sopranos”; Mexican Americans are upset about “Kingpin”; and hey, I’m being underrepresented on BET!
But with continued violence against Middle Eastern-“looking” men after Sept. 11, 2001, Maxim is doing a disservice to all Americans with its all-too-literal Gandhi-bashing article — especially for the laughably ego-centric purpose of tight abs and buns of steel. Now young, horny, heterosexual readers are not just being taught how to find the G-spot, but they’re also being told violence against peace-loving religious icons will make them manlier.
If the magazine was as “edgy” as Blanchard says it is, why did it choose Gandhi for the story? Why not pick high profile pacifists such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Jesus Christ to play the “pussy”?
Until Jesus gets body-slammed by the Pope in the next issue, readers should chalk up the incident to immature ignorance on behalf of the editors and move on. Meanwhile, Maxim should go back to featuring what it does best: naked women and cunnilingus lessons.