If you have a men’s magazine in the vicinity, I’d like you to flip to the “model profile” section. You know, the part where the mag quits pretending it’s in the business of producing high-brow fiction and informative reports on the decline of efficient manufacturing processes in America and gets down to the business of showing pictures of naked women.

There will be a few models, so you’ll have to pick one. Stacy. Fine. You’ll notice that the first page shows a picture of Stacy’s face. Just her face.

On the next page, you’ll see Stacy’s face and Stacy’s buttocks. You will probably also see a hint of breast, but only a hint. Stacy will be half out of four different outfits, as if she’s the world’s sloppiest dresser. Then, on the next page, Stacy’s breasts will pop free. You’ll see them from the side and you’ll see them from the front, and there’s a fair bet you’ll also see Stacy cupping them with an expression of utter surprise, as if she’s never noticed them there before.

In one of the pictures, you’ll see a few strands of Stacy’s pubic hair, but you have to turn the page again to get any further. And there it will be: Stacy completely naked, saying, “Okay, I’ve got nothing left now. All my clothes are gone. Go on, you might as well take a look.”

Now, my point is this: What are all the previous pictures for? If you want to see Stacy’s breasts, well, there they are, on the last page. There is, in fact, everything that was peeking out from behind this and half hidden behind that in all the other pictures.

The answer is marketing. Stacy has been marketed to you.

You could produce a magazine with page after page of naked women, just standing there. But it wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t even be erotic.

What it comes down to, you see, is that a naked body is just a naked body.

But the possibility of a naked body is something special.