What is most interesting about 'Letters to Penthouse XIX' is that the magazine's readers, apparently, haven't changed much either. America's definition of that edge, though, has changed radically Penthouse's really hasn't. It's been a humbling fall for Penthouse, which burst on the scene 40 years ago, a Playboy imitation that dallied on the edge of kink.
The impact has devastated Penthouse, whose publisher filed for Chapter 11 last summer, and many bet on a complete overhaul by a new owner. Time has passed since the Penthouse Forum offered cutting-edge titillation 384 pages of sucking and fucking, with a smattering of edgier nastiness, really isn't all that in an era of the Super Bowl flash - or, more important, the Internet, where a video of a famous hotel heiress is available for quick download for $50, and porn bloggers explore predicaments Penthouse readers could never imagine. The 19th collection of letters from Penthouse 'readers' (that is, actual readers and the editors who imitate them), culled from the fabled Forum section of the magazine, delivers a bit of everything for the average libido: fellatio, cunnilingus, vaginal sex, anal sex, exhibitionism, voyeurism, dominance, toys, group sex, in the home, in the office, in the car, on the beach, in the bleachers.
