New research says Playboy models getting “tougher”

In a recent issue of the Journal of Popular Culture, authors James K. Beggan of the University of Louisville and Scott T. Allison of the University of Richmond argue that the women of Playboy magazine are getting “tougher.”

Beggan and Allison…found a pattern to the way that Playboy’s wordsmiths described the women who graced the magazine’s centerfold. They were typically strong, career-oriented, aggressive and, in a surprising number of instances, downright “tough.” Adjectives suggesting vulnerability, submissiveness or passivity appeared less frequently.
But are these women really as they were described? Perhaps not, Beggan acknowledges. But it doesn’t matter: “This is the image of them that is being presented to men.”

OK, but is the text describing the Playboy models really what men are paying attention to? If a woman is posed in a vulnerable an submissive position in her picture, I think that’s going to trump any “aggressive” text descriptions.
I couldn’t access the whole article–Tough Women in the Unlikeliest of Places: The Unexpected Toughness of the Playboy Playmate–but I’m also curious as to how the authors define what kind of language is ‘tough’ and what is ‘passive’.
Thanks to Rebel Dad for the link.
UPDATE: Check out Hugo for a more analytical take on the study.