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No question he played an influential role in loosening up prudery and the double standard, and on balance, I think that is a good thing. He was hardly the only reason those changes happened though.
There were a lot of guys in the 70s and 80s, who thought a liberated woman could only prove her liberation by saying Yes, and were genuinely upset when they heard No. I think Hefner had a part in encouraging that, and that is what the columnist says.
Like a lot of us, Hefner was right about some things and wrong about others.
And yes, he was sleazy, but that's not illegal. Plenty of women seemed to find that attractive. Shrug.
He was a businessman. And every successful businessman fulfils the existing needs on the market. He found a need and provided the solution. Ask any former male teenager where he kept his father's Playboy.
Towards the end of his life, I somehow felt sorry for the delusional old man who surrounded himself with money hungry young girls. Although it might have been the picture he wanted to create in order to remain in the public eye. Good for business
Hugh Hefner was possibly one of the most influential men of his generation. Yes, he liked beautiful women. He was even possibly a bit on the lecherous side. However, it is arguable that Hefner had a greater impact on culture than just about any other publisher in the world.
He was a consummate businessman, and he learned early on the now common adage "sex sells". He used pictures of beautiful women to sell a magazine that encouraged people to expand outside of their own little world. His magazine featured interviews with some of the most controversial figures of the day, and most of those interviews were done with a very evenhanded approach. Playboy brought controversial topics to the forefront of the American mind, and even though it takes a bit of thought to understand the concept, it did lead to women being more empowered.
People like this journalist are ones who can't see the forest for the trees, and probably never picked up an issue of Playboy to actually learn what it was all about. Yes, there were pictures of beautiful women. There were also pictures and articles about art and culture that may not have been printed had it not been for Hugh Hefner.
That being said, he had his demons, just like most of us do. He wasn't a nice person, but he was an extremely influential one. It's arguable that he was something of a sadist, and he was definitely not a man who valued women for their integrity. Did he use women? Yes. Was he driven by sex? You betcha. Did he do some things that would make other people question his sanity? Without a doubt. Again, he wasn't a nice man. Hefner reminds of the book 50 Shades of Gray. Since his actions were performed by a multi-millionaire those actions were accepted by the masses, even looked up to. Had someone living in a trailer park done the same thing, it would have been an episode of CSI.
Last edited by JimRom; 09-29-2017 at 05:36 AM..
Reason: Wrote half of what I had to say and got distracted...
Hefner had to put a better image to his sleaze with good articles and of course his mansion as he exploited women and made big money . Yeah, he was a sleaze. And of course many women love money so they became sleazy too.
He's definitely a controversial figure. I'm not really interested in trying to judge him. I don't believe he particularly helped women, but I don't think he did anything that hadn't been going on for ages - he merely brought it out of the shadows.
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