Hugh Hefner, an American cultural icon, died last month at the age of 91. He was the founder of Playboy Magazine, a magazine that revolutionized the publishing & entertainment world with photo spreads of naked women, as well as articles about lifestyles, philosophy and current events. The magazine, which started in 1953, was meant to promote the aspirational lifestyles of the "Modern Man" in more ways than one.
copyright: Playboy Enterprises
The Playboy brand expanded into other ventures including but not limited to nightclubs, television, fashion and sex accessories (ie condoms).
Playboy Magazine started at a time when cable TV, VHS, DVD, internet and social media did not exist yet. Information formats that were available to the general public were limited to books, magazines, network TV and radio. There wasn't many ways to access nude photos in a time when religious conservatives controlled the content of most entertainment. Hollywood wasn't yet the domain of publicly hedonistic secular liberals (though there was a fear of communists infiltrating the industry).
So the appearance of a magazine with nude photos was scandalous at the time. It was banned from being sold to minors, though many teenage boys either found their dad's hidden copies, or visited friends whose fathers had hidden copies.
As time went on, the religious conservatives lost control of the entertainment industry, as new directors produced more risky & explicit content. Playboy had new competitors, with the most famous being Hustler Magazine (founded by Larry Flynt) which was seen as a more explicit and "low-class" alternative to Playboy.
Then of course, was the Internet, where anyone with a computer can post whatever they want. Why buy a magazine when you can find images & videos for free online? Playboy definitely had an online presence, though some people wanted the sexual content without the high-class aspirational tone of Playboy.
Hugh Hefner was definitely more than just a seller of sexual content. He was a proud supporter of liberal causes, including the civil rights movement, legalization of abortion, and the protection of civil liberties. He was a long-time donor to the Democratic Party, whose members had mixed feelings towards him.
For example, when Al Gore was running for President in 2000, he strongly urged the cancellation of a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion which was to took place around the same time as the Democratic National Convention took place in Los Angeles. Al Gore was embarrassed by Bill Clinton's sex scandals and wanted to distance himself from anything that would remind the nation about the scandals. His wife, Tipper Gore, was already famous for her battles against explicit rock & rap music of the 1980s and 1990s. She wanted the image of someone who wanted to "protect the children" but her campaigns were also seen as a way to get social conservatives and feminists to support her husband's rise in politics.
Social conservatives and radical feminists have had many battles against each other, but they were united (reluctantly) in their dislike of various forms of entertainment, including Playboy Magazine.
Meanwhile, radical feminists felt that Playboy (and similar types of entertainment) led men into treating women as nothing more than sex objects. They worry that such treatment would encourage men to sexually abuse women.
The radical feminist crusade against Playboy (and similar types of entertainment) led to a backlash not only from men (who of course love the sexy imagery) but also from women many of whom love to present a sexy side of themselves.
It is THIS VERY REASON why many women were reluctant to call themselves feminists.
Even women working in traditionally male industries were reluctant to call themselves feminists.
Even loud, take-no-crap women were reluctant to call themselves feminists.
In the late 80s and early 90s, women who defended equal rights AND also loved to present a sexy side of themselves called themselves "pro-sex feminists" in contrast to the male-bashing, Playboy-hating stereotype of the radical feminists.
Eventually, even the most radical feminist activists changed their tactics, now more careful not to "slut shame" women who pose in sexually appealing photos, but now more focused on the men who sexually exploit women (ie, pimps, sex traffickers, abusive porn producers, etc)
Hugh Hefner loved to promote himself as a "gentleman". In response to an online question asking him "how you have so many bitches", Hugh Hefner responded that he had many girlfriends because he don't call them bitches, and that respect can go a long way.
Also, a few woman said that Bill Cosby raped them within Hefner's Playboy Mansion. One sued Hugh Hefner claiming he knew stuff like this was going on when Bill Cosby visited. Hefner never commented on those allegations.
Much of this only became widely known after Hugh Hefner died. Yes, some of this information existed online, but I didn't even know about Holly Madison's allegations until I read online articles about Hugh Hefner after his death.
All this is coming public when prestigious men, both liberal (ie Harvey Weinstein) and conservative (ie Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly) are being publicly exposed for allegations of sexual harassment. In the Internet Age, nothing stays secret forever.
The polyamorous and the swinger lifestyle is becoming more accepted by the mainstream. People enjoy having multiple sex partners. At the same time, people have to be careful and act appropriately with each other. You should never want the other person to feel sexually abused by you. Consent can go a long way.
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In personal news, I only had 1 copy of Playboy Magazine (with beach volleyballer Gabrielle Reece on the cover), which I received for free at a student event at UH-Manoa.
I later used that copy to do a presentation in Sociology 459 (Sociology of Popular Culture). I hid the magazine in a paper bag, said I'm doing a report on the most popular "men's magazine", then took the magazine out of the bag. The class (with plenty of football players) started laughing out loud. Then I basically talked about the magazine's history and also mentioned Hugh Hefner's contribution to liberal causes.
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Yes, I said only have 1 copy. One is enough. Though I did watch a few porn videos at my friend's house as a teenager, that's all the porn I ever watched. Been there, done that, I moved on! I don't want to sound "holier than thou" but I think it's all a waste of time.
Learn more from my blog posts at
Some wisdom from on those blog posts
Watching porn when you're in your 30's? Really? Yeah, that's every teenage boy's dream, you may experiment with in your early 20's, but after that............................... get a life! You're a big boy now, live in reality, get off your couch, stop wasting your night looking at a screen, stop wasting your money!
Go to a real nightclub and dance with some real women instead of just wasting your time watching fantasy!
If you spend at least a decade dancing with women at a regular nightclub, you develop a memory bank of real life experiences that no amount of porn can impress you anymore! Why would it, real life experience will always over-ride watching fantasy!
Playboy might provide you the fantasy, but it's up to you to live your life!
Just don't get yourself into trouble!
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Suggested readings
(note: the inclusion of these articles does NOT imply I agree with everything written in those articles, I just found them interesting)
Amber Batura, “How Hugh Hefner Invented the Modern Man,” New York Times, September 28, 2017,
Josh Horwitz, “Remembering Playboy’s Hugh Hefner, the civil
rights activist,” Quartz, September 28, 2017,
Irin Carmon, “Hugh Hefner’s world wasn’t just bad for women.
It hurt men, too.,” Washington Post, September 29, 2017
