Hugh Hefner 1926-2017
September 27, 2017 9:23 PM Subscribe
Playboy founder Hugh M. Hefner, the pipe-smoking hedonist who revved up the sexual revolution in the 1950s and built a multimedia empire of clubs, mansions, movies and television, symbolized by bow-tied women in bunny costumes, has died at age 91.
Hugh Hefner, Who Built Playboy Empire and Embodied It, Dies at 91: Hefner the man and Playboy the brand were inseparable. Both advertised themselves as emblems of the sexual revolution, an escape from American priggishness and wider social intolerance. Both were derided over the years — as vulgar, as adolescent, as exploitative, and finally as anachronistic. But Mr. Hefner was a stunning success from his emergence in the early 1950s. His timing was perfect.
Hugh Hefner, Playboy founder, dies at 91: Just what the Bunny really stood for — sexual freedom or sexist oppression — became fodder for the cultural wars of the 1960s and ‘70s. Feminist Gloria Steinem fired one of the first shots when she posed as a Bunny and wrote a scathing expose in Show magazine in 1963. “Reading Playboy,” she later said, “feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual.”
Hugh Hefner, Who Built Playboy Empire and Embodied It, Dies at 91: Hefner the man and Playboy the brand were inseparable. Both advertised themselves as emblems of the sexual revolution, an escape from American priggishness and wider social intolerance. Both were derided over the years — as vulgar, as adolescent, as exploitative, and finally as anachronistic. But Mr. Hefner was a stunning success from his emergence in the early 1950s. His timing was perfect.
Hugh Hefner, Playboy founder, dies at 91: Just what the Bunny really stood for — sexual freedom or sexist oppression — became fodder for the cultural wars of the 1960s and ‘70s. Feminist Gloria Steinem fired one of the first shots when she posed as a Bunny and wrote a scathing expose in Show magazine in 1963. “Reading Playboy,” she later said, “feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual.”
91. Pretty good innings. And outings. And innings. And outings.
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:26 PM on September 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:26 PM on September 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
His neighbor bought the mansion with Hefner allowed to live in it for $1M a year, for the rest of his life. Coincidence?!
posted by Atrahasis at 9:27 PM on September 27, 2017
posted by Atrahasis at 9:27 PM on September 27, 2017
Thanks for the mammaries.
posted by Grandysaur at 9:29 PM on September 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Grandysaur at 9:29 PM on September 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
You know, RIP to the Heff. He had his faults (a lot of them), but he was a champion for LGBTQ rights and free speech.
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posted by numaner at 9:32 PM on September 27, 2017 [25 favorites]
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posted by numaner at 9:32 PM on September 27, 2017 [25 favorites]
Probably the smartest and most talented girl I ever went out with in high school went on to write for Playboy, and by all accounts loved it. She's gone onto other things now, still kicking ass, but I'm thinking of her tonight.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:33 PM on September 27, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 9:33 PM on September 27, 2017 [11 favorites]
Despite your opinion on the exact feminist parameters of Playboy, one has to admit it did great things in bringing sex out of the bedroom and into the newsstands, while showing it wasn't just smut, but a decent read also.
posted by Samizdata at 9:34 PM on September 27, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by Samizdata at 9:34 PM on September 27, 2017 [9 favorites]
An uncommon man, to be sure. It is rare for anyone to redefine their culture such as he did, and while I wouldn't entirely buy into his self-praise of liberation, he definitely had a vision and an eye for quality. This may sound silly, but I respect him most for his work producing Little Annie Fanny, Trump magazine (no relation), and -- the articles. Realizing he could make money selling pictures of a nekkid Marilyn Monroe was child's play.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:36 PM on September 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:36 PM on September 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
He lived a full life. Usually two hands full, no doubt.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:36 PM on September 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:36 PM on September 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
I never quite figured out the charm of playboy--except maybe sleaze that we could all pretend was classy but not in a helmut newton way. the sleaze was kind of a middle american view of decadence-as much as the ability to get a blonde at 3 am as one could get an ice cream sundae; as much as jazz meant something but not weird jazz, the simualcram of pleasure without anyone actually feeling it--too glossy, not enough hair, not enough sweat--paying too much attention then you coul see how small the mansion was, or see how the surface cracked, and the metaphor was too clean--the avairy and the harem; the grotto and the back yard poll; the jazz club but without any exteriority; the idea of black liberation but as entertainers; always the anxiety of stumbling onto bad taste--and that kind of 50s ersatz pyschoanalyis, the good father, blessing us..
Reading Holly Madisons's biography of hefner put an opinon i suspected into stark relief--the sexual liberation that playboy sold, was sexual liberation at the expense of women, in favour of women's bodies. The ambivalence that we feel about hefner's good political work, allowed for us to apologise for what he hid in plain sight. For example--Dick Gregory and not Fran Ross, Harlon Elison and not Joanna Russ. Bill Cosby. Also, it would never critique capital, it's position was to treat flesh as a kind of commodity (I am reminded of a MoPop study of high end stereo advertisments in the 70s magazine.) I said something to a friend last night, in another context--never under-estimate the radical potential of cutting a cheque, and Hefner did a very good job at cutting cheques, for first ammendment causes, mostly--that meant something, plus he kept some excellent journalists on the pay roll.
posted by PinkMoose at 9:41 PM on September 27, 2017 [88 favorites]
Reading Holly Madisons's biography of hefner put an opinon i suspected into stark relief--the sexual liberation that playboy sold, was sexual liberation at the expense of women, in favour of women's bodies. The ambivalence that we feel about hefner's good political work, allowed for us to apologise for what he hid in plain sight. For example--Dick Gregory and not Fran Ross, Harlon Elison and not Joanna Russ. Bill Cosby. Also, it would never critique capital, it's position was to treat flesh as a kind of commodity (I am reminded of a MoPop study of high end stereo advertisments in the 70s magazine.) I said something to a friend last night, in another context--never under-estimate the radical potential of cutting a cheque, and Hefner did a very good job at cutting cheques, for first ammendment causes, mostly--that meant something, plus he kept some excellent journalists on the pay roll.
posted by PinkMoose at 9:41 PM on September 27, 2017 [88 favorites]
Ross did write for Playboy, but it was a sarcastic article on AAVE and slang, Hefner thot she was being serious, and published it as a kind of anthropological field study.
posted by PinkMoose at 9:43 PM on September 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by PinkMoose at 9:43 PM on September 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Well, time to pack it up folks, the sexual revolution's over.
posted by happyroach at 9:46 PM on September 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by happyroach at 9:46 PM on September 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
He was a guest star on Simpsons when that still meant something.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:46 PM on September 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:46 PM on September 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
Back in the 80's I had a tour of the Playboy Tower and Mansion in LA. Lots of interesting, glitzy and excessive stuff but also rather sad in a John Foster Kane sort of way. I didn't leave envying his life much. Still, the highlight was finding myself inconvenienced and being allowed to take a leak in the intensely all hot pink private Bunny Bathroom. Thanks Hef...
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posted by jim in austin at 10:03 PM on September 27, 2017 [6 favorites]
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posted by jim in austin at 10:03 PM on September 27, 2017 [6 favorites]
Hefner did nothing to liberate sexuality in any real sense; he dammed it up and allowed it to escape only through the revved up turbines of post-WW2 consumption; it was a classic case -- perhaps THE classic case -- of Marcusean repressive desublimation.
Real sexual liberation has yet to arrive, but even a slightly closer approximation to it has proved sufficient to bring the Playboy Empire down.
posted by jamjam at 10:05 PM on September 27, 2017 [41 favorites]
Real sexual liberation has yet to arrive, but even a slightly closer approximation to it has proved sufficient to bring the Playboy Empire down.
posted by jamjam at 10:05 PM on September 27, 2017 [41 favorites]
When Vietnam Veterans Against The War wanted to advertise, Playboy was one of the few places that would let them - and the only place that not only let them, but donated a full page ad - at the time, which would have cost beaucoup bucks. It helped them reach thousands of soldiers turning against the war.
Whatever else I will think of Playboy and Hugh Hefner, I will always remember that.
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posted by corb at 10:14 PM on September 27, 2017 [102 favorites]
Whatever else I will think of Playboy and Hugh Hefner, I will always remember that.
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posted by corb at 10:14 PM on September 27, 2017 [102 favorites]
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posted by mikelieman at 10:17 PM on September 27, 2017
posted by mikelieman at 10:17 PM on September 27, 2017
My bunny looked great in preview, but I don't know how to do the monospaced fonts here.
posted by Samizdata at 10:17 PM on September 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Samizdata at 10:17 PM on September 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
Hugh Hefner, Wikipedia:
On June 4, 1963, Hefner was arrested for promoting obscene literature after an issue of Playboy featuring nude shots of Jayne Mansfield was released.[19] The case went to trial and resulted in a hung jury.[20]
Pun noted, but it is often overlooked that what Hefner was doing was considered illegal by many, in and out of government. It was not uncommon throughout the 1960's for federal authorities to use the postal service to stage arrests after agents ordered materials from conservative jurisdictions, leading to the imprisonment of some who only mailed art books with nude images. The experience no doubt encouraged him to establish the First Amendment Award.
posted by Brian B. at 10:28 PM on September 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
On June 4, 1963, Hefner was arrested for promoting obscene literature after an issue of Playboy featuring nude shots of Jayne Mansfield was released.[19] The case went to trial and resulted in a hung jury.[20]
Pun noted, but it is often overlooked that what Hefner was doing was considered illegal by many, in and out of government. It was not uncommon throughout the 1960's for federal authorities to use the postal service to stage arrests after agents ordered materials from conservative jurisdictions, leading to the imprisonment of some who only mailed art books with nude images. The experience no doubt encouraged him to establish the First Amendment Award.
posted by Brian B. at 10:28 PM on September 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
"Hugh Hefner non-consensually published nudes that endangered Marilyn Monroe's career & then purchased the right to be buried with her corpse" - Sady Doyle
posted by adrienneleigh at 10:33 PM on September 27, 2017 [29 favorites]
posted by adrienneleigh at 10:33 PM on September 27, 2017 [29 favorites]
An American original, with all of the complications that entails.
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posted by Going To Maine at 10:33 PM on September 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
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posted by Going To Maine at 10:33 PM on September 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
Hugh Hefner, the patron saint of plastic surgeons.
posted by Beholder at 10:33 PM on September 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Beholder at 10:33 PM on September 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by Mister Bijou at 10:37 PM on September 27, 2017
posted by Mister Bijou at 10:37 PM on September 27, 2017
(.)(.)
Guardian obituary. - Love or hate him - I don't think historians will confuse High Hefner with anybody else. And if we are looking for paragons of The American Dream - then somebody who founds their own global brand, sets up themselves as part of that brand, becomes an icon for a whole industry and stays active within that leading role for 60 years or so - has to be a prime example.
posted by rongorongo at 10:55 PM on September 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Guardian obituary. - Love or hate him - I don't think historians will confuse High Hefner with anybody else. And if we are looking for paragons of The American Dream - then somebody who founds their own global brand, sets up themselves as part of that brand, becomes an icon for a whole industry and stays active within that leading role for 60 years or so - has to be a prime example.
posted by rongorongo at 10:55 PM on September 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Aw. man. Hef and Playboy were... complicated, to put it mildly. Like most everyone else, I was drawn to the magazine for the pictures, but really started to appreciate the exposure to writers: Heinlein, King, Updike, so many more. Artists: Helmut Newton, Olivia de Bernardis, Leroy Neiman, Gahan Wilson. The Interview, together with the pieces of investigative writing, was sometimes the best journalism going, at least during the magazine's heyday.
Yes, Hefner commercialized and commodified the sexual revolution. In America, in the 50's, I think that combination was probably inevitable. And I outgrew the magazine decades ago. But as a fairly isolated kid growing up in the South Pacific Playboy really expanded my political and intellectual frontiers, and I'll always be grateful for that.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 10:58 PM on September 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
Yes, Hefner commercialized and commodified the sexual revolution. In America, in the 50's, I think that combination was probably inevitable. And I outgrew the magazine decades ago. But as a fairly isolated kid growing up in the South Pacific Playboy really expanded my political and intellectual frontiers, and I'll always be grateful for that.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 10:58 PM on September 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
I am at work at the sex shop tonight, so I'm reading through our stacks of "vintage" (used) Playboys. I just read a review for the Lion King.
posted by Grandysaur at 11:00 PM on September 27, 2017 [20 favorites]
posted by Grandysaur at 11:00 PM on September 27, 2017 [20 favorites]
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posted by dogstoevski at 11:02 PM on September 27, 2017
posted by dogstoevski at 11:02 PM on September 27, 2017
Thanks for the film preservation and land conservation, Hef. Here's to rich folks who spread it around where it makes a difference.
posted by Scram at 11:09 PM on September 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Scram at 11:09 PM on September 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
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I remember him for the articles.
posted by allegedly at 11:12 PM on September 27, 2017 [21 favorites]
I remember him for the articles.
posted by allegedly at 11:12 PM on September 27, 2017 [21 favorites]
Revisiting my favorite article about the women who were Playboy centerfolds.
"All the women in these pages—who went on to become journalists, entrepreneurs, real-estate agents, and sexagenarian nude models; who married, divorced, and, in one case, gave birth to a Victoria’s Secret supermodel — say the Playmate title imbued them with a sense of confidence that seems more of a precursor to the sexual freedom of third-wave feminists than related to the objectification and degradation that their contemporaries saw in the magazine. “I think everyone who walked in that door to be a bunny girl or Playmate knew what they had,” says Cole Lownes. “They may not want to admit it, but I think they knew [their power].”"
posted by gingerbeer at 11:18 PM on September 27, 2017 [10 favorites]
"All the women in these pages—who went on to become journalists, entrepreneurs, real-estate agents, and sexagenarian nude models; who married, divorced, and, in one case, gave birth to a Victoria’s Secret supermodel — say the Playmate title imbued them with a sense of confidence that seems more of a precursor to the sexual freedom of third-wave feminists than related to the objectification and degradation that their contemporaries saw in the magazine. “I think everyone who walked in that door to be a bunny girl or Playmate knew what they had,” says Cole Lownes. “They may not want to admit it, but I think they knew [their power].”"
posted by gingerbeer at 11:18 PM on September 27, 2017 [10 favorites]
"Hugh Hefner non-consensually published nudes that endangered Marilyn Monroe's career & then purchased the right to be buried with her corpse" - Sady DoyleI'm curious about her authority re the latter. I worked for Pierce Brothers Westwood Village, where Monroe is buried, and with several of the Pierce brothers. I doubt this is true.
posted by goofyfoot at 11:41 PM on September 27, 2017 [10 favorites]
Hefner did nothing to liberate sexuality in any real sense; he dammed it up and allowed it to escape only through the revved up turbines of post-WW2 consumption; it was a classic case -- perhaps THE classic case -- of Marcusean repressive desublimation.
Nah. Boomers invented sex, like they did everything else. And with their Dionysian deity dead, well, that's it for sex. Maybe they'll go on to something else. Like shuffleboard. Or macrame might be nice.
posted by happyroach at 11:48 PM on September 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
Nah. Boomers invented sex, like they did everything else. And with their Dionysian deity dead, well, that's it for sex. Maybe they'll go on to something else. Like shuffleboard. Or macrame might be nice.
posted by happyroach at 11:48 PM on September 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
"Dear Playboy Advisor: What kind of stereo system sounds best in Hell?"
posted by thelonius at 11:51 PM on September 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 11:51 PM on September 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
His neighbor bought the mansion with Hefner allowed to live in it for $1M a year, for the rest of his life. Coincidence?!
Please, someone tell this 33 year old dude that it doesn't matter how many mansions he has, he's not going to seem attractive to anyone, until he gets rid of his combover.
posted by alex_skazat at 11:59 PM on September 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
Please, someone tell this 33 year old dude that it doesn't matter how many mansions he has, he's not going to seem attractive to anyone, until he gets rid of his combover.
posted by alex_skazat at 11:59 PM on September 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
I saw a biography of the two candidates for president where one of Trump's adolescent friends explained that Trump basically grew up on Playboy like the rest of his military school friends, but that the difference between him and the rest of them was that he never grew out of the mentality espoused by the magazine. However, no matter how adolescent, no matter how narrowly it portrayed women, in my experience that magazine was generally more sex positive than not and opened more minds than it closed.
I also always saw him as being a bit sad. I wouldn't have wanted to be him, and felt somewhat sorry for the guys that did. I saw his television show a couple of times and was always bowled over by how much I did not want to be at whatever party he was throwing at the time.
posted by xammerboy at 12:16 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
I also always saw him as being a bit sad. I wouldn't have wanted to be him, and felt somewhat sorry for the guys that did. I saw his television show a couple of times and was always bowled over by how much I did not want to be at whatever party he was throwing at the time.
posted by xammerboy at 12:16 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
Hefner built himself an odd little place in the culture. I'll give him credit for that, but think he's more a curiosity than figure worth celebrating in the accumulation of his efforts. In the moment of his apotheosis in the early 70's there was a feeling the culture could develop in ways that might have hinted at a more meaningful legacy, but that didn't happen and his "empire" seemed to fall more in line with the regressive mood that led into the 80's instead.
That said, I did always have a soft spot for the "Playboy Theme" song so that's something at least.
posted by gusottertrout at 12:25 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
That said, I did always have a soft spot for the "Playboy Theme" song so that's something at least.
posted by gusottertrout at 12:25 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm trying to remember the first time I saw an issue of Playboy. I think I might have seen one in the bathroom at one of my dad's dirtbag surfer friend's places or something. I might have been as young as 10 or so.
I definitely picked it up because omg boobs but I vividly remember being immediately seduced by the articles. There was a window to a more sophisticated adult world that I didn't really understand or realize that even existed at that age, things you didn't find in Reader's Digest or Time - or even National Geographic.
Some of the first good speculative fiction I ever read was in Playboy. Some of the first independent political thought and analysis, too, the sort of thing I was just getting scraps of from sources like an earlier Doonesbury or Bloom County.
Hugh Hefner had problems. I have strong reservations saying he left the world a better place as a whole, so I won't.
But I know that Playboy as a literary publication left me a better and more open minded person, so thanks for that, Hef.
posted by loquacious at 12:31 AM on September 28, 2017 [13 favorites]
I definitely picked it up because omg boobs but I vividly remember being immediately seduced by the articles. There was a window to a more sophisticated adult world that I didn't really understand or realize that even existed at that age, things you didn't find in Reader's Digest or Time - or even National Geographic.
Some of the first good speculative fiction I ever read was in Playboy. Some of the first independent political thought and analysis, too, the sort of thing I was just getting scraps of from sources like an earlier Doonesbury or Bloom County.
Hugh Hefner had problems. I have strong reservations saying he left the world a better place as a whole, so I won't.
But I know that Playboy as a literary publication left me a better and more open minded person, so thanks for that, Hef.
posted by loquacious at 12:31 AM on September 28, 2017 [13 favorites]
This I never knew:
posted by Mister Bijou at 12:42 AM on September 28, 2017 [47 favorites]
“In the 1950s and 60s, there were still states that outlawed birth control, so I started funding court cases to challenge that. At the same time, I helped sponsor the lower-court cases that eventually led to Roe v Wade. We were the amicus curiae [a friend of the court who volunteers information] in Roe v Wade [the 1973 US supreme court decision affirming a woman’s right to choose abortion]."Grauniad obit
posted by Mister Bijou at 12:42 AM on September 28, 2017 [47 favorites]
A true Gentleman Lech.
Godspeed.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:56 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Godspeed.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:56 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
When I was an RA his son was one of my residents. Good kid. Compared to some of the other celebrity children at my school, he was a really good kid. This must be a really surreal experience for him and his brother. Hope they’re doing okay.
posted by Hermione Granger at 1:02 AM on September 28, 2017 [21 favorites]
posted by Hermione Granger at 1:02 AM on September 28, 2017 [21 favorites]
Also, and I have a lot of mixed feelings about admitting this, I wanted to be a Bunny when I was younger. A very wistful little part of me still does.
posted by Hermione Granger at 1:07 AM on September 28, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Hermione Granger at 1:07 AM on September 28, 2017 [5 favorites]
An amusing sequence of comments via Reddit:
Hefner lived so long that his first wife's name was Mildred and his last wife's name was Crystal.posted by fairmettle at 1:18 AM on September 28, 2017 [45 favorites]I’m surprised it wasn’t an Amanda.
If he could live another 10 years it'd probably be Madison or Mackenzie.Or MildredCircle of life right thereCircle of wife.The Wifecycle
I recently read Gay Talese's Thy Neighbor's Wife, which is structured in part around a potted biography of Hugh Hefner, and it really is extraordinary to think how much of what we think of today as "part of the culture" (for better & for worse) was, if not invented, at least packaged, by the man. There was, of course, a whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs who cottoned on to the same thing, and of course people hadn't discovered sex in the 1950s or invented pornography, but he (and the others) did take on a whole blue-stockinged government/church/society apparatus and knocked it on its tits.
posted by chavenet at 1:20 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 1:20 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
It honestly never occurred to me that he might die.
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posted by DarlingBri at 1:35 AM on September 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
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posted by DarlingBri at 1:35 AM on September 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
The opposite of the Good Place will be having a party tonight.
posted by Faintdreams at 1:43 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Faintdreams at 1:43 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Our dictator wouldn't have lasted 2 seconds at a playboy club.According to women who worked there policy was that anyone who groped the staff was kicked out and banned.
posted by brujita at 1:45 AM on September 28, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by brujita at 1:45 AM on September 28, 2017 [10 favorites]
I wonder if Hefner will be on the cover of next month's Playboy. That would be a first, wouldn't it, to have a man on the cover?
posted by Beholder at 1:46 AM on September 28, 2017
posted by Beholder at 1:46 AM on September 28, 2017
That would be a first, wouldn't it, to have a man on the cover?
No, they have (sufficiently famous) men on the cover all the time. I suspect they’ll get arty, though (weeping bunny, long shadow, smoking jacket and pajamas in a pile...).
posted by Etrigan at 1:51 AM on September 28, 2017 [5 favorites]
No, they have (sufficiently famous) men on the cover all the time. I suspect they’ll get arty, though (weeping bunny, long shadow, smoking jacket and pajamas in a pile...).
posted by Etrigan at 1:51 AM on September 28, 2017 [5 favorites]
"Hugh Hefner dies at XX WHEN, WHERE, OF WHAT [do no publish]" - the perils of advance obits.
posted by rongorongo at 2:18 AM on September 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by rongorongo at 2:18 AM on September 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
He was also an early champion of Shel Silverstien. For that I am grateful.
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posted by Uncle at 2:21 AM on September 28, 2017 [15 favorites]
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posted by Uncle at 2:21 AM on September 28, 2017 [15 favorites]
One of the people who influenced the 20th century the most.
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posted by growabrain at 2:44 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by growabrain at 2:44 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Hugh Hefner dies at XX WHEN, WHERE, OF WHAT
When I die, that's how I want to go.
I think I only saw a copy of Playboy once, probably about thirty years ago. Some friends had it when I was visiting for the weekend, and we spent time passing it around as a curiosity - the journalism, especially the interview, was really, really good. And the cheesecake shots were... cheesecake. And the two states of mind - the erudite middle-aged man and the slightly naive but prurient teenage boy - swirled around each other in a bewildering colloid of unexamined smugness.
posted by Grangousier at 3:06 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
When I die, that's how I want to go.
I think I only saw a copy of Playboy once, probably about thirty years ago. Some friends had it when I was visiting for the weekend, and we spent time passing it around as a curiosity - the journalism, especially the interview, was really, really good. And the cheesecake shots were... cheesecake. And the two states of mind - the erudite middle-aged man and the slightly naive but prurient teenage boy - swirled around each other in a bewildering colloid of unexamined smugness.
posted by Grangousier at 3:06 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
When Hefner was first planning Playboy, he conceived of it as a direct competitor to The New Yorker, so that became the model for its content, right down to the cartoons. In particular, he (and everyone else, of course) loved the cartoons of Charles Addams, so he made sure to hire one cartoonist who would work in a similar grotesque, morbid vein. And thus was launched the career of Gahan Wilson. For that alone, I'm grateful.
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posted by Faint of Butt at 3:14 AM on September 28, 2017 [23 favorites]
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posted by Faint of Butt at 3:14 AM on September 28, 2017 [23 favorites]
My first exposure to Playboy was accidental, when I was around 7.
Hefner fucked me up without ever knowing it. He introduced me to a world of wild objectification, the male gaze, a new way to see my father. Thank you and fuck you, Hef.
He wrecked at least 2 generation of men/fans who might have otherwise seen women as people.
I have no doubt in my mind he helped Cosby rape women. And if Hefner didn't directly assist him with quaaludes or a place to rape (one of the rapes happened at his mansion), he assisted his sick fantasy to reduce women to a place to stick it, without any autonomy.
He was not progressive. He was only progressive enough to let women be objects to him and others.
I'm glad he's dead. I really am. Eat Dirt, Hefner! You did nothing good for women. Wish you died 30 years ago, before I had a chance to get to know and be damaged by you and your ideals.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 3:23 AM on September 28, 2017 [49 favorites]
Hefner fucked me up without ever knowing it. He introduced me to a world of wild objectification, the male gaze, a new way to see my father. Thank you and fuck you, Hef.
He wrecked at least 2 generation of men/fans who might have otherwise seen women as people.
I have no doubt in my mind he helped Cosby rape women. And if Hefner didn't directly assist him with quaaludes or a place to rape (one of the rapes happened at his mansion), he assisted his sick fantasy to reduce women to a place to stick it, without any autonomy.
He was not progressive. He was only progressive enough to let women be objects to him and others.
I'm glad he's dead. I really am. Eat Dirt, Hefner! You did nothing good for women. Wish you died 30 years ago, before I had a chance to get to know and be damaged by you and your ideals.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 3:23 AM on September 28, 2017 [49 favorites]
My favorite Advisor had a guy asking how to get the "scent" of his girlfriend out of his mustache. The response was, "Sorry, we can't help you. We like that scent."
posted by Brocktoon at 3:38 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Brocktoon at 3:38 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
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The "WHEN and WHERE of WHAT" screenshots and tweet legit brought tears to my eyes, but not really for Hef: "Hugh Hefner is gone and so is the job of the person who did this"
Stupid sexy future. Fuck.
posted by limeonaire at 3:38 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
The "WHEN and WHERE of WHAT" screenshots and tweet legit brought tears to my eyes, but not really for Hef: "Hugh Hefner is gone and so is the job of the person who did this"
Stupid sexy future. Fuck.
posted by limeonaire at 3:38 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Although on reread, maybe what they're suggesting is that someone will be fired for letting that get through, as opposed to the way I initially read it: that they fired all the copy editors, like most publications, and thus didn't even have anyone to check for the TKs in the first place. I'm not sure which reading makes me sadder. Time to go back to sleep...
posted by limeonaire at 3:42 AM on September 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 3:42 AM on September 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
My grandmother was the first person I ever heard the standard "I read it for the articles," line from, and she actually did read the articles, but it was pretty clearly about something else.
She was no libertine, and was politically and socially conservative in a lot of ways, but two things I always noticed that I'm still grateful for: she was sex positive (not in a completely freewheeling, anything goes sort of way, but in the sense she accepted sexuality and sex as healthy and natural human drives and behaviors and wasn't ashamed about the fact sex existed or repressively intent on treating any sort of sexual behavior as de facto immorality like some of the churchgoing crowd she and my grandfather derided as self righteous hypocrites).
She was also passionately committed to the value of freedom of ideas and expression and opposed to censorship, and to the extent Hefner and Playboy might have influenced those attitudes, I think it was a positive influence on her.
It was kind of funny, reading between the lines growing up, because it always seemed my grandmother was more interested in Playboy than my grandfather. Though she said she only read it for the articles, it seemed pretty clear what she really wanted it for was to leave a copy out to try to get my grandfather in the mood, because she had more of a sex drive than he did because he worked such long, physically demanding hours, he was always exhausted and achy in the evenings.
Knowing her well and reading the subtext, she used Playboy to try to tittilate herself and my grandfather enough to get them both "in the mood." Eventually it became clear what it was all about from just observing the dynamic between them and noticing the rare periods when their door would be inexplicably locked at night (my abandonment PTSD often caused nightmares and restlessness late at night and would frequently send me to their room in the wee hours seeking extra consolation and comfort; I eventually figured out why it took so long for them to open the door and why my grandfather would seem especially grumpy about my intruding with my emotional neediness and irrational fears of loved ones dying on those occasions, after a copy of Playboy and a bottle of wine had shown up in the house sometime in the days before, but it took me years to put it all together and understand the role Playboy played in locking that door, lol.)
posted by saulgoodman at 4:00 AM on September 28, 2017 [19 favorites]
She was no libertine, and was politically and socially conservative in a lot of ways, but two things I always noticed that I'm still grateful for: she was sex positive (not in a completely freewheeling, anything goes sort of way, but in the sense she accepted sexuality and sex as healthy and natural human drives and behaviors and wasn't ashamed about the fact sex existed or repressively intent on treating any sort of sexual behavior as de facto immorality like some of the churchgoing crowd she and my grandfather derided as self righteous hypocrites).
She was also passionately committed to the value of freedom of ideas and expression and opposed to censorship, and to the extent Hefner and Playboy might have influenced those attitudes, I think it was a positive influence on her.
It was kind of funny, reading between the lines growing up, because it always seemed my grandmother was more interested in Playboy than my grandfather. Though she said she only read it for the articles, it seemed pretty clear what she really wanted it for was to leave a copy out to try to get my grandfather in the mood, because she had more of a sex drive than he did because he worked such long, physically demanding hours, he was always exhausted and achy in the evenings.
Knowing her well and reading the subtext, she used Playboy to try to tittilate herself and my grandfather enough to get them both "in the mood." Eventually it became clear what it was all about from just observing the dynamic between them and noticing the rare periods when their door would be inexplicably locked at night (my abandonment PTSD often caused nightmares and restlessness late at night and would frequently send me to their room in the wee hours seeking extra consolation and comfort; I eventually figured out why it took so long for them to open the door and why my grandfather would seem especially grumpy about my intruding with my emotional neediness and irrational fears of loved ones dying on those occasions, after a copy of Playboy and a bottle of wine had shown up in the house sometime in the days before, but it took me years to put it all together and understand the role Playboy played in locking that door, lol.)
posted by saulgoodman at 4:00 AM on September 28, 2017 [19 favorites]
But where will we get images of nude women now?
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posted by Fizz at 4:07 AM on September 28, 2017 [11 favorites]
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posted by Fizz at 4:07 AM on September 28, 2017 [11 favorites]
There goes a complicated man. Anubis will have a devil of a time weighing this one's heart.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:17 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:17 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
He was a misogynist who used & objectified women, and as PinkMoose rightly said, the much lauded sexual liberation of Playboy was at the expense of women. I certainly don't feel liberated by his magazine or the easy dismissal of his misogyny over the years because he was "complicated" and had his good qualities.
posted by Mavri at 4:29 AM on September 28, 2017 [36 favorites]
posted by Mavri at 4:29 AM on September 28, 2017 [36 favorites]
I will always think of Playboy fondly for the obvious teenage reasons but also because it funded Playboy Penthouse and Playboy After Dark which were really cool shows that I wish I could see more of even now.
posted by srboisvert at 4:37 AM on September 28, 2017
posted by srboisvert at 4:37 AM on September 28, 2017
He used his media empire and his money to objectify women and perpetuate misogyny and used photos of women without their consent. He also was progressive on several fronts (with money and resources, not just talk), and I discovered from these three articles that he actively worked for civil rights.
I can condemn him for things he did and things he created and also praise him for things he did. I don't think any of the good stuff he did redeems the bad stuff he did, but it's worth looking at all of it.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:49 AM on September 28, 2017 [9 favorites]
I can condemn him for things he did and things he created and also praise him for things he did. I don't think any of the good stuff he did redeems the bad stuff he did, but it's worth looking at all of it.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:49 AM on September 28, 2017 [9 favorites]
I am not at all surprised at the range of opinions on here regarding Hefner; I am tempted to say I agree with all of them, even when they directly contradict each other (as the cliche goes, "in short, Hugh Hefner was a land of contrasts"). The whole Playboy thing had a definite influence on my life growing up in the 70's, and on balance I have to say it was a positive one. As someone who really enjoyed reading the articles (don't worry, I looked at the pictures too) the magazine really helped me develop a healthy sense of skepticism towards our government in the post Watergate/Reagan years. In terms of the literary content of the magazine, the interview was something I looked forward to every month; there were times when I bought the magazine specifically for the interview. This article gives an idea of the scope of the subjects interviewed, here are links to some good ones. And of course, there were interviews that even impacted presidential politics.
posted by TedW at 4:50 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by TedW at 4:50 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
I'm curious really to know what was so complicated about him? He got to have his cake and eat it too?
Where was his internal struggle? What was so complicated or conflicted about Hefner? What did he sacrifice?
Actually that started as a glib question, but I guess now I'd really be curious to know.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 4:50 AM on September 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Where was his internal struggle? What was so complicated or conflicted about Hefner? What did he sacrifice?
Actually that started as a glib question, but I guess now I'd really be curious to know.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 4:50 AM on September 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Hefner's magazine did publish a lot of startling interviews, with Malcolm X, for example, who was treated about like how you'd expect by Look, Life and Time.
posted by kozad at 4:52 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by kozad at 4:52 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
Was still in my PJs and robe when I noticed this headline. Seems appropriate, I suppose.
posted by caution live frogs at 4:54 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by caution live frogs at 4:54 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Yeah, sorry, grafting a literary magazine onto complete exploitation of women isn't something I can bring myself to praise. I am kind of surprised at all this fulsome playboy love. I mean, I too encountered cartons of old playboys in a house my parents had just bought, when I was 7: hello male gaze, I guess that's what naked ladies look like, and I too will grow up to be a lady and. . And. . Why aren't there any naked men? I too found old playboys in a house I was sharing as a "sophisticated" college student, reading the stories and the articles always knowing that they clearly weren't meant for me. That was sort of easy to spot what with the delightful cartoons, ha ha, naked girl in high heels, fully clothed man, ooooh, sexy coed. And I too was groped at age 14 by men in their 40s because hey, Pretty Baby and that's what teenage girls are for. . . you like it, be free baby, why would you have these weird hang ups? Swap out your old wife for a new younger model! You deserve it, key word it. A whole lot of the toxic sexual culture of the seventies and eighties can be laid right at Hef's feet. And if you thought he was a model for workers rights, here, this is Gloria Steinem's account of being a bunny, such a freeing experience. Fuck Hef, I spit on his grave, a vile man.
posted by mygothlaundry at 4:55 AM on September 28, 2017 [55 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 4:55 AM on September 28, 2017 [55 favorites]
I'm curious really to know what was so complicated about him?
He was more than the simplistic caricature that he occupied as a cultural niche.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:57 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
He was more than the simplistic caricature that he occupied as a cultural niche.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:57 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
He was a misogynist who used & objectified women, and as PinkMoose rightly said, the much lauded sexual liberation of Playboy was at the expense of women.
Yeah, I could never understand how he pulled off that trick of seeming to float above criticism for those aspects of his public life, but he did. And at the time, with magazines like Hustler around that went so much further, it seemed easy to take Hefner's take on sexual lib as a kinder gentler version of patriarchal culture, but in the end, he propounded a view of sexuality as a man's game, played by men, with seducing women as the objective and even as a kid all that seemed weird and dubiously honorable/respectable to me. But somehow he always seemed to get away with it.
posted by saulgoodman at 5:01 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
Yeah, I could never understand how he pulled off that trick of seeming to float above criticism for those aspects of his public life, but he did. And at the time, with magazines like Hustler around that went so much further, it seemed easy to take Hefner's take on sexual lib as a kinder gentler version of patriarchal culture, but in the end, he propounded a view of sexuality as a man's game, played by men, with seducing women as the objective and even as a kid all that seemed weird and dubiously honorable/respectable to me. But somehow he always seemed to get away with it.
posted by saulgoodman at 5:01 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
He was more than the simplistic caricature that he occupied as a cultural niche.
In what way, specifically?
posted by Dressed to Kill at 5:01 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
In what way, specifically?
posted by Dressed to Kill at 5:01 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
.
A person of contrasts. It's unfortunate that, having successfully mainstreamed a controversial subject, wasn't able to continue to evolve much. The worst that I could damn him for, though, might be for promoting breast implants.
The Toronto Sun is also reporting that he bought a plot next to Marilyn Monroe... if that's not factually true, I hope that - at least - Hugh believed that it was so.
My mom bought a year's subscription of Playboy for my dad (for Reasons) in the late '80s.
Woah. this is kind of weird to remember.
because, when I was small (pre-teen), we (mom, dad, sis, and I) would regularly watch TV in M&D's room, them and sis on the bed, me on the floor with a groundchair/beanbaggy thing on the floor next to dad, propped against an IKEA end-table.
Dad had a 12 stack of Playboys, spine-out, stacked on the bottom shelf of that end-table.
I never noticed them.
One day, about 11 I got curious/bored/antsy enough to even see what those magazines where. Oh, this is nice. Even *borrowed* one for a sleepover, and returned it (although there was drama there; "Don't damage that! I don't want my dad to know I borrowed it!" ridiculous 80s pre-teen sleepover scuffle ensues).
Read some fine science fiction and was first exposed to what a professionally well done celebrity interview should read like. (...googling) Ah! That's the issue; April 1989 - interview with Mario Lemieux with Elena Eleniak on the cover.
The subscription ended after that year (pre-discovery, my mom once asked me if I knew what the most expensive magazine subscription was [it was in context] and I replied, puzzled, "Esquire?" and she just smirked). M&D knew I was borrowing them without asking.. but I can't remember when the stack departed. They were definitely gone by the time I visited in the summer after my freshman year at college in the states, but a lot had happened since then.
posted by porpoise at 5:06 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
A person of contrasts. It's unfortunate that, having successfully mainstreamed a controversial subject, wasn't able to continue to evolve much. The worst that I could damn him for, though, might be for promoting breast implants.
The Toronto Sun is also reporting that he bought a plot next to Marilyn Monroe... if that's not factually true, I hope that - at least - Hugh believed that it was so.
My mom bought a year's subscription of Playboy for my dad (for Reasons) in the late '80s.
Woah. this is kind of weird to remember.
because, when I was small (pre-teen), we (mom, dad, sis, and I) would regularly watch TV in M&D's room, them and sis on the bed, me on the floor with a groundchair/beanbaggy thing on the floor next to dad, propped against an IKEA end-table.
Dad had a 12 stack of Playboys, spine-out, stacked on the bottom shelf of that end-table.
I never noticed them.
One day, about 11 I got curious/bored/antsy enough to even see what those magazines where. Oh, this is nice. Even *borrowed* one for a sleepover, and returned it (although there was drama there; "Don't damage that! I don't want my dad to know I borrowed it!" ridiculous 80s pre-teen sleepover scuffle ensues).
Read some fine science fiction and was first exposed to what a professionally well done celebrity interview should read like. (...googling) Ah! That's the issue; April 1989 - interview with Mario Lemieux with Elena Eleniak on the cover.
The subscription ended after that year (pre-discovery, my mom once asked me if I knew what the most expensive magazine subscription was [it was in context] and I replied, puzzled, "Esquire?" and she just smirked). M&D knew I was borrowing them without asking.. but I can't remember when the stack departed. They were definitely gone by the time I visited in the summer after my freshman year at college in the states, but a lot had happened since then.
posted by porpoise at 5:06 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
In what way, specifically?
I already mentioned some of what I found surprising about him in my earlier comment. I'm pretty sure Hefner's cultural niche as the patriarchy's pornographer supreme didn't include pissing off the southern power structure by having interracial clubs. His status as the "nice" "civilized" porno magnate (for example, the entire film "The House Bunny") overlooks how he encouraged and facilitated rape culture and misogyny.
If you're demanding evidence of internal conflict and sacrifice as a requirement for "complicated", I don't know what to say. I think Hefner doesn't have to have had demonstrable great internal conflict to be considered complicated. He'd fallen into public perception as a simplistic cultural icon, and he was both better and worse than that.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:30 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
I already mentioned some of what I found surprising about him in my earlier comment. I'm pretty sure Hefner's cultural niche as the patriarchy's pornographer supreme didn't include pissing off the southern power structure by having interracial clubs. His status as the "nice" "civilized" porno magnate (for example, the entire film "The House Bunny") overlooks how he encouraged and facilitated rape culture and misogyny.
If you're demanding evidence of internal conflict and sacrifice as a requirement for "complicated", I don't know what to say. I think Hefner doesn't have to have had demonstrable great internal conflict to be considered complicated. He'd fallen into public perception as a simplistic cultural icon, and he was both better and worse than that.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:30 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
I can't begin to imagine how you could classify a man like that without mapping huge amounts of American culture in the second half of the 20th century. My standard technique to try and avoid my own prejudices is to attempt to imagine what things would be like had the person not existed: that too seems almost impossible here.
So, just to note one cultural spin-off of his empire which has arguably had deep, subtle and unsettling effects on today - Playboy gave birth to the Illuminatus! trilogy.
Robert Anton Wilson['s][...] trilogy - Eye Of The Pyramid, Golden Apple, and Leviathan, all published in 1975 and co-written with Robert Shea, who died in 1994 - grew out of their experience as editors at Playboy, particularly from the Playboy Forum, readers' letters which they answered and occasionally wrote. The steady stream of conspiracy theories they received inspired them to detail the battle of the Bavarian Illuminati, secret controllers of the world, against the Discordians, whose embrace of chaos may have owed more than a little to the paranoid uses of entropy in the fiction of Thomas Pynchon.
posted by Devonian at 5:31 AM on September 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
So, just to note one cultural spin-off of his empire which has arguably had deep, subtle and unsettling effects on today - Playboy gave birth to the Illuminatus! trilogy.
Robert Anton Wilson['s][...] trilogy - Eye Of The Pyramid, Golden Apple, and Leviathan, all published in 1975 and co-written with Robert Shea, who died in 1994 - grew out of their experience as editors at Playboy, particularly from the Playboy Forum, readers' letters which they answered and occasionally wrote. The steady stream of conspiracy theories they received inspired them to detail the battle of the Bavarian Illuminati, secret controllers of the world, against the Discordians, whose embrace of chaos may have owed more than a little to the paranoid uses of entropy in the fiction of Thomas Pynchon.
posted by Devonian at 5:31 AM on September 28, 2017 [12 favorites]
You could say he made a revolution in the media and was then all but bankrupted by another revolution in the media (the internet).
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posted by Bee'sWing at 5:54 AM on September 28, 2017
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posted by Bee'sWing at 5:54 AM on September 28, 2017
.
RIP Mr. Hefner. Thank you for making exploring grandpa's closets far more rewarding than it should have been.
posted by DigDoug at 5:58 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
RIP Mr. Hefner. Thank you for making exploring grandpa's closets far more rewarding than it should have been.
posted by DigDoug at 5:58 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Hugh Hefner, the patron saint of plastic surgeons.
And the airbrush.
posted by Splunge at 6:12 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
And the airbrush.
posted by Splunge at 6:12 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
My sincere condolences to everyone who loved him.
Everything he accomplished could have been done without objectifying women.
posted by corey flood at 6:26 AM on September 28, 2017 [23 favorites]
Everything he accomplished could have been done without objectifying women.
posted by corey flood at 6:26 AM on September 28, 2017 [23 favorites]
Remember that time that one of the Cowsills, Bill or Bob, married a former Bunny? and the family came to guest star on "Playboy After Dark"?
And Hugh asked 10-year-old Susie what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she replied, with her perfect smartass-for-her-years timing, "Would you believe, Miss February?"
Awkward as fuck, and indicative of the whole problem, it seems to me.
Here.
posted by allthinky at 6:30 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
And Hugh asked 10-year-old Susie what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she replied, with her perfect smartass-for-her-years timing, "Would you believe, Miss February?"
Awkward as fuck, and indicative of the whole problem, it seems to me.
Here.
posted by allthinky at 6:30 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
.
Whether he was a positive or negative influence on the culture is an argument I'll leave to the rest of you. He lived a hell of a life and made his mark on the world. And I'm sorry, but I just can't pass this one up:
Metafilter: a classic case -- perhaps THE classic case -- of Marcusean repressive desublimation
posted by Naberius at 6:32 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
Whether he was a positive or negative influence on the culture is an argument I'll leave to the rest of you. He lived a hell of a life and made his mark on the world. And I'm sorry, but I just can't pass this one up:
Metafilter: a classic case -- perhaps THE classic case -- of Marcusean repressive desublimation
posted by Naberius at 6:32 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
.
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:35 AM on September 28, 2017
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:35 AM on September 28, 2017
Sooooo...basically, Hefner pretty much made it OK for future generations of literate, well-educated liberal men to nourish, preserve, and above all rationalize away their secret inner misogynists. Sorry, but that's kind of the vibe I'm getting here.
posted by tully_monster at 6:50 AM on September 28, 2017 [55 favorites]
posted by tully_monster at 6:50 AM on September 28, 2017 [55 favorites]
Yeah, I want to unsoften my comment above and agree that he's a huge piece of shit, and that I wish that that literary magazine happened without the sexual objectification and normalization of it.
posted by loquacious at 7:05 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by loquacious at 7:05 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
You know, Playboy, yeah yeah babes, risque cartoons, good fiction, often interesting factual pieces, etc., but for some reason I always think of the original artwork commissioned (at top dollar!) as feature illustrations. Great guys like Seymour Rosofsky, the whole Chicago Imagists school, et al,
probably paid for summer homes and kids' college thanks to Hefner.
posted by Chitownfats at 7:11 AM on September 28, 2017
probably paid for summer homes and kids' college thanks to Hefner.
posted by Chitownfats at 7:11 AM on September 28, 2017
having successfully mainstreamed a controversial subject
that'll be my new euphemism for taking my top off, I've just decided. Doctor, do you mind stepping out of the room for just a sec while I change into the gown? I'd prefer not to mainstream a controversial subject.
no but of course I won't say that, controversialsubjects objects can't tell jokes.
one has to admit it did great things in bringing sex out of the bedroom and into the newsstands,
whoa I had no idea Playboy ever
OH. right. "Men have sex; women are sex." as I trust the post title will read in memoriam of our good friend John Norman, when he passes from this earth. sometimes it's a little hard to understand what men mean, when they talk about "sex" here and elsewhere, if you forget that little truism.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:20 AM on September 28, 2017 [31 favorites]
that'll be my new euphemism for taking my top off, I've just decided. Doctor, do you mind stepping out of the room for just a sec while I change into the gown? I'd prefer not to mainstream a controversial subject.
no but of course I won't say that, controversial
one has to admit it did great things in bringing sex out of the bedroom and into the newsstands,
whoa I had no idea Playboy ever
OH. right. "Men have sex; women are sex." as I trust the post title will read in memoriam of our good friend John Norman, when he passes from this earth. sometimes it's a little hard to understand what men mean, when they talk about "sex" here and elsewhere, if you forget that little truism.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:20 AM on September 28, 2017 [31 favorites]
Well, as a gay man in my early 60s, I still resent the appalling way gays were portrayed in some Playboy cartoons in the 1960s and 1970s. The cartoons trafficked in the homophobic stereotypes of the era, portraying us as bitchy and effeminate. It wasn't funny then, and it's not funny now.
posted by A. Davey at 7:21 AM on September 28, 2017 [23 favorites]
posted by A. Davey at 7:21 AM on September 28, 2017 [23 favorites]
Journalist Beejoli Shah makes the eyewitness case that Hef was controlling, manipulative, and emotionally abusive to the women in his life.
His version of sexual liberation might have felt like liberation for the men who were his target audience, if liberation meant staring at unclad women and fantasizing that the right hi-fi would work on them, but it sure stemmed from a source of unbridled misogyny.
posted by maxsparber at 7:29 AM on September 28, 2017 [24 favorites]
His version of sexual liberation might have felt like liberation for the men who were his target audience, if liberation meant staring at unclad women and fantasizing that the right hi-fi would work on them, but it sure stemmed from a source of unbridled misogyny.
posted by maxsparber at 7:29 AM on September 28, 2017 [24 favorites]
From an interview he did with Oriana Fallaci:
"A girl resembles a bunny. Joyful, joking. Consider the kind of girl that we made popular: the Playmate of the Month. She is never sophisticated, a girl you cannot really have. She is a young, healthy, simple girl – the girl next door. The sex we fight for is innocent sex…we are not interested in the mysterious, difficult woman, the femme fatale, who wears elegant underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy. The Playboy girl has no lace, no underwear, she is naked, well-washed with soap and water, and she is happy.
...
Playboy girls have a first name, a last name, an address, a family. They belong to good respectable families from every point of view, financial, social. No, madam, we never choose poor girls. Poverty brings sadness with it, a sort of dirtiness that becomes evident even on a naked body."
Good riddance.
posted by imnotasquirrel at 7:32 AM on September 28, 2017 [33 favorites]
"A girl resembles a bunny. Joyful, joking. Consider the kind of girl that we made popular: the Playmate of the Month. She is never sophisticated, a girl you cannot really have. She is a young, healthy, simple girl – the girl next door. The sex we fight for is innocent sex…we are not interested in the mysterious, difficult woman, the femme fatale, who wears elegant underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy. The Playboy girl has no lace, no underwear, she is naked, well-washed with soap and water, and she is happy.
...
Playboy girls have a first name, a last name, an address, a family. They belong to good respectable families from every point of view, financial, social. No, madam, we never choose poor girls. Poverty brings sadness with it, a sort of dirtiness that becomes evident even on a naked body."
Good riddance.
posted by imnotasquirrel at 7:32 AM on September 28, 2017 [33 favorites]
the mysterious, difficult woman, the femme fatale, who wears elegant underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy.
there's my new okcupid self-summary written. thank you, Hef, you were a man with something of value to offer the world after all. how hasty we are to condemn.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:35 AM on September 28, 2017 [39 favorites]
there's my new okcupid self-summary written. thank you, Hef, you were a man with something of value to offer the world after all. how hasty we are to condemn.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:35 AM on September 28, 2017 [39 favorites]
He's sort of the poster child for liberal dudes who exploit body positivity and sexual lib and other positive liberal values to get laid but somehow manage to skate by with credibility for being liberal and feminist-friendly and sex positive anyway, the archetypal pickup artist/smirking Ferris Bueller male wish fulfillment fantasy, but it always seemed like most liberals and mainstream feminists let him off the hook and grudgingly admired him for some reason. Never understood it and still don't but it happened.
posted by saulgoodman at 7:36 AM on September 28, 2017 [19 favorites]
posted by saulgoodman at 7:36 AM on September 28, 2017 [19 favorites]
Yeah, I sure wish it would be possible to reconcile all of this with SEX POSITIVITY. Consenting sex is awesome. For way too long, US culture has tried to teach us otherwise.
posted by Melismata at 7:39 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 7:39 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Sooooo...basically, Hefner pretty much made it OK for future generations of literate, well-educated liberal men to nourish, preserve, and above all rationalize away their secret inner misogynists. Sorry, but that's kind of the vibe I'm getting here.
I think that the idea of combining porn and high end journalism in the same publication is pretty much worth highlighting for its bizarreness - not only now (imagine pornhub hiring a large team of writers and journalists) but also back when the magazine started. The audience was men - from a wide demographic - who want to get off by looking at pictures of naked women and maybe reading erotica - and a different audience of enthusiastic readers who might be interested in short stories/interviews and so on. Of course, the idea ended up working - well enough that it probably attracted as many wankers to literature as it did the other way round - but I think it is strange enough that it might never have arisen without Hugh Hefner inventing it. It is also interesting to think whether Playboy - publication and brand - could have been built in less misogynistic and more inclusive manner.
posted by rongorongo at 7:43 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
I think that the idea of combining porn and high end journalism in the same publication is pretty much worth highlighting for its bizarreness - not only now (imagine pornhub hiring a large team of writers and journalists) but also back when the magazine started. The audience was men - from a wide demographic - who want to get off by looking at pictures of naked women and maybe reading erotica - and a different audience of enthusiastic readers who might be interested in short stories/interviews and so on. Of course, the idea ended up working - well enough that it probably attracted as many wankers to literature as it did the other way round - but I think it is strange enough that it might never have arisen without Hugh Hefner inventing it. It is also interesting to think whether Playboy - publication and brand - could have been built in less misogynistic and more inclusive manner.
posted by rongorongo at 7:43 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
The only sexual revolution he enabled was emboldening men to think it was "modern" to objectify women. Oh and only a specific type of woman, ladies, aspire to this model of sexuality, be available, pure, fuckable, and look a certain way. How groundbreaking. Fucking shit then, now, and forever.
posted by agregoli at 7:46 AM on September 28, 2017 [13 favorites]
posted by agregoli at 7:46 AM on September 28, 2017 [13 favorites]
Yeah, I sure wish it would be possible to reconcile all of this with SEX POSITIVITY.
that long quote quoted above says a lot, re: Hefner's imagination of the clean and the dirty. and does a lot to dismantle the claim that Hef was just trying to strip away the shame from sex.
and I think very few self-styled third-wave sex-positive feminists would be so forgiving of the Playboy miasma if they considered its explicit ideology (not subtext or interpretation, just the various mission statements.) one third-wave tenet that I have nothing snide to say about was the explicit argument that if you have a sexual imagination and desires that are somewhat convoluted, not to say fucked up, or just 'interesting,' as a result of intense conditioning and attacks from the patriarchy, you are not wrong to have them and not wrong to admit them, and nobody had better dare tell you your sexuality isn't correct, especially nobody who is himself a living representative of said patriarchy.
so, Hefner's distaste for "dirty," sophisticated, mysterious sex (where "sex" equals "women"), his adoration of the healthy corn-fed middle-American teenage female body reflecting a healthy middle-American teenage mind, the only clean kind of female mind, the kind with no fantasies and no fetishes and no resentments and no inclination towards subtlety or seduction, only a grinning cheerful willingness to stand there sunnily inviting anyone and everyone -- he really really hated even thinking about the effect that his created environment could and would have on a girl who grew up in it, by the time she was a woman ("girl," in his terms.) A girl who knows about Playboy all her life cannot grow up to have the kind of breezy, sun-bleached, vigorously Windex-scrubbed sexual attitudes that his imagined Playmate must. there will be "dirt" in her mind. hatred and resentment, too.
then again as long as she looks like she's clean and innocent, what else matters.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:56 AM on September 28, 2017 [23 favorites]
not enough hair,
One of the interesting things about the centerfold collection that I think was the subject of a post here some years ago was being able to see the precise moment when hair fashions shifted.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:02 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
One of the interesting things about the centerfold collection that I think was the subject of a post here some years ago was being able to see the precise moment when hair fashions shifted.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:02 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Best comment I saw on it: "Wow men really effing lionize our national scary uncle.".
People are complicated, sure, but until we actually eliminate misogyny, internalized misogyny, sexism, casual sexism, institutional sexism and background radiation sexism, men who run industries predicated on the idea that women are a commodity and an object, first--before they are anything else, do not get a pass because the world is grey and do not get to balance their scales with random "good deeds".
posted by crush at 8:12 AM on September 28, 2017 [20 favorites]
People are complicated, sure, but until we actually eliminate misogyny, internalized misogyny, sexism, casual sexism, institutional sexism and background radiation sexism, men who run industries predicated on the idea that women are a commodity and an object, first--before they are anything else, do not get a pass because the world is grey and do not get to balance their scales with random "good deeds".
posted by crush at 8:12 AM on September 28, 2017 [20 favorites]
It has been very informative to see how many men have fond memories of Playboy and the culture Hefner created, and how many women remember the utter humiliation of realizing at young ages that the men in their lives bought into the Playboy paradigm of using and discarding "fun" images of women as disposable commodities. All a red-blooded American male wants is a naked girl in a hayloft! But if my daughter kisses her boyfriend she's a slut. What could be more innocent fun than a coed stripping off and blowing a kiss? But no daughter of mine will get a prescription for birth control. Ha ha, the pages are sticky, but when girls talk about which boys are cute they are "boy-crazy" and "better get the shotgun".
Fathers proudly bragging about their jerkoff material being “intellectual” and college boyfriends pressuring their girlfriends to read the magazine “for the articles” (but making sure she gets a good look at the tits along the way) are two of the most common Playboy experiences for women.
(Not to mention the number of men who found secret Playboy stashes in the woods, where furtive forest masturbators had abandoned them. Multiple men have this story! Of the joy of finding trash-porn in the woods! What even!)
posted by a fiendish thingy at 8:13 AM on September 28, 2017 [29 favorites]
Fathers proudly bragging about their jerkoff material being “intellectual” and college boyfriends pressuring their girlfriends to read the magazine “for the articles” (but making sure she gets a good look at the tits along the way) are two of the most common Playboy experiences for women.
(Not to mention the number of men who found secret Playboy stashes in the woods, where furtive forest masturbators had abandoned them. Multiple men have this story! Of the joy of finding trash-porn in the woods! What even!)
posted by a fiendish thingy at 8:13 AM on September 28, 2017 [29 favorites]
So is there a positive thing Hef did that can't be characterized changing the world to make it easier for men like Hef to have sex with and look at naked pictures of whatever women they like with no consequences? Even his civil-rights stuff may have just been aimed at taking away the stigma of sleeping with women who aren't white.
posted by straight at 8:16 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by straight at 8:16 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I can't look at Donald Trump's lifestyle without thinking this is what you get with unlimited money and no higher aspirations than to embody the ideals of Playboy Magazine.
posted by straight at 8:18 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by straight at 8:18 AM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
then again as long as she looks like she's clean and innocent, what else matters.
I know a Playmate well. Don't want to say more for her sake.
If you take that quote to its tragic conclusion – tragic if, I battle-wearily add, you see women as human beings with the right to their own individuality – then the "what else matters" tells the story of the decades following her cover appearances.
She was (and I hope still is) bright, funny, imaginative, thoughtful, and kind, but goddamn if that poison of enforced innocent availability hasn't imprisoned her.
Again, I don't want to say more, and of course she "can" choose, but those of us who know what it means to be imprisoned by a system also know what that "choice" can mean. Multiply it by this man's legacy, because that's part of her prison.
posted by fraula at 8:20 AM on September 28, 2017 [7 favorites]
I know a Playmate well. Don't want to say more for her sake.
If you take that quote to its tragic conclusion – tragic if, I battle-wearily add, you see women as human beings with the right to their own individuality – then the "what else matters" tells the story of the decades following her cover appearances.
She was (and I hope still is) bright, funny, imaginative, thoughtful, and kind, but goddamn if that poison of enforced innocent availability hasn't imprisoned her.
Again, I don't want to say more, and of course she "can" choose, but those of us who know what it means to be imprisoned by a system also know what that "choice" can mean. Multiply it by this man's legacy, because that's part of her prison.
posted by fraula at 8:20 AM on September 28, 2017 [7 favorites]
A good take from the grauniad.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:24 AM on September 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:24 AM on September 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Playboy girls have a first name, a last name, an address, a family. They belong to good respectable families from every point of view, financial, social. No, madam, we never choose poor girls. Poverty brings sadness with it, a sort of dirtiness that becomes evident even on a naked body."
I wonder how many Playmates were kept on the edge of poverty because all their money was going into beauty items that would keep up this image of "cleanliness" he's talking about.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:26 AM on September 28, 2017 [7 favorites]
I wonder how many Playmates were kept on the edge of poverty because all their money was going into beauty items that would keep up this image of "cleanliness" he's talking about.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:26 AM on September 28, 2017 [7 favorites]
I worked in the same department (as a student worker) as Jane Smiley when she created quite the controversy by publishing a story in Playboy. I remember thinking at the time that the people who were complaining loudest were also the same people who were the most jealous of her success (I don't mean with just this one publication).
I have a long association with literature and pornography (I read Playboy, Heavy Metal, and Omni in secret in my deformative years), and I read a lot of golden age sf/fantasy/smut growing up. Everyone had an uncle with a stash of books hidden in the closet. This was my generation's internet.
I used to buy the Russian Playboy as a joke. Mostly so no one could ever accuse me of wanting the magazine for the articles. I worked for years for Borders/Waldenbooks, and we carried Playboy and Playgirl in various languages, and they were great at capturing the culture. The ads were all different, the jokes, the politics, everything was specific for that country. I'd sometimes spend a while doing literal translations from German to English (very limited as this predated google translate, so had to be done with a physical translation dictionary).
I also remember twice in my life men asking me to buy them Playgirl because they knew I worked in a bookstore and they were too embarrassed to buy them themselves. Both claimed they wanted them because of the articles.
One of the women I follow on twitter was compelling today would be reminiscences of privileged white guys waxing nostalgic on their youthful misogyny, but I have to say that the nods I've been seeing have mostly been reflective of Hefner's complicated legacy. Many of these tributes have been from women.
I'm not going to defend pornography or pretend Playboy was art, but it at least had some pretentious to be more than just smut. Hustler and Penthouse didn't even try (or the hundreds of other titles like Cherry). Playboy at least tried to humanize the subjects a bit more. Sure, you got the raw stats of form, but you also got interests and hobbies and short bios, and the press were no more raunchy than what you would see in classical art.
I honestly haven't looked at a Playboy in nearly two decades, so maybe things have changed. I didn't miss the nude photos when they took them away, I didn't get excited when they brought them back, because I am no longer a reader (or seller).
There's an irony to me now that much of the pornography out there now seems so much more exploitive than Playboy.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:27 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
I have a long association with literature and pornography (I read Playboy, Heavy Metal, and Omni in secret in my deformative years), and I read a lot of golden age sf/fantasy/smut growing up. Everyone had an uncle with a stash of books hidden in the closet. This was my generation's internet.
I used to buy the Russian Playboy as a joke. Mostly so no one could ever accuse me of wanting the magazine for the articles. I worked for years for Borders/Waldenbooks, and we carried Playboy and Playgirl in various languages, and they were great at capturing the culture. The ads were all different, the jokes, the politics, everything was specific for that country. I'd sometimes spend a while doing literal translations from German to English (very limited as this predated google translate, so had to be done with a physical translation dictionary).
I also remember twice in my life men asking me to buy them Playgirl because they knew I worked in a bookstore and they were too embarrassed to buy them themselves. Both claimed they wanted them because of the articles.
One of the women I follow on twitter was compelling today would be reminiscences of privileged white guys waxing nostalgic on their youthful misogyny, but I have to say that the nods I've been seeing have mostly been reflective of Hefner's complicated legacy. Many of these tributes have been from women.
I'm not going to defend pornography or pretend Playboy was art, but it at least had some pretentious to be more than just smut. Hustler and Penthouse didn't even try (or the hundreds of other titles like Cherry). Playboy at least tried to humanize the subjects a bit more. Sure, you got the raw stats of form, but you also got interests and hobbies and short bios, and the press were no more raunchy than what you would see in classical art.
I honestly haven't looked at a Playboy in nearly two decades, so maybe things have changed. I didn't miss the nude photos when they took them away, I didn't get excited when they brought them back, because I am no longer a reader (or seller).
There's an irony to me now that much of the pornography out there now seems so much more exploitive than Playboy.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:27 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
It's an interesting case of someone who built a massive cultural icon of the 20th century that became completely irrelevant in the 21st, to the point only the logo and his own image still carried some weight. Maybe the whole "newsprint is dying how can this be" shtick could have been better managed if they read Playboy not for nudes, but for the part where a paid product can be taken out of an ample, free supply of stuff, no matter how big your starting position is.
*
posted by lmfsilva at 8:28 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
*
posted by lmfsilva at 8:28 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
This thread is preemptively MeTa'd by the still-open post about obit threads of unpleasant people, and whether the good a person does should be considered along with the bad they have also done.
posted by ardgedee at 8:31 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 8:31 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I can't look at Donald Trump's lifestyle without thinking this is what you get with unlimited money and no higher aspirations than to embody the ideals of Playboy Magazine
Trump is a failure at embodying even those ideals what with his racism, authoritarianism, and no love for good writing or music or films.
Yes, Hef is problematic at best and I understand the vitriol for the misogyny and objectification. But I'll give him credit that there were so many writers, artists, musicians, and cartoonists that were showcased to the world and given hefty paychecks.
Every Thanksgiving week my wife digs out a copy of her favorite Playboy cartoon. A family is gathered at a long table. Sitting across each other are a smiling old woman and a grumpy old man. The person at the head of the table announces. "And to start things off, Grandma has a list of things we should all be thankful for...and Grandpa has a list of things that piss him off."
.
posted by Ber at 8:34 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
Trump is a failure at embodying even those ideals what with his racism, authoritarianism, and no love for good writing or music or films.
Yes, Hef is problematic at best and I understand the vitriol for the misogyny and objectification. But I'll give him credit that there were so many writers, artists, musicians, and cartoonists that were showcased to the world and given hefty paychecks.
Every Thanksgiving week my wife digs out a copy of her favorite Playboy cartoon. A family is gathered at a long table. Sitting across each other are a smiling old woman and a grumpy old man. The person at the head of the table announces. "And to start things off, Grandma has a list of things we should all be thankful for...and Grandpa has a list of things that piss him off."
.
posted by Ber at 8:34 AM on September 28, 2017 [6 favorites]
[...] and no love for good writing or music or films.
Or food.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:38 AM on September 28, 2017
Or food.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:38 AM on September 28, 2017
I'll be curious to see whether mention of any of this makes it into Sex Criminals' letters section in any upcoming issues, considering "porn in the woods" is an ongoing topic of discussion there.
posted by limeonaire at 8:53 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 8:53 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
(Not to mention the number of men who found secret Playboy stashes in the woods, where furtive forest masturbators had abandoned them. Multiple men have this story! Of the joy of finding trash-porn in the woods! What even!)
Not to mention the number of women who found secret Playboy stashes in the woods as girls and, whether we were titillated or not to find sexually explicit material (I'll cop to it; I was), nonetheless started learning at that moment that even the supposedly empty and equal public space of a forest was not for us.
posted by haruspicina at 9:03 AM on September 28, 2017 [22 favorites]
Not to mention the number of women who found secret Playboy stashes in the woods as girls and, whether we were titillated or not to find sexually explicit material (I'll cop to it; I was), nonetheless started learning at that moment that even the supposedly empty and equal public space of a forest was not for us.
posted by haruspicina at 9:03 AM on September 28, 2017 [22 favorites]
Man, the next Dana Gould Hour is going to be interminable.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:26 AM on September 28, 2017
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:26 AM on September 28, 2017
To those who say the good Hefner could have been accomplished without the bad, I ask: could he have accomplished whatever level of good he did without the money provided by the Playboy organization?
I don't ask this as a way of justifying Hefner's view of the world or the misogyny, etc. Playboy represented. I'm just saying that paying writers and artists good money for their work, supporting causes and foundations, things like that, require money. So if the funding wasn't there, the good probably wouldn't have been done. Sure, this means the money is, to some degree, tainted; but what money in a capitalist society isn't?
posted by lhauser at 9:55 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I don't ask this as a way of justifying Hefner's view of the world or the misogyny, etc. Playboy represented. I'm just saying that paying writers and artists good money for their work, supporting causes and foundations, things like that, require money. So if the funding wasn't there, the good probably wouldn't have been done. Sure, this means the money is, to some degree, tainted; but what money in a capitalist society isn't?
posted by lhauser at 9:55 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
His version of sexual liberation might have felt like liberation for the men who were his target audience, if liberation meant staring at unclad women and fantasizing that the right hi-fi would work on them, but it sure stemmed from a source of unbridled misogyny.
This is my general feeling about Playboy; it was and is a reaction to the sexual revolution, a way for men to feel secure in the face of a potential threat to their egos by letting them assume the persona of the Playboy Man, someone with impeccable taste in everything (or at least would have if he could afford it), and putting women in roughly the same category as the clothes and gadgets and whiskey.
I'm not going to defend pornography or pretend Playboy was art, but it at least had some pretentious to be more than just smut. Hustler and Penthouse didn't even try
I can't speak for Hustler--despite Larry Flynt's latter-day reputation as a free-speech saint, it was just too low-ball for me--but Penthouse did try; Bob Guccione clearly had ambitions of Hefnerness, even if he fell far short of it. Some of this was doubtless because of porn's legal requirements to have some sort of ostensible artistic or cultural merit, thus the articles and such that were completely irrelevant to 95% of the magazines' purchasers. (Stephen King has written about how his checks from the likes of Adam and Cavalier repeatedly saved him from numerous budget crises in the lean years before the publication of Carrie; most of the stories in the Night Shift collection originally saw publication in such magazines, and at least one story of his, "The Raft", was a rewrite of an earlier story that he no longer has a copy of because the magazine that accepted it for publication didn't give him a contributor's copy.) But I think that at least some of it was because Guccione, in his own fucked-up way, was trying to be a Playboy Man.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:56 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
This is my general feeling about Playboy; it was and is a reaction to the sexual revolution, a way for men to feel secure in the face of a potential threat to their egos by letting them assume the persona of the Playboy Man, someone with impeccable taste in everything (or at least would have if he could afford it), and putting women in roughly the same category as the clothes and gadgets and whiskey.
I'm not going to defend pornography or pretend Playboy was art, but it at least had some pretentious to be more than just smut. Hustler and Penthouse didn't even try
I can't speak for Hustler--despite Larry Flynt's latter-day reputation as a free-speech saint, it was just too low-ball for me--but Penthouse did try; Bob Guccione clearly had ambitions of Hefnerness, even if he fell far short of it. Some of this was doubtless because of porn's legal requirements to have some sort of ostensible artistic or cultural merit, thus the articles and such that were completely irrelevant to 95% of the magazines' purchasers. (Stephen King has written about how his checks from the likes of Adam and Cavalier repeatedly saved him from numerous budget crises in the lean years before the publication of Carrie; most of the stories in the Night Shift collection originally saw publication in such magazines, and at least one story of his, "The Raft", was a rewrite of an earlier story that he no longer has a copy of because the magazine that accepted it for publication didn't give him a contributor's copy.) But I think that at least some of it was because Guccione, in his own fucked-up way, was trying to be a Playboy Man.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:56 AM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Sure, this means the money is, to some degree, tainted; but what money in a capitalist society isn't?
That's pretty dismissive of the people who were hurt by him. Bill Cosby did a lot for black people too...
posted by Dressed to Kill at 10:02 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
That's pretty dismissive of the people who were hurt by him. Bill Cosby did a lot for black people too...
posted by Dressed to Kill at 10:02 AM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
I think that's a good read of Guccione - low-rent Hefner.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:09 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:09 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Current Affairs comes out swinging : Good Riddence To An Absuive Creep
posted by The Whelk at 10:42 AM on September 28, 2017 [19 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:42 AM on September 28, 2017 [19 favorites]
Hefner is credited by NORML as a key donor for marijuana legalization, especially the early years.
posted by Brian B. at 11:07 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Brian B. at 11:07 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
When Hefner was first planning Playboy, he conceived of it as a direct competitor to The New Yorker, so that became the model for its content, right down to the cartoons.
I've read a lot about The New Yorker, but I've never heard this before. But it isn't hard to see where Hefner might've gotten the idea. Harold Ross' New Yorker was conceived as a hip, titillating magazine (Hefner would later court Peter Arno, much of who's work would've been right at home in Playboy) for urban sophisticates (i.e., largely men—recall Ross' aversion to the "'Little Old Lady from Dubuque"), by a man who was not at all an urban sophisticate himself. And both of them were more or less self-educated (Hefner had an undergrad; Ross had a high school degree) men from the American west (Hefner, Nebraska; Ross, Utah) who yearned to be accepted by cultural and intellectual elites they perceived as their superiors.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:17 AM on September 28, 2017 [5 favorites]
I've read a lot about The New Yorker, but I've never heard this before. But it isn't hard to see where Hefner might've gotten the idea. Harold Ross' New Yorker was conceived as a hip, titillating magazine (Hefner would later court Peter Arno, much of who's work would've been right at home in Playboy) for urban sophisticates (i.e., largely men—recall Ross' aversion to the "'Little Old Lady from Dubuque"), by a man who was not at all an urban sophisticate himself. And both of them were more or less self-educated (Hefner had an undergrad; Ross had a high school degree) men from the American west (Hefner, Nebraska; Ross, Utah) who yearned to be accepted by cultural and intellectual elites they perceived as their superiors.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:17 AM on September 28, 2017 [5 favorites]
I remember him for the articles.
me, too.
In particular, I remember a summer (I was only sixteen) spent working in a geological fly camp in the Yukon, hundreds of miles from the nearest even small town. Every week we'd get a supply of food, fuel and other assorted stuff flown in. The assorted stuff always included the latest Playboy mag and whatever other porn was available at the time -- Penthouse, Hustler and worse, way worse ... way way worse.
It was an education to say the least. Did Hefner and co unleash all that diseased stuff unto the the culture, or was it coming anyway? I'll leave that to others to discuss. I do know that I spent a lot of that summer actually reading the Playboy articles, which was a whole other education. The one that instantly comes to mind ended up being an FPP here:
Bowie 76: somewhere between Mars and Berlin
posted by philip-random at 12:38 PM on September 28, 2017
me, too.
In particular, I remember a summer (I was only sixteen) spent working in a geological fly camp in the Yukon, hundreds of miles from the nearest even small town. Every week we'd get a supply of food, fuel and other assorted stuff flown in. The assorted stuff always included the latest Playboy mag and whatever other porn was available at the time -- Penthouse, Hustler and worse, way worse ... way way worse.
It was an education to say the least. Did Hefner and co unleash all that diseased stuff unto the the culture, or was it coming anyway? I'll leave that to others to discuss. I do know that I spent a lot of that summer actually reading the Playboy articles, which was a whole other education. The one that instantly comes to mind ended up being an FPP here:
Bowie 76: somewhere between Mars and Berlin
posted by philip-random at 12:38 PM on September 28, 2017
For me, as a young boy growing up, his biggest crime was making me feel there was something wrong with me if I wasn't just like him.
posted by Obscure Reference at 1:08 PM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Obscure Reference at 1:08 PM on September 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
I think Jessica Valenti summed it up well: "Hugh Hefner is rightly remembered for rebelling against right wing moralism before most people, but please don't forget he treated women like garbage to do it."
posted by gwint at 1:16 PM on September 28, 2017 [25 favorites]
posted by gwint at 1:16 PM on September 28, 2017 [25 favorites]
From Sady Doyle’s book, a description of Hef buying the grave next to Marilyn Monroe’s as a way to humiliate her even in death:
“Finally, Hugh Hefner, the man who’d leaked Monroe’s nudes in the first issue of Playboy decades before the phrase “leaking nudes” was even in the lexicon— he became an instant celebrity; she had to apologize for the photos, and feared for her career—bought the crypt next to Monroe’s for $75,000. It was a gruesome joke, “sleeping with” the woman he’d almost ruined, and doing so without her consent—claiming her in death, as he’d claimed the right to exploit her in life. “I’m a sucker for blondes and she is the ultimate blonde,” Hefner told CBS Los Angeles. “It has a completion notion to it. I will be spending the rest of my eternity with Marilyn.”
If that doesn't make your skin crawl with horror, then read it again. Think about turning the final resting place of a human being who famously suffered from the impacts of fame and objectification into a joke, a pornographic punchline.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 1:27 PM on September 28, 2017 [30 favorites]
“Finally, Hugh Hefner, the man who’d leaked Monroe’s nudes in the first issue of Playboy decades before the phrase “leaking nudes” was even in the lexicon— he became an instant celebrity; she had to apologize for the photos, and feared for her career—bought the crypt next to Monroe’s for $75,000. It was a gruesome joke, “sleeping with” the woman he’d almost ruined, and doing so without her consent—claiming her in death, as he’d claimed the right to exploit her in life. “I’m a sucker for blondes and she is the ultimate blonde,” Hefner told CBS Los Angeles. “It has a completion notion to it. I will be spending the rest of my eternity with Marilyn.”
If that doesn't make your skin crawl with horror, then read it again. Think about turning the final resting place of a human being who famously suffered from the impacts of fame and objectification into a joke, a pornographic punchline.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 1:27 PM on September 28, 2017 [30 favorites]
edeezy, i tell that Le Guin story all the time. To me, it illustrates the best and worst of what Playboy embodied during that era.
But it should be noted that damn little of what Playboy was, during that era, was of Hef's doing. He hired good editors and left them alone, but whatever greatness the journalism and the fiction had are owed to those editors and the authors, not to Hefner.
posted by adrienneleigh at 1:41 PM on September 28, 2017 [5 favorites]
But it should be noted that damn little of what Playboy was, during that era, was of Hef's doing. He hired good editors and left them alone, but whatever greatness the journalism and the fiction had are owed to those editors and the authors, not to Hefner.
posted by adrienneleigh at 1:41 PM on September 28, 2017 [5 favorites]
So wow, I read through most of this thread and I had no idea about some of the terrible stuff he did. That's... nuts! The summation gwint posted works well, but almost feels not negative enough.
Since I can't (and won't) delete my comment above, I offer a retraction of
* respectfully gravedances *
posted by numaner at 1:43 PM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Since I can't (and won't) delete my comment above, I offer a retraction of
* respectfully gravedances *
posted by numaner at 1:43 PM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
When I was in high school, I was driving around with my friends one Friday night in my 1966 Mustang (which was older than me) when we started to notice a terrible smell of gasoline. Of course, we did the sensible thing: we went to a gas station and bought a Playboy-logo air freshener to try to mask the smell. It wasn't the best idea we ever had, and it didn't even work.
That's the best I can do.
posted by 4ster at 1:54 PM on September 28, 2017
That's the best I can do.
posted by 4ster at 1:54 PM on September 28, 2017
Dressed to Kill, is it dismissive? I supposed it could be taken that way, though that wasn't my intent.
I think it reflects the complex nature of the man, the media empire he built, and the world we live in, and raises the question of whether a person's legacy should be wholly rejected because of their crimes. It seems that many who do good also do evil.
My point is that no one is perfect, yet some people in their imperfection are able to also do good things. The question isn't whether the good deeds make up for the bad, but whether we should dismiss the good in light of the bad.
posted by lhauser at 2:07 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I think it reflects the complex nature of the man, the media empire he built, and the world we live in, and raises the question of whether a person's legacy should be wholly rejected because of their crimes. It seems that many who do good also do evil.
My point is that no one is perfect, yet some people in their imperfection are able to also do good things. The question isn't whether the good deeds make up for the bad, but whether we should dismiss the good in light of the bad.
posted by lhauser at 2:07 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Since we're telling Playboy stories, here's mine:
My first faculty job was at Playboy.
Well, sorta.
In fact, my first faculty job was actually at Northwestern University. Northwestern's medical school and law school are located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, about 12 miles south of the main Evanston campus, and like many universities with urban campuses, space is an issue. So along with the many buildings they own in the area, Northwestern also rents space in nearby buildings for offices and classrooms.
My office was in 680 N. Lake Shore Dr, a building which is a world unto itself. Along with offices, it has condos, a grocery, a bank, a salon, a hardware store, a pharmacy, all manner of medical clinics (including an MRI) -- meaning that had I chosen to buy a condo there, I could have lived without setting foot outside all winter long!
But that wasn't all it had. You see, when I started, 680 N LSD was also home to Playboy's corporate headquarters, and if you entered the building via Erie St -- the entrance closest to the Northwestern parking garage -- you were greeted with an ENORMOUS silver sign over the entrance:
P L A Y B O Y
You can see from the pic how huge it was; the letters were 3 feet high at least. And this was the only signage anyone saw coming into my building. There was nothing whatsoever mentioning Northwestern, but there was a humongous sign welcoming you to Playboy!
It was absolutely surreal, and I used to joke with friends about "working at Playboy." But it was also more than a little upsetting, to be honest. I always felt like it was unprofessional, to the point that I tried to meet collaborators and students -- especially students -- in other buildings. We'd have faculty meetings to talk about women's participation in STEM, and I would think "well for starters, how about make them feel like they're not walking into Playboy when they come to work/school?" I'd remember all the research about micro-aggressions and stereotype threat and I'd wonder what the cumulative impact of being reminded every day how women are objectified was having on my peers and mentees.
I could certainly feel the effect it was having on me. Being a junior faculty member is tough enough; one is constantly fighting the worry that one is not brilliant enough to succeed. It's tougher still when one is a woman in a male-dominated field. Can you imagine having that reminder every day on top of it all? For all my joking, that sign made me absolutely miserable at work; Playboy made a hard job even harder.
A few years after I started, Playboy decided to move its headquarters, and the sign came down -- much to my relief. But while it was up? That was just NOT something I needed.
So fuck Playboy, and fuck Hef. Good riddance.
posted by 2lemmas at 2:35 PM on September 28, 2017 [21 favorites]
My first faculty job was at Playboy.
Well, sorta.
In fact, my first faculty job was actually at Northwestern University. Northwestern's medical school and law school are located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, about 12 miles south of the main Evanston campus, and like many universities with urban campuses, space is an issue. So along with the many buildings they own in the area, Northwestern also rents space in nearby buildings for offices and classrooms.
My office was in 680 N. Lake Shore Dr, a building which is a world unto itself. Along with offices, it has condos, a grocery, a bank, a salon, a hardware store, a pharmacy, all manner of medical clinics (including an MRI) -- meaning that had I chosen to buy a condo there, I could have lived without setting foot outside all winter long!
But that wasn't all it had. You see, when I started, 680 N LSD was also home to Playboy's corporate headquarters, and if you entered the building via Erie St -- the entrance closest to the Northwestern parking garage -- you were greeted with an ENORMOUS silver sign over the entrance:
You can see from the pic how huge it was; the letters were 3 feet high at least. And this was the only signage anyone saw coming into my building. There was nothing whatsoever mentioning Northwestern, but there was a humongous sign welcoming you to Playboy!
It was absolutely surreal, and I used to joke with friends about "working at Playboy." But it was also more than a little upsetting, to be honest. I always felt like it was unprofessional, to the point that I tried to meet collaborators and students -- especially students -- in other buildings. We'd have faculty meetings to talk about women's participation in STEM, and I would think "well for starters, how about make them feel like they're not walking into Playboy when they come to work/school?" I'd remember all the research about micro-aggressions and stereotype threat and I'd wonder what the cumulative impact of being reminded every day how women are objectified was having on my peers and mentees.
I could certainly feel the effect it was having on me. Being a junior faculty member is tough enough; one is constantly fighting the worry that one is not brilliant enough to succeed. It's tougher still when one is a woman in a male-dominated field. Can you imagine having that reminder every day on top of it all? For all my joking, that sign made me absolutely miserable at work; Playboy made a hard job even harder.
A few years after I started, Playboy decided to move its headquarters, and the sign came down -- much to my relief. But while it was up? That was just NOT something I needed.
So fuck Playboy, and fuck Hef. Good riddance.
posted by 2lemmas at 2:35 PM on September 28, 2017 [21 favorites]
Mike Peterson's Comic Strip blog on Hef and Playboy's cartoons, starting with Gahan Wilson and finishing with Jules Feiffer.
If you need to search for the good side, I'd say start and finish there.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:08 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
If you need to search for the good side, I'd say start and finish there.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:08 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Current Affairs comes out swinging : Good Riddance To An Absuive Creep
This is a good piece, and it deserves quotation:
This is a good piece, and it deserves quotation:
One of the most remarkable tendencies in American media is its capacity to whitewash the misdeeds of truly horrible people, whether it’s the New York Times talking about what Henry Kissinger wears to lunch at the Four Seasons, or the New Yorker raving about George W. Bush’s paintings without mentioning the fact that 500,000 Iraqis died in a war he launched. Multiple women have said that Hugh Hefner essentially imprisoned them in his house and demanded sex from them. Holly Madison says she nearly killed herself because of his treatment. Apparently, though, this just makes him the “embodiment of the Playboy lifestyle.”posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:25 PM on September 28, 2017 [25 favorites]
Of course, the “controversies” about Hefner do get mentioned. Here’s the New York Times:Mr. Hefner was reviled, first by guardians of the 1950s social order — J. Edgar Hoover among them — and later by feminists. But Playboy’s circulation reached one million by 1960 and peaked at about seven million in the 1970s.Look at this remarkable passage. Feminist criticism of Playboy, which centers around its embrace of the very kind of disgusting treatment of women that Hefner himself practiced, is lumped in with the persecutions of J. Edgar Hoover. “Sure, buzzkills like the Feminazis and Hoover came after it, but the circulation was incredible.”
The feminist criticism of Playboy has always been obviously correct. Hefner literally reduced women to little bunnies who existed entirely to suck his penis. Of course, there’s plenty of mention in the obituaries of Hefner’s “highbrow” aspirations. In his words “We enjoy mixing up cocktails and an hors d’oeuvre or two, putting a little mood music on the phonograph and inviting in a female acquaintance for a quiet discussion on Picasso, Nietzsche, jazz, sex.” But it was always clear that the intellectual side of Playboy was strictly for men: he refused to discuss politics or literature with any of his girlfriends. They were there for him to have joyless unprotected sex with whenever he pleased.
Yeah, sorry, grafting a literary magazine onto complete exploitation of women isn't something I can bring myself to praise. I am kind of surprised at all this fulsome playboy love. I mean, I too encountered cartons of old playboys in a house my parents had just bought, when I was 7: hello male gaze, I guess that's what naked ladies look like, and I too will grow up to be a lady and. . And. . Why aren't there any naked men? I too found old playboys in a house I was sharing as a "sophisticated" college student, reading the stories and the articles always knowing that they clearly weren't meant for me. That was sort of easy to spot what with the delightful cartoons, ha ha, naked girl in high heels, fully clothed man, ooooh, sexy coed. And I too was groped at age 14 by men in their 40s because hey, Pretty Baby and that's what teenage girls are for. . . you like it, be free baby, why would you have these weird hang ups? Swap out your old wife for a new younger model! You deserve it, key word it. A whole lot of the toxic sexual culture of the seventies and eighties can be laid right at Hef's feet. And if you thought he was a model for workers rights, here, this is Gloria Steinem's account of being a bunny, such a freeing experience. Fuck Hef, I spit on his grave, a vile man.
posted by mygothlaundry at 6:55 AM on September 28 [45 favorites −] [!]
mygothlaundry - thank you. THANK YOU. (The above needs to be said again!!!)
posted by marimeko at 4:47 PM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 6:55 AM on September 28 [45 favorites −] [!]
mygothlaundry - thank you. THANK YOU. (The above needs to be said again!!!)
posted by marimeko at 4:47 PM on September 28, 2017 [8 favorites]
Today I learned the term Repressive Desublimation. Via Wiki I also learned Das Ding.
posted by ovvl at 6:40 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 6:40 PM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Just No to all this "he did good things and was a complicated man" bullshit. He actively pushed a view of women as subhuman objects whose worth lay solely in their appearance--and a very unnatural appearance at that, that takes a metric ton of slavish devotion to produce.
About this "sexual liberation" line, Hell To the Effing No. It's not "liberating" for women to be held to impossible appearance standards. It's not "liberating" for their minds and hearts to be ignored. It's not "liberating" for men to use them as places to stick their dicks. I read Holly Madison's account of their sexual life, and felt sick to my stomach to learn that he simply used the women around him for his own pleasure. Did not spend a millisecond pleasuring them.
I recall reading something years ago about how there were bottles of lube stationed all around the interior and the gardens of the playboy mansion. It struck me as very sad at the time. Are so many young, healthy women unable to lubricate for sex? Seriously doubt it. Instead, an inept and uncaring man was uninterested in his female partners actually being prepared for and excited by the prospect of sex.
I'm sure someone like David Duke has some good qualities too. I'm sure not 100% of everything he's done has been execrable. But the overall man deserves scorn, not lionization. Ditto Hefner. No one who is a friend to female human beings should be defending this terribly hurtful, harmful man who spent nine decades on this planet and never saw the error of his ways.
posted by nirblegee at 7:06 PM on September 28, 2017 [22 favorites]
About this "sexual liberation" line, Hell To the Effing No. It's not "liberating" for women to be held to impossible appearance standards. It's not "liberating" for their minds and hearts to be ignored. It's not "liberating" for men to use them as places to stick their dicks. I read Holly Madison's account of their sexual life, and felt sick to my stomach to learn that he simply used the women around him for his own pleasure. Did not spend a millisecond pleasuring them.
I recall reading something years ago about how there were bottles of lube stationed all around the interior and the gardens of the playboy mansion. It struck me as very sad at the time. Are so many young, healthy women unable to lubricate for sex? Seriously doubt it. Instead, an inept and uncaring man was uninterested in his female partners actually being prepared for and excited by the prospect of sex.
I'm sure someone like David Duke has some good qualities too. I'm sure not 100% of everything he's done has been execrable. But the overall man deserves scorn, not lionization. Ditto Hefner. No one who is a friend to female human beings should be defending this terribly hurtful, harmful man who spent nine decades on this planet and never saw the error of his ways.
posted by nirblegee at 7:06 PM on September 28, 2017 [22 favorites]
I am fascinated to learn that to a lot of people, offering quaaludes to a woman along with the casual explanation that they're what people back in his day "used to call 'thigh-openers'" doesn't read as an uncomplicated confession to serial rape. Do I think he understood what he was confessing to? nope. do I think his words were accurate, nonetheless, as well as being accurately recorded by Holly Madison? yup. I sure do.
maybe people who think there's a roughly equal balance of good and bad in this man's life thought the Bill Cosby reference far earlier in the thread was a non sequitur or a bit of hyperbole, because they didn't look it up? maybe....I don't really know anymore, what may be.
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:10 PM on September 28, 2017 [14 favorites]
maybe people who think there's a roughly equal balance of good and bad in this man's life thought the Bill Cosby reference far earlier in the thread was a non sequitur or a bit of hyperbole, because they didn't look it up? maybe....I don't really know anymore, what may be.
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:10 PM on September 28, 2017 [14 favorites]
The feminist criticism of Playboy has always been obviously correct.
and boy did he know it. From an angry Hefner memo on feminists: "Doing a rather neutral piece on the pros and cons of feminism strikes me as being rather pointless for PLAYBOY. What I’m interested in is the highly irrational, emotional, kookie trend that feminism has taken. These chicks are our natural enemy [...] We must destroy them before they destroy the Playboy way of life."
well, he did his best.
every dude who's thanked good old Hef for some good times and great memories, this is what you're thanking him for. this is your man.
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:21 PM on September 28, 2017 [22 favorites]
and boy did he know it. From an angry Hefner memo on feminists: "Doing a rather neutral piece on the pros and cons of feminism strikes me as being rather pointless for PLAYBOY. What I’m interested in is the highly irrational, emotional, kookie trend that feminism has taken. These chicks are our natural enemy [...] We must destroy them before they destroy the Playboy way of life."
well, he did his best.
every dude who's thanked good old Hef for some good times and great memories, this is what you're thanking him for. this is your man.
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:21 PM on September 28, 2017 [22 favorites]
this is what you're thanking him for. this is your man.
If he truly believed that a trend in feminism was kooky, irrational, and emotional, then he was justified in targeting it as such, just as they are justified in criticism of his enterprise based on their opinions. Hefner didn't set out to battle feminism, rather he was warring against zombie Puritanism generally, resulting in less guilt about sex, and less self-righteousness in sex shaming between men and women (and suspicions about single men). He branded sexual freedom an elitist fantasy, for the best people, just as the Puritans branded their repressive salvation an elitist fantasy. His arrogant strategy was welcome in its day, but it may be embarrassing today with the repression diminished, within a normal range of modesty.
posted by Brian B. at 11:28 PM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
If he truly believed that a trend in feminism was kooky, irrational, and emotional, then he was justified in targeting it as such, just as they are justified in criticism of his enterprise based on their opinions. Hefner didn't set out to battle feminism, rather he was warring against zombie Puritanism generally, resulting in less guilt about sex, and less self-righteousness in sex shaming between men and women (and suspicions about single men). He branded sexual freedom an elitist fantasy, for the best people, just as the Puritans branded their repressive salvation an elitist fantasy. His arrogant strategy was welcome in its day, but it may be embarrassing today with the repression diminished, within a normal range of modesty.
posted by Brian B. at 11:28 PM on September 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Based on their opinions? You're right, hating rape and sexism and the degredation of women is an opinion, I guess. Those kooky feminists.
posted by agregoli at 5:32 AM on September 29, 2017 [17 favorites]
posted by agregoli at 5:32 AM on September 29, 2017 [17 favorites]
Hefner didn't set out to battle feminism
it would be brave of you to call him a liar to his face, except he's dead. and except he was a pretty feeble man for the 90 years before that, too. but that was a quote, you understand? from him, mister hefner, not from me. full context if you want it, and do read all of it to the end.
His arrogant strategy was welcome in its day,
No, it wasn't. This is actually important. By the later 60s, nobody's idea of a terrific time for feminism, his fantasyland was as insistently infantile and out of touch as it is now. It was only starting to be understood as hateful, but long before hatred of women became something that most people knew they were supposed to mind, they found his ethos embarrassingly square.
He branded sexual freedom an elitist fantasy, for the best people
Meaning men. The best men. in, yet again, his own documented opinion. Asked whether he'd date a woman who took his own attitude to sexual freedom, he laughed and said No, what would he do with a female Hugh Hefner? Need I explain that this is an explicitly antifeminist position? perhaps I need.
posted by queenofbithynia at 5:41 AM on September 29, 2017 [26 favorites]
it would be brave of you to call him a liar to his face, except he's dead. and except he was a pretty feeble man for the 90 years before that, too. but that was a quote, you understand? from him, mister hefner, not from me. full context if you want it, and do read all of it to the end.
His arrogant strategy was welcome in its day,
No, it wasn't. This is actually important. By the later 60s, nobody's idea of a terrific time for feminism, his fantasyland was as insistently infantile and out of touch as it is now. It was only starting to be understood as hateful, but long before hatred of women became something that most people knew they were supposed to mind, they found his ethos embarrassingly square.
He branded sexual freedom an elitist fantasy, for the best people
Meaning men. The best men. in, yet again, his own documented opinion. Asked whether he'd date a woman who took his own attitude to sexual freedom, he laughed and said No, what would he do with a female Hugh Hefner? Need I explain that this is an explicitly antifeminist position? perhaps I need.
posted by queenofbithynia at 5:41 AM on September 29, 2017 [26 favorites]
If he truly believed that a trend in feminism was kooky, irrational, and emotional, then he was justified in targeting it as such, just as they are justified in criticism of his enterprise based on their opinions.
This is bullshit.
That's all I can say without exploding in rage. You can excuse any actions with this. Not just "opinions", but actions. You should be intellectually ashamed of yourself for even thinking this, much less typing it out and pressing Enter.
posted by Etrigan at 6:13 AM on September 29, 2017 [21 favorites]
This is bullshit.
That's all I can say without exploding in rage. You can excuse any actions with this. Not just "opinions", but actions. You should be intellectually ashamed of yourself for even thinking this, much less typing it out and pressing Enter.
posted by Etrigan at 6:13 AM on September 29, 2017 [21 favorites]
(and suspicions about single men).
you are referring to the changeover from the days when "confirmed bachelor" was code for "known homosexual," towards the glorious days when it could also mean "uptight heterosexual man who masturbates to Playboy while resenting feminists and thinking of Sean Connery in a turtleneck, but only in an aspirational reverie, not That Way" ?
because I know which one I would rather be suspected of and which one would feel like a vile slander, to me. but then I am not a man of any era.
posted by queenofbithynia at 6:43 AM on September 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
you are referring to the changeover from the days when "confirmed bachelor" was code for "known homosexual," towards the glorious days when it could also mean "uptight heterosexual man who masturbates to Playboy while resenting feminists and thinking of Sean Connery in a turtleneck, but only in an aspirational reverie, not That Way" ?
because I know which one I would rather be suspected of and which one would feel like a vile slander, to me. but then I am not a man of any era.
posted by queenofbithynia at 6:43 AM on September 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
Who hasn't thought of Sean Connery while masturbating?
posted by cjorgensen at 6:51 AM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by cjorgensen at 6:51 AM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
You should be intellectually ashamed of yourself for even thinking this, much less typing it out and pressing Enter.
Well no, it goes for everyone, at anytime. The unstated assumption was his self-defense (as we all should enjoy during a trial, for example). The rest is that if he thought they were rational and had a point, he would be admitting his error. In a word: intent.
posted by Brian B. at 7:19 AM on September 29, 2017
Well no, it goes for everyone, at anytime. The unstated assumption was his self-defense (as we all should enjoy during a trial, for example). The rest is that if he thought they were rational and had a point, he would be admitting his error. In a word: intent.
posted by Brian B. at 7:19 AM on September 29, 2017
Who hasn't thought of Sean Connery while masturbating?
The sensation you are feeling is the ... quickening.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:32 AM on September 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
The sensation you are feeling is the ... quickening.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:32 AM on September 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
The sensation you are feeling is the ... quickening.
My love of this terrible awesomeness withstands even my hatred of this derail.
posted by corb at 9:36 AM on September 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
My love of this terrible awesomeness withstands even my hatred of this derail.
posted by corb at 9:36 AM on September 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
The rest is that if he thought they were rational and had a point, he would be admitting his error. In a word: intent.
I don't give a shit about intent. We can never know intent. We can never know whether he thought feminists were actually kooky or if he was cynically portraying them that way to protect his business and his privileges.
I understand it is useful to ascribe non-odious intent to a dead man in order to justify his odiousness. But why would you want to?
posted by maxsparber at 9:40 AM on September 29, 2017 [8 favorites]
I don't give a shit about intent. We can never know intent. We can never know whether he thought feminists were actually kooky or if he was cynically portraying them that way to protect his business and his privileges.
I understand it is useful to ascribe non-odious intent to a dead man in order to justify his odiousness. But why would you want to?
posted by maxsparber at 9:40 AM on September 29, 2017 [8 favorites]
Who hasn't thought of Sean Connery while masturbating?
I did just the once. He told me to stop. And no, he wasn't in his Zardoz get-up.
posted by philip-random at 10:36 AM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
I did just the once. He told me to stop. And no, he wasn't in his Zardoz get-up.
posted by philip-random at 10:36 AM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
And no, he wasn't in his Zardoz get-up.
Oh?
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:39 AM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
Oh?
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:39 AM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
me reading all the defenses of hefner after everyone already detailed how he's actually horrible
posted by numaner at 12:46 PM on September 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by numaner at 12:46 PM on September 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
"I have read thish Playboy. Your conclushions were all wrong, Hefner!"
posted by Chrysostom at 1:31 PM on September 29, 2017
posted by Chrysostom at 1:31 PM on September 29, 2017
Here's a fond teenage memory: Hefner and Peter Bogdanovice getting into a public battle for the title of biggest creep responsible for the downfall and death* of Dorothy Stratten:
Watch blow for blow as two titans of creep battle it out for the moral high ground!** Spoiler: Bogdanovich wins the contest by marrying Stratten's very much younger sister who was just 12 when Dorothy was murdered.
* I don't think either are really responsible for her death
**especially since Bogdanovich met Stratten at where else, the Playboy mansion. So what the fuck was Hef talking about?
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 1:39 PM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
Watch blow for blow as two titans of creep battle it out for the moral high ground!** Spoiler: Bogdanovich wins the contest by marrying Stratten's very much younger sister who was just 12 when Dorothy was murdered.
* I don't think either are really responsible for her death
**especially since Bogdanovich met Stratten at where else, the Playboy mansion. So what the fuck was Hef talking about?
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 1:39 PM on September 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
Monica Hesse in The Washington Post: "Hugh Hefner was a feminist (if you believe feminism is pretty women having sex with you)"
Relatedly, the Esquire article by Chris Jones that Hesse mentions: "The House of Hugh Hefner"
posted by Going To Maine at 1:02 AM on September 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Relatedly, the Esquire article by Chris Jones that Hesse mentions: "The House of Hugh Hefner"
posted by Going To Maine at 1:02 AM on September 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
A whole lot in The New York Times:
- Susan Brownmiller, “Hugh Hefner Was My Enemy” (op-ed)
- Amber Batura, “How Hugh Hefner Invented the Modern Man” (op-ed)
- Austin Ramzy and Dan Bilefsky, “Celebrities Remember Hugh Hefner for More Than Just the Articles”
- Jonah Engel Bromwich, “Hugh Hefner, Between the Headlines”
- Choire Sicha, “Hugh Hefner, the Pajama Man”
- The New York Times, “Playboy In Popular Culture”
I’m torn between wanting to watch “Star 80” because of Hefner’s death and Never wanting to watch that movie again.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:08 PM on September 30, 2017
posted by rmd1023 at 4:08 PM on September 30, 2017
I'm sure someone like David Duke has some good qualities too.
After I posted one of the articles called, I believe "Good Riddance to an Abusive Creep" on Facebook, someone, a woman, said she and her mother met him when they rented his tennis court and that he was very gracious. She said she wasn't saying that the stories were untrue, but that from her acquaintance, he was a gracious man.
I was reminded of the phrase "He seemed like a real nice guy", especially when it's followed by: "I had no idea about all the bodies".
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 10:21 PM on September 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
After I posted one of the articles called, I believe "Good Riddance to an Abusive Creep" on Facebook, someone, a woman, said she and her mother met him when they rented his tennis court and that he was very gracious. She said she wasn't saying that the stories were untrue, but that from her acquaintance, he was a gracious man.
I was reminded of the phrase "He seemed like a real nice guy", especially when it's followed by: "I had no idea about all the bodies".
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 10:21 PM on September 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Two pieces at The New Republic:
- Jeet Heer, "Hugh Hefner's Incomplete Sexual Revolution"
- Josephine Livingstone, Hugh Hefner Was Never The Star Of Playboy"
quoting from elsewhere ...
His death has exposed something that's been bugging me a lot recently -- that tendency among many seemingly intelligent and thoughtful folks to NOT want things to be as complex/nuanced as they may actually be. The Heff was many things, many of them ugly, but we wouldn't be as free as we are (in all manner of ways) if he'd never gone into publishing.
long live publishing
posted by philip-random at 12:51 AM on October 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
His death has exposed something that's been bugging me a lot recently -- that tendency among many seemingly intelligent and thoughtful folks to NOT want things to be as complex/nuanced as they may actually be. The Heff was many things, many of them ugly, but we wouldn't be as free as we are (in all manner of ways) if he'd never gone into publishing.
long live publishing
posted by philip-random at 12:51 AM on October 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Current Affairs comes out swinging : Good Riddence To An Absuive Creep
On the theme that "no man is a hero to his valet", Hefner's from 1978 through 1979 is sharing nasty revelations and lurid details about his behavior with the NY Post. Forcing "girlfriends" to get breast implants when they first came on the market and then dumping them when they burst or video-taping sex acts "to use the footage against his associates if they ever threatened to come out with a memoir about him or the mansion" are just a couple of the nastier biographic details.
As with Playboy Mansion habitué Bill Cosby, there's likely more to come from people who knew the worst about him all along but held back, now that the first disclosures are surfacing. His butler provides a blunt epitaph: "I really didn’t feel anything when I heard Hef died. He started out as an innovator and was a very liberal guy. He was pro abortion, gay rights, marijuana. He was very ahead of his time and then when he moved from Chicago to Holmby Hills, he became just another dirty old rich man."
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:50 PM on October 1, 2017 [8 favorites]
On the theme that "no man is a hero to his valet", Hefner's from 1978 through 1979 is sharing nasty revelations and lurid details about his behavior with the NY Post. Forcing "girlfriends" to get breast implants when they first came on the market and then dumping them when they burst or video-taping sex acts "to use the footage against his associates if they ever threatened to come out with a memoir about him or the mansion" are just a couple of the nastier biographic details.
As with Playboy Mansion habitué Bill Cosby, there's likely more to come from people who knew the worst about him all along but held back, now that the first disclosures are surfacing. His butler provides a blunt epitaph: "I really didn’t feel anything when I heard Hef died. He started out as an innovator and was a very liberal guy. He was pro abortion, gay rights, marijuana. He was very ahead of his time and then when he moved from Chicago to Holmby Hills, he became just another dirty old rich man."
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:50 PM on October 1, 2017 [8 favorites]
but we wouldn't be as free as we are (in all manner of ways) if he'd never gone into publishing.
Because porn was unprecedented.
He did fight for first amendment rights (and mainstream it), but so would (and did) anybody who tapped the goldmine of porn. All they needed was an empire to finance it. It would've happened sooner or later. The sexual revolution was largely driven by the pill, and coexisted along with the drug revolution and the entire 60s counterculture. I really don't think the hippies needed Playboy; it would've happened anyway.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 12:18 AM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
Because porn was unprecedented.
He did fight for first amendment rights (and mainstream it), but so would (and did) anybody who tapped the goldmine of porn. All they needed was an empire to finance it. It would've happened sooner or later. The sexual revolution was largely driven by the pill, and coexisted along with the drug revolution and the entire 60s counterculture. I really don't think the hippies needed Playboy; it would've happened anyway.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 12:18 AM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
it's been reported that he did indeed get buried next to Marilyn Monroe.
posted by numaner at 1:51 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by numaner at 1:51 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
just read that. so gross, the woman that he built his empire on by selling her photos. She couldn't even have a say on the matter, just like she had no say in his using her photos.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 1:57 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 1:57 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
(sorry have to continue in a nother comment, couldn't add on the previous one) But consent wasn't exactly his style if you read the Abusive Creep article in which woman were plied with Quaaludes and manipulated them with allowances and curfews.
Yeah he did influence culture greatly; sure sexual freedom is great, but he was never about women's sexual autonomy. It was never about sexual freedom FOR women, it was about freedom to use them any way you want and call it a revolution.
He was all about selling their bodies for his profits. He didn't give two shits about the women in the Mansion, just like he didn't give two shits about Monroe's wishes on the photos that provided the foundation for his empire. Porn sells, it doesn't take a genius to sell T&A, it just takes beautiful models, and Monroe was the ultimate sex symbol. If he hadn't gotten those photos, he would've just been a low-level porn producer, and there have been many of those before and after Hefner.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 2:04 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
Yeah he did influence culture greatly; sure sexual freedom is great, but he was never about women's sexual autonomy. It was never about sexual freedom FOR women, it was about freedom to use them any way you want and call it a revolution.
He was all about selling their bodies for his profits. He didn't give two shits about the women in the Mansion, just like he didn't give two shits about Monroe's wishes on the photos that provided the foundation for his empire. Porn sells, it doesn't take a genius to sell T&A, it just takes beautiful models, and Monroe was the ultimate sex symbol. If he hadn't gotten those photos, he would've just been a low-level porn producer, and there have been many of those before and after Hefner.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 2:04 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
He did things that ultimately - and as a side effect - advanced the First Amendment.
He also was emotionally abusive to his "Playmates".
Both of these things are true.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:12 PM on October 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
He also was emotionally abusive to his "Playmates".
Both of these things are true.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:12 PM on October 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
Yep, nude images have always been with us, ever since the introduction of drawing and oil painting. Porn photography has been with us since the dawn of photography; I've seen hardcore porn from the 20s. He just got a hold of very valuable photos and was able to bankroll the fight to mainstream it, which is what anyone would've done to increase their sales and protect their empire.
There was a sexual revolution in the 1920s (Weimar Republic). The sexual revolution here happened because of the pill, not Hefner. He didn't do anything that was new, other than his ability to move past the underground because he just had way more money to do it because he had the ultimate sex symbol to put up on the auctioning block.
Some of the media and public are acting like it took a real innovator to sell T&A when it sells itself. He just hit upon a gold mine named Marilyn Monroe.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 2:31 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
There was a sexual revolution in the 1920s (Weimar Republic). The sexual revolution here happened because of the pill, not Hefner. He didn't do anything that was new, other than his ability to move past the underground because he just had way more money to do it because he had the ultimate sex symbol to put up on the auctioning block.
Some of the media and public are acting like it took a real innovator to sell T&A when it sells itself. He just hit upon a gold mine named Marilyn Monroe.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 2:31 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
me reading all the defenses of hefner after everyone already detailed how he's actually horrible
Yeah, for me this was an eye opening and shocking revelation. I can't understand how people can look at that info and think "yeah, no big deal."
posted by corb at 2:38 PM on October 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
Yeah, for me this was an eye opening and shocking revelation. I can't understand how people can look at that info and think "yeah, no big deal."
posted by corb at 2:38 PM on October 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
I know I'm probably hogging a dying conversation, but the Weimar Republic sexual culture (which openly embraced gay culture, more than Hef ever di) did not have the pill, a First Amendment to defend. What they did have is the Nazis shutting them down.
It's one thing to take on the church and American government, a democracy with a free speech protection built into its foundational document, it's another to take on the most notoriously murderous totalitarian regime of all time (yes, you can argue about Stalin and so on, but the Nazis are more 'famous' if you will). It took the entire globe to fight the Nazis. Not even nude photos of Greta Garbo could've bankrolled the defense of the Weimar Republic. To fight within the American justice system you basically need good lawyers which cost money.
I too used to think of Playboy as fairly innocuous and innocent till I really looked more into it. A superficial reading of Hefner makes him seem brave and his sexuality seems almost innocent and healthy. Until you lift the rock and look at the worms underneath.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 3:06 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's one thing to take on the church and American government, a democracy with a free speech protection built into its foundational document, it's another to take on the most notoriously murderous totalitarian regime of all time (yes, you can argue about Stalin and so on, but the Nazis are more 'famous' if you will). It took the entire globe to fight the Nazis. Not even nude photos of Greta Garbo could've bankrolled the defense of the Weimar Republic. To fight within the American justice system you basically need good lawyers which cost money.
I too used to think of Playboy as fairly innocuous and innocent till I really looked more into it. A superficial reading of Hefner makes him seem brave and his sexuality seems almost innocent and healthy. Until you lift the rock and look at the worms underneath.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 3:06 PM on October 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
Keli Goff at The Daily Beast, “Hugh Hefner’s Surprising Civil-Rights Legacy”
posted by Going To Maine at 9:54 PM on October 2, 2017
posted by Going To Maine at 9:54 PM on October 2, 2017
"Yep, nude images have always been with us."
I don't think I've ever once in my Internet life used the *facepalm* meme, but I'm using it now. *FACE* *PALM*!!!!
You are off by miles in your understanding of why some people object to Hefner's actions. He didn't just launch a magazine that happened to contain nude images. Jeez.
He published nude images against some women's wills.
He de-humanized women by turning them into bunnies.
He only published airbrushed images of very specific types of women, helping to shape the beauty culture of our society. The utterly sick demands on young women to shave off all their natural body hair, bleach their head hair, and have plastic surgery to enhance their boobs are partly his doing.
He was a raging hypocrite who had sex with large numbers of women while expecting his girlfriends to be faithful to only him.
He was an ancient lech who even in his 90's would only be with women who could be his great-grandchildren.
He promulgated the idea of sexual pleasure being a good thing and nothing to be ashamed of, but then gave the women he was with ZERO sexual pleasure, selfishly focusing on himself.
'Aint nothin' wrong with "nude images". EVERYTHING was wrong with this particular man.
posted by nirblegee at 10:58 AM on October 3, 2017 [7 favorites]
I don't think I've ever once in my Internet life used the *facepalm* meme, but I'm using it now. *FACE* *PALM*!!!!
You are off by miles in your understanding of why some people object to Hefner's actions. He didn't just launch a magazine that happened to contain nude images. Jeez.
He published nude images against some women's wills.
He de-humanized women by turning them into bunnies.
He only published airbrushed images of very specific types of women, helping to shape the beauty culture of our society. The utterly sick demands on young women to shave off all their natural body hair, bleach their head hair, and have plastic surgery to enhance their boobs are partly his doing.
He was a raging hypocrite who had sex with large numbers of women while expecting his girlfriends to be faithful to only him.
He was an ancient lech who even in his 90's would only be with women who could be his great-grandchildren.
He promulgated the idea of sexual pleasure being a good thing and nothing to be ashamed of, but then gave the women he was with ZERO sexual pleasure, selfishly focusing on himself.
'Aint nothin' wrong with "nude images". EVERYTHING was wrong with this particular man.
posted by nirblegee at 10:58 AM on October 3, 2017 [7 favorites]
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