RIP Hef

mazdeuce said:

Honestly, I think the articles and the social commentary generated by the magazine were his greatest accomplishment. There have been a lot of skin magazines over the years, but Playboy was different. It was intellectually engaging if you could read. Heff championed gay rights waaaaay before it was popular. He gave authors an audience that they wouldn't have had if they had submitted their work to mainstream magazines. And last but not least, during a time where sex and drugs consumed and destroyed the lives of many rich and famous people, he managed to live with just enough moderation that he made it to 91 years old. 

Agreed on all points. The Playboy interviews were game-changing literature; no less a person than "Roots" author Alex Haley was their first interviewer. Subjects included Cassius Clay (later to be known as Muhammad Ali), Malcolm X, and Albert Speer (Hitler’s architect). All are beyond worth the read.

Margie

Well lived, Mr. Hefner.

Mr. Hefner was an advocate for civil rights, gay rights, and women's rights way before it was socially acceptable to do so.  He always stood his ground against Puritanical culture with logic and compassion.  His publication brought to light social problems, and govt. corruption that wouldn't have been published anywhere else.

Also, the advice given in the Playboy forum was honest, to the point, and helped shoot down fears and misconceptions about sex.  It was the opposite of the writing  that you find today in Maxxim, FHM, or on the internet.   Playboy  not only had pretty girls, but good advice, and they shot down any misogynistic attitudes, instead of reinforcing them. 

He was a trailblazer, an icon and a hero to many.   RIP Hugh......you were one of a kind.   

tuna55 said:

Good riddance

Careful, you clutch those pearls any harder and the strand is likely to break... but your opinion has been noted and filed.

tuna55 said:

Good riddance

Truly bad form.

tuna55 said:

Good riddance

I expected nothing more from you. 

Am I supposed to celebrate the man who brought pornography to the masses? Oh well, I'm obviously out of touch with this crowd.

Rest in peace.

tuna55 said:

Am I supposed to celebrate the man who brought pornography to the masses? Oh well, I'm obviously out of touch with this crowd.

Celebrating a man's death is a far cry from not celebrating his life. You know better.

tuna55 said:

Am I supposed to celebrate the man who brought pornography to the masses? Oh well, I'm obviously out of touch with this crowd.

Honestly, that's a legitimate view. Hugh Heffner lived his life on a slippery slope. Some of his views in regards to racism and discrimination were right even if they looked wrong to a lot of people at the time. It's fair to say that along with all of that he mainstreamed pornography, and it's easy to see a lot of the bad that comes along with that. He was remarkably human. 

FWIW,    I know pornography when I see it.   Playboy was not pornography.

tuna55 said:

In reply to dculberson :

Saying "Good riddance" is saying that we're better off without him. I am not making the direct comparison here, of course, but would you let me say "good riddance" to Hitler's death? Kim Jong Il? I am not expecting nor requiring that you agree, but I wish evil on nobody, and yet believe that we are far better off, and would have been far better off without him. Hence, good riddance.

All right, I had quite the little rant typed up replying to this post.  Even for the purposes of illustration I can't  comprehend making the parallel between brutally murderous fascists and a man who proposed an open, honest exploration of sexuality intended to challenge the arch-conservative sociopolitics of his day.

This is not the time or place for such a rant.  But I feel compelled to respond to your post in some way.

I'm still trying to figure out why my naked body is pornographic. And who's going to tell Michelangelo?

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

It's not, unless you're selling it.

I don't think Mr Hefner promoted ideas that made people think of Venus deMilo. 

You don't really think the vast majority of us (male) readers were thinking honorable and beautiful things while we perused the pages of his magazines, do you?  

I read it.  I knew it was pornographic.   But I did miss the edition where you were featured   lol!!

tuna55 said:

In reply to dculberson :

Saying "Good riddance" is saying that we're better off without him. I am not making the direct comparison here, of course, but would you let me say "good riddance" to Hitler's death? Kim Jong Il? I am not expecting nor requiring that you agree, but I wish evil on nobody, and yet believe that we are far better off, and would have been far better off without him. Hence, good riddance.

You are making a direct comparison by bringing those people up. This is not Hitler or Bin Laden we're discussing. It was a successful and very human American business person and public figure. Saying "Good riddance" is celebrating his death, and you continue to do so in this post. He may have been controversial but so is every human - including you and those you love. It is simply inappropriate to celebrate a person's death. I disagree with you on some things and yet will not celebrate your death and hope you would return the favor. Any commentary I would leave on a discussion of you after death would be far more respectful than that you've left here.

So sex isn't beautiful or honorable? Sorry, just don't follow you there. Hef founded a lifestyle magazines that covered all aspects of life. Good on him. Got creepy at the end, but maybe that's just me. Either way, RIP to a man who taught us several things. If you feel otherwise, you're in the wrong thread--check the title.

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

So, are you saying there is no such thing as pornography?  

Im sticking with the "You know it when you see it" definition, and this was. OK, it was soft porn, but still...

The stories combined with the images created an approach to sexuality that was not about beauty and honor. It was about profiting on horny men who wanted to read salacious stuff, but were too afraid to be seen buying the raunchier stuff. 

If you think it was just pretty pictures, then perhaps you really never did read the articles. Lol!

Joe Gearin said:

FWIW,    I know pornography when I see it.   Playboy was not pornography.

And this is exactly the reason I never understood as a youth why it was so popular.

Sure, some airbrushed pictures of naked women made up mostly of silicone and spray tan would be in the pages, but it frustrated my teenage self to no end to find a 100 page "pornographic" magazine have 80 pages of stereo reviews, interviews with serious people, and (I'm generalizing) trivial pop culture garbage . More like I don't know, Time magazine with the occasional crude joke or nude photo than an actual pornographic magazine. 

I do have strong and annoying memories of every single person I knew from age 14-19 having playboy bunny stuff all over the place, and I think that's where my dislike and lack of caring really stems from. By the early 2000s when I came of age playboy was just another pop culture money printing service, a brand more than a magazine or influencer. It had lost its way, in much the way I feel Rolling Stone, and even High Times have. Didn't they even stop with the nudity all together to become something like a full fledged lifestyle magazine a couple years back?

Having grown older, and oddly enough having to track down old playboy issues in a videogame (mafia 3), I've seen more of what it used to be, and I appreciate and respect what they were doing at the time. Sure, they had Marylin Monroe in her birthday suit, but at the same time an interview with people involved in the missile crisis(ok, not an exact reference but I think you get my point). It was ground breaking work, almost proper journalism, just wrapped in an erotic shell. 

It is sad to see Hef go, but no more than anyone else. He was lucky enough to live his life his way, which is more than most can say and all anyone could ask for.

I think lots of things are pornagraphic--violence, for example. Just not beautiful women. Thanks. Let's get back to the subject of the thread. RIP, Hef.

I agree with your opinion of violence, just can't figure out your definition  

por·nog·ra·phy

pôrˈnäɡrəfē/

noun

1. printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.

Ok. I agree that he was a game changer publisher. And some of the articles actually were very good (I still remember the interview with then candidate Jimmy Carter). 

SVreX said:

por·nog·ra·phy

pôrˈnäɡrəfē/

noun

1. printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.

And I'm struggling to see what's so wrong about that, taken at face value.  But again, I suppose this is not the time or place, so I guess I'll bow out until someone starts a  "What is pornography?" thread.  And what could possibly go wrong?

In reply to Duke :

I wasn't trying to decide if it was right or wrong, good or bad. I was just observing that it seems to fit the definition pretty well. 

Mr. Hefner fought for gay rights when others were afraid to.

He featured black artists on his TV program--- back in 1959.

His clubs featured black and white musicians playing on stage together at at time when that was taboo.

Playboy featured interviews with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Sammy Davis Jr., Miles Davis, and Jim Brown at a time when black opinions were subjugated.  

He donated $25K to Dick Gregory to use as a reward for finding the bodies of slain civil rights activists

He featured black women within his magazine, and on the cover in 1971

Regardless if you are offended by images of naked women, Hugh Hefner fought for social equality in the U.S.   He did what he thought was right, and lived life according to his principles, not those inflicted upon him by a very conservative / religious culture.   He had courage to stand up for what he thought was right, and that is to be admired.    RIP