Ariel Levy's book is a fantastic read about how society has changed sexually perhaps not for the best. I think it should be required reading for Jezzies and for the next wave of feminists.
Damn Anna you've been on a roll lately, with the delightfully insightful feminist pieces! Thank you for yet another awesome piece. I especially liked, "the idea that a woman's sexual availability is the same as sexual liberation... he describes his magazine as a response to "repression," he conflates male desire with social freedom" #hughhefner
"his squalid old age (the Playboy Mansion now smells bad), "
Now!?!? Now it smells bad?!?! Are you kidding me? I imagine that place in the 70's was a piquant bouquet of CFC's, acetone, and moustache wax. #hughhefner
Hugh Hefner didn't do a thing for sex, what he did was make looking at naked ladies and masturbating more acceptable and accessible. There was porn before, but this was more widely available and more appealing to society as a whole than what came before.
I don't mind Playboy, but what creeps me out is the number of people who claim it isn't porn because the images aren't explicit enough. It isn't full of Renaissance painting style nudity, it is meant to be arousing. If someone needs more than that to get their motor running, I think that is a bit of personal problem. #hughhefner
@clevernamehere: Eh, as something of a naturalist, I sort of take issue with how society has pavloved together nudity and sexual arousal. It's bad for women who want to breastfeed in public or simply feel comfortable in the heat like their male counterparts. I don't think seeing breasts alone should be 'enough'. #hughhefner
@JilliefromChile: They're really not just breasts. There is a very come hither look to the photos and the angles are designed to be arousing. They do not look like nudist camp snapshots. #hughhefner
@clevernamehere: I hope those quotes aren't meant to represent me.
I saw a couple comments about Hef's taste in women being "tasteless" and "boring" and suppose I threw this out there in hopes of keeping the comments on the topic at hand, rather than on the women of the mag. #hughhefner
If we're really going to sit here and get pissed about the messages magazines send to women? And analyze a publications' cultural relevance? I'll take Playboy over Cosmo ANYDAY.
The last Playboy I picked up had an article by David Kaczynski about his relationship with his brother, and interviews with Seth MacFarlane and Alec Baldwin--all of which I found thoroughly entertaining and way more engaging than any of the Hottest Bachelor bullshit and self-hate of the ladymags we know so well.
Shel Silverstein was one of Playboy's earliest contributors. Christie Hefner, a female CEO (!) is calling the shots at Playboy Enterprises. Call me a bad feminist, but this isn't exactly an anti-woman legacy I feel like rallying against.
His personal life (taste in barely legal girlfriends specifically) is one thing. But Playboy itself, and how it has transformed the sexual landscape in popular culture? Something else entirely.
Can't we focus our vitriol energies on something that truly sucks?
@nacho_supreme: I don't "defend" Hefner anymore than I do Bonnie Fuller. My ambivalence toward Playboy is only matched by my ambivalence toward Cosmo. I don't dump on Christine Hefner like some, nor do I claim that she is some kind of feminist beacon. That said, any kind of defense of the magazine or the PB culture in general cannot be based around the prevalence and influence of lady mags. It can still be junk, either way. In the end, I don't really care, it hasn't really had a huge impact of me as a woman, and in the end I think it's vanilla, boring, whitewashed, and if I want a good interview, I'll probably go elsewhere.
@nacho_supreme: I really dislike Cosmo, but I have to give them credit for doing some male objectification.
I don't think anyone is really focusing on the vitriol on Playboy, but I don't think you can skip over the naked lady photos and go straight to the articles when discussing Playboy. Playboy has played a role in the rise in breast implants and expectations about pubic hair grooming. Pretending it is the Economist ignores the role it has played in male sexual expectations. #hughhefner
@nacho_supreme: Playboy has had some really, really great editorial content, surely more enlightening than some "stiletto stoners" trend piece in Marie Claire or what have you. At this point, the naked ladies are just kind of filler for me. One of my employers has a subscription and I read it when I can manage as I'd subscribe myself but I'm pretty sure I'd come off as a creep. #hughhefner
@clevernamehere: Yes, I completely agree with you. And I'm not trying to put it up on a pedestal. But I guess I do somewhat appreciate it's role in changing the cultural landscape and how sex is discussed and viewed and brought into conversation, as compared to say pre-Kinsey days. Playboy did play a role in transforming the sexually conversative media of America's past, and while I don't think everything that came out of that was necessarily a positive "win" for women, society, etc., I still think it's significant, regardless of my opinions about pornography, objectification of women, etc.
Playboy was just one of many cultural artifacts of the sexual revolution. And fake tits in 2009 doesn't change that. #hughhefner
@nacho_supreme: I think you're giving Playboy too much credit. It isn't about sex, it is about male fantasies. While I have no problem with male fantasies in general, it did nothing for women's fantasies or actual sex. #hughhefner
@clevernamehere: I'm not talking about what Playboy has done for sex or women's fantasies, I'm just saying there is no denying the power and influence it has had on bringing sex to the table in a much wider, cultural context, which is all these profile's of Hef, his all-American childhood, his brainchild, etc. are acknowledging. No one is saying he's feminist of the century.
You knew what Playboy was when you were in 3rd or 4th grade, right? Before you had ever picked up a men's OR woman's magazine, maybe before you even really knew what sex was. At least I did. And that's with the protective veil of Catholic schooling no less. When I talk about cultural significance, I mean the power to put a men's nudie mag on the same pop-cultural wavelength as Superman and The Muppets. That has influenced the world as we know it. I'm not saying it's done anything for MY sex life, or that someone needs to give him some kind of award, but it has influenced the culture. And that garners a couple of commemorative articles. #hughhefner
@nacho_supreme: I'm pretty sure I didn't know what Playboy was in 3rd or 4th grade. It was the late 80s, when these things were still a bit scandalous. I really don't think kids should know about it. Daddy should be keeping his jerk off material to himself. #hughhefner
@nacho_supreme: no one is arguing Playboy hasn't had a cultural impact the argument is that the publication of Playboy didn't play as large a role in the sexual liberation movement of the 60s and 70s as hefner/Playboy propoganda would have you believe. In fact if you read first hand material, young people of that era saw Playboy as a throwback to a more repressed era even then. #hughhefner
Whenever I think of him, I just think he has the same taste in women as a 13 year old virgin. It's not bad, it's not good, it's just tasteless. Like steamed halibut atop a pile of plain mashed potatoes. #hughhefner
Ariel Levy's book: Female Chauvinist Pigs, is one of the most insightful books written on this topic. Quoting Hefner saying,
"...Playgirl of the Month. She is never sophisticated, a girl you can really have. She is young, healthy, simple girl- the girl next door... 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."
Sounds like Hef is really into women's rights and equality, right? #hughhefner
@bonbons: I loved that Levy highlighted some of the early gut churning sexist copy in the early days of Playboy (and by early I mean well into the 70s) because it shows that for all his monetary support of feminist causes, at base the magazine was irredeemably sexist. #hughhefner
Wow Hugh Hefner, you really didn't get your serving of humble pie, did you? Both of these articles seem like desperate cries for idolatry and recognition in the history books. I'm sure that time will tell us that he had a significant impact on 20th century culture, but he doesn't seem to realize that this impact may be more negative than positive. #hughhefner
@otherginger: and excellent articles... honestly... I glance over the pictures then go right into the articles/reviews. They are for more interesting/relevant that most of the other 'lad mags'. #hughhefner
@thePrototype: Word. The ladies are kind of filler for me. Good stuff has been in Playboy, my favorite article being a now famous interview with L. Ron Hubbard's son. #hughhefner
10/27/09
[www.amazon.com] #hughhefner
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Now!?!? Now it smells bad?!?! Are you kidding me? I imagine that place in the 70's was a piquant bouquet of CFC's, acetone, and moustache wax. #hughhefner
10/27/09
10/27/09
I don't mind Playboy, but what creeps me out is the number of people who claim it isn't porn because the images aren't explicit enough. It isn't full of Renaissance painting style nudity, it is meant to be arousing. If someone needs more than that to get their motor running, I think that is a bit of personal problem. #hughhefner
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But I am someone who despises preemptive strikes. #hughhefner
10/27/09
10/27/09
I saw a couple comments about Hef's taste in women being "tasteless" and "boring" and suppose I threw this out there in hopes of keeping the comments on the topic at hand, rather than on the women of the mag. #hughhefner
10/27/09
Thats just go to show you out of touch playboy is now. #hughhefner
10/27/09
The last Playboy I picked up had an article by David Kaczynski about his relationship with his brother, and interviews with Seth MacFarlane and Alec Baldwin--all of which I found thoroughly entertaining and way more engaging than any of the Hottest Bachelor bullshit and self-hate of the ladymags we know so well.
Shel Silverstein was one of Playboy's earliest contributors. Christie Hefner, a female CEO (!) is calling the shots at Playboy Enterprises. Call me a bad feminist, but this isn't exactly an anti-woman legacy I feel like rallying against.
His personal life (taste in barely legal girlfriends specifically) is one thing. But Playboy itself, and how it has transformed the sexual landscape in popular culture? Something else entirely.
Can't we focus our vitriol energies on something that truly sucks?
10/27/09
Basically, it's a non issue for me.
10/27/09
I don't think anyone is really focusing on the vitriol on Playboy, but I don't think you can skip over the naked lady photos and go straight to the articles when discussing Playboy. Playboy has played a role in the rise in breast implants and expectations about pubic hair grooming. Pretending it is the Economist ignores the role it has played in male sexual expectations. #hughhefner
10/27/09
10/27/09
Playboy was just one of many cultural artifacts of the sexual revolution. And fake tits in 2009 doesn't change that. #hughhefner
10/27/09
10/27/09
You knew what Playboy was when you were in 3rd or 4th grade, right? Before you had ever picked up a men's OR woman's magazine, maybe before you even really knew what sex was. At least I did. And that's with the protective veil of Catholic schooling no less. When I talk about cultural significance, I mean the power to put a men's nudie mag on the same pop-cultural wavelength as Superman and The Muppets. That has influenced the world as we know it. I'm not saying it's done anything for MY sex life, or that someone needs to give him some kind of award, but it has influenced the culture. And that garners a couple of commemorative articles. #hughhefner
10/27/09
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10/27/09
"...Playgirl of the Month. She is never sophisticated, a girl you can really have. She is young, healthy, simple girl- the girl next door... 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."
Sounds like Hef is really into women's rights and equality, right? #hughhefner
10/27/09
And boring. He forgot boring. #hughhefner
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Brah? #hughhefner
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