RIP Hugh Hefner.

[sablebrush52]

RIP Hef,
And thanks for the mammaries!

 

[elpfeife]

Thought better of it.

 

[aldecaker]

I'm not going to bash the guy. He may have led a hedonistic lifestyle, but he financed it himself. So far as I know, all his money was made honestly, not through any sort of theft. I'm sure many did not agree with his sexual mores, but as far as I know, he did did not drug women in order to take advantage of them, or use any other kind of coercion. He didn't go to them, they came to him.
As far as women feeling pressured to sleep with him while living at the Playboy Mansion? Pfft. It's called the Playboy Mansion, for God's sake, and not known for attracting young ladies of Puritanical values looking for a nunnery. If any woman says they got more than they bargained for "living" there, I say less "idiot" and more "liar". I would have more respect for those who sue a homeowner for shooting them during a burglary.
Porn? Anyone who considers the photo layouts in Playboy to be "porn" have clearly never seen porn. I have seen more racy layouts in my collection of 1930s hardbound National Geographics. A higher level of sensuality and eroticism was achieved by the Louvre long before Playboy was published.

 

[twosheds1]

Hefner was a great businessman but he was responsible for turning porn into an industry. What is the damage caused by turning porn – and therefore the buying and selling of women’s bodies – into a legitimate business?

I'm gonna have to disagree with you. I don't think Playboy was ever porn, but then I'm an artist, and what I find pornographic (which I don't think is necessarily bad anyway) is probably a lot racier than most people. I find violence more obscene than sex will ever be.

 

[tuold]

I'm was never a fan of Hugh Hefner. I saw him as a salesman selling sex in the same way Steve Jobs later sold technology. His raunchier counterpart is Larry Flint. Neither of these guys had a social agenda. They were in it to make a buck and did quite a good job at it. I suppose we can admire them for their success.

 

[warren]

This will go sideways quick if we start discussing moral issues. The Supreme Court of the US can't settle on a definition of "porn." Various religions can't determine right from wrong on many issues. City Counsels, Aldermen, and other assorted legislators try and fail time and again.
All I can say is, "In before the lock!"
One more thing, I'm a firm believer in violence under certain circumstance.

 

[aldecaker]

I have every confidence that we can settle any issue that eludes the Supreme Court or organized religion.

 

[lazar]

Good points all around. I will just add that he gave a platform to some very good writers including Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Beaumont, Jack Kerouac and many others), and published some of the seminal interviews of the 60s, including Martin Luther King. He was also a champion of civil rights, as well as gay rights at a time when that was still very taboo. Whether these things balance out his questionable contribution to the way women are perceived in Western cultures, and to the legitimization of the porn industry, is up to the individual to decide.
Like everyone, he seems like a complex person filled with contradictions. Like John Lennon - wife beater, heroin addict, and writer of some of the most enduring popular music of the 20th century.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

Amazon Video's TV series documentary on Hugh Hefner really changed my perspective of the man. Additionally, the man was a pipe smoker. I see Hefner as a profoundly intelligent man that affected American social and cultural history in ways (positive or negative in view) 99.9% of human beings will not. He was not what most made him out to be. RIP Hef. This pipes for you buddy. ::

 

[warren]

aldecaker: Then we will take on the serious subjects. Is a hot dog a sandwich? A taco? Why is there air? Pants? No pants? And, while we are at it, we need a dead certain definition for aros. To cake or not to cake? That is the question.

 

[Chasing Embers]

he was often pictured with a pipe - was just wondering if anyone knew what he smoked?

I've always heard he liked Mixture 79.

 

[JimInks]

He preferred Sail Regular to Mixture #79. I was told that by his second in command years ago when I tried to get an interview with Hefner.

 

[zack24]

...aaah, my first Playboy...10 years old and we climbed into a tree house that some other kids had built in the middle of an empty field. There was a paint can in the corner- we pried off the top, and nestled inside were two copies of the grungiest, most worn out Playboys I've ever seen. I became a man that day with visions of what my future life would be..we put them back, sealed the top, and snuck out afraid that the older teenagers who left them would catch us and kick our azz.....

 

[mawnansmiff]

"Perspective is what defines whether he was a "good" or a "bad" guy."
Only history will do that Warren.
Very good points you made Mike, it at least made me rethink the chap.
"we put them back, sealed the top, and snuck out afraid that the older teenagers who left them would catch us and kick our azz....."
After they had peeled the pages apart eh Zack? :rofl:
Regards,
Jay.

 

[saltedplug]

Hefner rode the cusp of changing morality between the 50s and 60s. He was obviously a man of intelligence and culture, and his pictorials were as much deshabille as nude. There was always restraint until the more frank Penthouse pushed his limits, first pubic hair and then vulva, but even in this there was comparative restraint.
Men are irresistibly drawn to female beauty, and many prefer it exposed. Hefner broke that taboo at the exactly right historical moment.
It occurs to me that the intelligence and culture of Playboy may have been as much cover for respectability as anything else.

 

[weezell]

I really don't want to speak ill of the dead, and there is much about Hefner which is culturally significant. The idea that he was some sort of wonder-man though - that sticks in my craw.

I liked the guy! And Barbie Benton in the fishing picture, WHAT a pretty woman!!!!!...

 

[nevadablue]

"his questionable contribution to the way women are perceived in Western cultures"
OMG! Of course the rest of the world treats women like gold, respect all around. Sigh... get real.
The man was a man, a real man, in a way that many 'men' today can't even imagine.
I am out of this. There is a reason that this is a pipe smoking forum. LOL. Have fun... 8)
Back to my old no-name pipe and Prince Albert.

 

[lazar]

"his questionable contribution to the way women are perceived in Western cultures"
OMG! Of course the rest of the world treats women like gold, respect all around. Sigh... get real.
The man was a man, a real man, in a way that many 'men' today can't even imagine.
I am out of this. There is a reason that this is a pipe smoking forum. LOL. Have fun... [8)]
Back to my old no-name pipe and Prince Albert.

Ha, no I was not making any comparison to non-Western cultures, @nevadablue - which must be taken on a case-by-case basis. I referred to Western culture because Hef was a part of it, and helped change it. In fact, if Playboy was sold in Saudi Arabia maybe it would have improved their attitudes towards women! But the fact is, Hef built an empire on exploiting the female body and objectifying women.
If you mean Hef was a "real man" because of some philanthropic actions, and because he was brave and morally strong enough to stand up for equal rights for gays and minorities, I'm with you there. I'm not sure manipulating hundreds of women for fun and profit made him a "real man" though.

 

[warren]

Jay: There is personal perspective and historical perspective. In this case I was talking "personal perspective."
I'm not so sure, based on law suits, some of those women were catering to his weak spot and manipulating Hefner.

 

[danielplainview]

Hef was ahead of his time. A social justice warrior in the truest sense and, before it was cool.