To me, Hef in the early years, was a great marketer. He knew what the people (a not inconsiderable portion of the male population) wanted and sold it to them. He stayed just ahead of the curve, provided a foot up for many great writers and cartoonists, all the while providing the boys a great, if unrealistic, vision of the "perfect" woman. Pretty much the perfect vision to present the history of hedonistic 60's to the world.
A lot of additional sex education was to found under dad's bed or hidden in a drawer. Good or bad, Hefner had big hand in the shaping of the world. Very avant-garde! The magazine, I did read a few of the articles and interviews, was leading edge in many areas from politics, fiction, humor and sexual mores. He, in his prime, was a game changer. When it comes to writing the history of the 1950s and 60s he needs to be mentioned and cited.