Hugh Hefner and Playboy: How can you like both and still be a Feminist?

If you follow me on any of my social channels such as my Twitter or Instagram, you will likely be aware that on Thursday I was pretty devastated about the passing of Hugh Hefner. But wait, Claire, aren’t you a feminist? Yes, I am.

I haven’t sat and written a proper chatty, opinion piece for ages, and before blogging become the ridiculous, high-quality editorial thing it is now, this is what I came into blogging to do; to write and debate, and provide my opinion on current topics and issues.

I have written a fair amount about my feminist views and how I perceive modern feminism–

Feminist and married

You can’t define feminism as an emoji

Page 3, Playboy and questioning modern objectification

…to list just three.

Hugh Hefner and Playboy

Playboy

“My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom. He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognisable and enduring in history. He will be greatly missed by many, including his wife Crystal, my sister Christie and my brothers David and Marston and all of us at Playboy Enterprises.”Cooper Hefner, Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.

So, back to my earlier question – “How can you be a feminist and love Playboy and be sad about the passing of Hugh Hefner, that dirty old man that lived in silk pyjamas in a mansion surrounded by women young enough to be his daughters?”

Because I am. My interest in Playboy began in my late teenage years, when I started to explore the brand through its more commercial side (cushions, jewellery, clothing…), before I discovered (and became obsessed by) Girls of the Playboy Mansion on E! (YouTube it!) and that changed my world as I knew it to be honest. I have written about its influence and my two very different role models growing up.

Tackling Playboy’s Perception

This fascination for Hugh Hefner and Playboy went to the next level when I was able to actually dive in properly academically and conduct my third-year dissertation around the magazine (to the ‘delight’ of my extremely feminist tutor), my mission was to tackle its perception.

This suitably brings me to my point about haters of Playboy whereby I ask if the critics have actually ever read one of the magazines? Most people call Playboy magazine porn, and think its content is mostly naked women.

My content analysis identified that imagery of fully nude women made up a very small percentage of each magazine; in fact across a 10-year sample examining 4,000 pages, full nude women made up less than 20%. A majority of the magazine is advertising, articles about male lifestyle, and products; very similar to any woman’s magazine today (just without the nude imagery).

But I think the dislike about Playboy is about Hefner, as opposed to the magazine. Am I right?

Playboy magazine’s featured nudity is tasteful titillation, not porn; the naked body is not porn. Porn is actually far, far worse and in my view, demeaning to both the men and women that take part in producing content. If the likes of Hugh Hefner didn’t contribute to society’s changing attitude to sex, western society wouldn’t be what it is today; Playboy was the product of a changing society at the time.

I’ve written before about the argument regarding Playboy, page 3 and questioning modern objectification of women. However, may I draw your attention to Instagram and all the young women and influencers who are photographing themselves in revealing outfits and underwear. Sometimes it is a brand collaboration, sometimes not… so is that scenario worse than the Playboy centrefolds (vagina’s asides)? Honestly?

Hugh Hefner and Playboy

Hugh Hefner – Dirty old man or leader of the sexual revolution?

Addressing more directly the issues around Hugh Hefner, because there is no doubt that as a cultural figure he divided people. I never met the man personally and sure, there are things that went on behind the walls of the mansion that is best we do not ask about.

His lifestyle to many was extremely problematic, while others declared him a hero. His need to surround himself with women young enough to be his daughters brought him a ton of negative press understandably, but Playboy magazine did something incredible about bringing sex for pleasure into conversation.

How can you be a feminist and love Playboy?

A large contributing factor to why I can be feminist and like Hugh Hefner and Playboy is because it rests a lot on women’s choice, and I am very pro women having choices.

Women had the choice to feature in the magazine in the same way they had the choice to associate themselves with Hugh Hefner. I don’t see a difference between Playmates and some of the women that feature in reality shows such as The Only Way is Essex; Love Island; Big Brother etc.

Reality shows has bred a particular kind of woman that sells herself to silly conversation, drama-fueled scenarios, and advertising. Personally nothing and nobody I admire.

But there was a stat years ago that revealed more young girls saw a career in glamour modelling than in something, dare I say, more respectable. It’s outrageous but almost worth applauding at the same time, these young women have seen an opportunity to make a lot of money and get ahead quicker than us mere mortals slogging it out day after day for what? There’s a valid argument on both sides of that.

Hugh Hefner and Playboy

At the end of the day, regardless to what Hugh Hefner has and has not done, and what Playboy does, and does not do, it still fascinates me enough to want to invest time, and indeed money, into pursuing this intrigue.

I will always remain fascinated, I will always read more into Playboy, Hugh Hefner, Page 3 etc. and given the chance, I would still pursue all of this further academically.

Until next time x

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