Hugh Hefner a liberator? The myth, laid bare

Society is still sexually conflicted; Playboy founder got rich off that

The legacy of Hugh Hefner can be seen, in part, in the convulsions the Ottawa Public Library recently endured as it debated what to do if customers watched porn on its computers. Toss them out? So 1950s! Respect their freedom of expression (while asking for discretion)? That we contemplate this second question in 2017 is surely one bequest of the Playboy emperor.

Hefner, the smoking-jacketed, Bunny-enveloped publisher whose parties gushed with glamorous people, is being credited with making sexuality “mainstream,” liberating our thinking through the art of rendering girlie pictures respectable.

Starting with naked photos of Marilyn Monroe, he struck a blow for free expression, surely, during an era when the Americas were unbearably prissy. The freeing up of platinum blondes from the constraints they might otherwise feel, the shame they might otherwise suffer over flaunting their flesh — Hefner was there to help.

And he freed men too, to fantasize about what female bodies should look like, about how women should cater to male sexual fantasies, about how the ideal man was a stylish rogue who slept with and discarded partners, and who was a social hero for doing so — Hefner was there to help them too. Or as Sophie Gilbert wrote this week in The Atlantic, “What Playboy offered to readers went beyond smut; it signaled membership in a tribe of gentlemen hedonists across the globe.”

I will confess to not giving Hefner a great deal of thought until his death this week at 91, when a barrage of obituaries and complimentary tweets flooded social media. Kim Kardashian allowed as how it was great to be part of Playboy, and Pamela Anderson shared with us all her grief at his death. Then a radio host asked me: Was he a hero or an objectifier of women?

Between the creatively choreographed, even tasteful, images of naked, nearnaked and artistically posed women, Hefner crammed high-calibre journalism and often pertinent, lyrical writing on issues of the day. Playboy featured names such as Arthur C. Clarke, Norman Mailer and Margaret Atwood. That, presumably, struck a blow for press respectability.

Hollywood, as always with anything that challenges conventional mores, was titillated and more than willing to lend credibility to this commercial blend, surrounding Hefner with beautiful people unaware or unconcerned about whatever example they might be setting to young women just beginning to explore their independence in an age when the birth control pill had started to offer them choices about their futures.

Hefner’s admirers write about his staunch support for social betterment. He spoke out for abortion rights, gay rights, civil rights, First Amendment rights.

He championed black performers at his clubs during segregation. And just to cap off this exemplary record of liberalism, he offered sacks of money to the Democratic party and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. What’s a little exploitation when stacked up against all that do-gooderism? And besides, women weren’t being coerced into wearing bunny tails or posing deshabillée.

His was a marketing formula that has been successfully adopted worldwide, from tobacco companies to Hamas. Your core business is, shall we say, questionable (at least, to some). But your philanthropic activities — from sponsoring sports or arts events, to defending rights, to building schools or hospitals — wins the crowd, or at least makes it difficult to condemn you. You’ve done so much good!

Hefner was constantly criticized for objectifying women, of course, but a man surrounded by sex kittens could tough that one out, and he seemed pleased that he had spurred debate about sexuality, if indeed that is what he did.

Because, after all, nothing much about the sexuality “debate” is settled. The question of whether women should go bare-breasted at a swimming pool divides us. Whether it’s OK to view porn on a public library computer stymies us. How sex-ed should be approached confounds us. No, we haven’t come a long way, baby. But Hefner had the smarts to make us believe that we have. Christina Spencer is the Citizen’s editorial pages editor.

His was a marketing formula that has been successfully adopted worldwide, from tobacco companies to Hamas.