The Playboy philosophy at 50

TownHall.com ^ | December 17, 2003 | Cal Thomas

[T Lady]

For the past weeks, the media have been gaga over the 50th anniversary of Playboy magazine and the "Playboy philosophy," whose guru, Hugh Hefner, began to mainstream pornography and de-couple sex from a committed marital relationship.

What interested me most about this latest excuse to run pictures of almost naked women on television and of the 77-year-old Hugh Hefner in his silk pajamas, surrounded by surgically enhanced women young enough to be his great-granddaughters, was the usual media complicity in promoting a one-sided and incomplete picture of the "free love" generation (which, as it turned out, was neither free nor love).

Where were the stories on venereal diseases, broken marriages and shattered lives of the women who were "bunnies" and "playmates" in Hefner's fantasy world? One might think that those "hard-hitting" journalists so dedicated to presenting both sides of any story would have interviewed people whose lives have been transformed-not for the better-by the sexual revolution.

Writing on FreeRepublic.com, Patrick Fagan says we now live in a "culture of inverted sexuality." This is Hugh Hefner's legacy.

Remember modesty? Gone with the cultural winds. Writing in the Washington Post last week, Tina Brown said that Paris Hilton's pornographic antics and fame show we live in an age "beyond embarrassment."

The progeny of the Playboy philosophy- which said men did not have to limit their sex drive to their wives but could plunder whatever woman would allow them- is brokeness, depression, addiction and, in some cases, suicide. What Hefner thought would liberate has, in fact, enslaved. What he promoted as fun turned out to be its opposite for larger numbers of people.

The throwing off of all restraints has produced a culture without rules, without signposts and without meaning. Is Hefner ever asked by the numerous toady interviewers about what responsibility he bears for any of this? Not that I've seen or read. I guess lust means never having to say you're sorry.

Would Hefner acknowledge that AIDS, which is currently devastating Southern Africa with a vengeance worse than Europe's medieval Black Death, is any of his doing? There is a cause and effect relationship between promiscuous sex and venereal disease, divorce, 40 million abortions in this country, depression and suicide among teenagers who thought they had a right to grow up in a two-parent home. The Hefner message to constantly pursue "greener grass" mocks the message I grew up with. Then, if your marital "lawn" turned brown, you fed it nutrients. Now, if it starts to die, you move to a new "yard."

In many ways our politics mirrors the Playboy philosophy. Once, a divorced man could not be elected president. Recently, a president had sex with an itern in the Oval Office and millions thought it was a private matter and no one else's business.

Madonna writes children's books and her heir-apparent to the crown of slut queen- Britney Spears- engages her in a lip lock on national television. David Letterman proudly announces the birth of his out-of-wedlock child and the audience erupts in wild applause. Marriage announcement to come, or not. It doesn't matter. Gwyneth Paltrow and her "boyfriend" announce she is pregnant. They got married last week. Maybey they'll get divorced next week or next year. It's all the same to devotees of the Playboy philosophy.

Hefner and his philosophy have demeaned women, turning them into the sexual toys the feminist movement decries. Because Hefner is pro-abortion (he would have to be, given the consequences of what he promotes) and because of his financial donations to numerous liberal causes, he gets a free pass from feminists.

Many think Hefner is cool as he hands over his "little black books" to be auctioned and lounges in bed in a New York Times picture and article that ignore the cultural havoc he has unleashed on America.

Hefner has said he freed Americans from their uptight attitudes about sex. Given what replaced it, restraint, fidelity, character and chivalry never looked so good.

Copyright 2003 Tribune Media Services

[RLK]

a playboy thread and no pics? sigh..........

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This thread isn't about pictures. It's about serious thought for a change.

[RLK]

There were rumors that he boinked one of his daughter's friends he met at her 16th birthday party...

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Barbara Klein, later renamed Barbie Benton, was 18 when Hefner picked her up. She was concerned and told Hefner she'd never dated anyone older than 24 before. Hefner's reply was. "That's all right. Neither have I."

[Cosmo]

I had not heard about Elissa Bridges Overdosing. She was one of my favorites.

[Melas]

It's too easy to pick on Hefner. Hefner was a natural consequence of seriously repressed society. He was ushered in on the backlash of the society that was so whacked that some thought it was vulgar and dirty to day "pregnant" on television.

It's easy to blame the sexual revolution on the problems we have now. Pity that too few are willing to blame the sexual revolution on the foolishness that started the rebellion in the first place.

[RLK]

Hefner was a natural consequence of seriously repressed society.

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No he wasn't.

[hunter112]

He was ushered in on the backlash of the society that was so whacked that some thought it was vulgar and dirty to day "pregnant" on television.

I always thought it was weird that Lucy and Desi, and Dick van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore would sleep in twin beds, my folks, the libertines, slept in the same bed. You're right about the sexual revolution getting all the blame, but Playboy just happened to coincide with another thing that changed the sexual culture, and that was effective birth control. The Pill, introduced in 1960, did more to separate sex from procreation than anything else that happened since human beings discovered that they were connected. The baby boom culture coming of age during that time did a lot to promote the magazine, too.

[WOSG]

"This thread isn't about pictures. It's about serious thought for a change."

Dang.

serious thought and playboy bunnies is like oil and water.

[WOSG]

"Hefner was a natural consequence of seriously repressed society."

That is totally whacked... Hefner was a publisher in a society that was *NOT* repressed enough to stop him from pushing the envelope on it ...

" He was ushered in on the backlash of the society that was so whacked that some thought it was vulgar and dirty to day "pregnant" on television."

until the point where we dont know what vulgar and dirty is anymore (too many cases of bad taste in entertainment to cite)... Methinks you make Cal Thomas' point. Our standards have indeed fallen.

"It's easy to blame the sexual revolution on the problems we have now."

Usually the truth has a way of being hard to refute.

" Pity that too few are willing to blame the sexual revolution on the foolishness that started the rebellion in the first place."

Ah, yes, Liberal logic at work. Dont blame those who believe in divorce abortion and sexual promiscuity - no! - blame those who are against those things for forcing folks against the wall to be for it! This is the same logic that blames the Americans for terrorist attacks on us, blames society and victims for criminal behavior, etc.

It's nonsense. Blame the puritans for uptight society. Blame the sexual revolution on the sexual revolutionaries ... have no fear, Hef would claim full credit for his part!

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

Yeah, we need more teachers like you (not)

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

WAS the culture then so "repressed", or did the media present a fake and narrow image of 1950s society? Speak to people who actually LIVED through it (as I have to my parents). Also, I think the country was better off in those days when the media was "repressive" than it is now with the media the way it is.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

Who cares about the "bunnies"? Think of the lives of all women and girls, whose lives have been, if not ruined, then made much more complicated, painful, difficult because of the Playboy mentality (and in turn, GUYS, whose expectations were unrealistic, and who were set up for disappointment and relationship failures because of that old goat, Hef). I am so glad you aren't naive anymore ... wish more men could say that.

[cherry]

gee....if our society is so un-repressed now, one would think that there would be no rape...

maybe you should go read the baby rape thread.....

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - HEDONISM

[jedwardtremlett]

There was the gal who was the focus of the movie "Star 80," too, but her death wound up being the result of her koo-koo hubby the asskisser. Maybe having been a bunny accelerated it, maybe it didn't.

Maybe I should see that movie again...

J

[jedwardtremlett]

Oh, wait... that WAS stratten, wasn't it?

Duh.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

NEVER FORGET

Congresswoman LORETTA SANCHEZ (D) =

Playboy Mansion Promoter


'Playboy site for Hispanic reception (Mine: Coffee, Tea or Me?)

http://www.Freerepublic.com/forum/a3921ce6c7673.htm


NOTE:

National reaction to this very Freerepublic.com Thread was credited by a Front Page Los Angeles Times Story for forcing the DNC into canceling Congresswoman LORETTA SANCHEZ (D)'s Playboy Mansion Reception for arrivng Delegates to the Los Angeles 2000 Democrat Convention.
Some of this Thread's now deleted Photos depicted SANCHEZ in a Bunny Outfit = Incredibly effective.

Congresswoman LORETTA SANCHEZ (D) went on to make that Convention's entering Boy Scout Color Guard break down in tears on National TV ...as she lead the California Delegation's angry Pro-Homosexual demonstration against them on the Convention Floor. C-SPAN has stated that the Deepest Pockets in the Democrat Party is the Homosexual Lobby.

Congresswoman LORETTA SANCHEZ (D) has a Donor Bank of 4,800 Individual Donors that she can call on in a moment's notice to donate $1,000 Checks each to her for any reason. This is per LORETTA SANCHEZ herself.

The Enemy is now Within...
and always has been.


NEVER FORG

[DooDahhhh]

sounds good to me : )

[Lady Eileen]

bttt

[RLK]

WAS the culture then so "repressed", or did the media present a fake and narrow image of 1950s society? Speak to people who actually LIVED through it (as I have to my parents).

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I lived though the '50s and the ''40s. They were nothing similar to the way they are falsely depicted.

[1Old Pro]

You can't blame the decline in American morality on Playboy. It's things like court decisions and condoning gay marriage that lead us down that road.