The Playboy philosophy at 50

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.

Hefner opened a Pandora's box with "Playboy" to be sure, but the repression of healthy sex--even in marriage--didn't help stop him. No one had to BUY the magazine...no one was getting their arm twisted.

In its early days, Playboy was a rebel--publishing writers and opinions that no one else would--conservative and liberal. His show on TV was one of the ONLY shows on at the time to have whites and blacks guests on even terms. (I don't know what was happening backstage.)

If you think that we became corrupted because of one magazine, and that is where all of the premarital sex and cheating marriages began, pick up a copy of "The Way We Never Were", a wonderful ethnographic account of America's cultural and social history since its founding. The 50's were a commercial...most sitcoms in the 50's were designed to sell large commercial appliances through clever product placement. It is common knowledge in the advertising and marketing world.

The spread of AIDS in Africa? Please. In a country where the culture is spreading the rumor that men can only cure themselves of AIDS by raping a virgin and then they go home and sleep with their wives after seeing a prostitute...sad. Terribly tragic. This is the same culture that practices female clitorectomies...no one is having healthy sex there after marriage there. It is a male-dominated culture where men wield sex as power. Nothing is more heart-wrenching than hearing the cries of a 12 year old girl being "cut for marriage"...to hear her scream, "Why? I'm a good girl! A good girl! Why are you doing this?" while they hold her down. Without anesthesia or antiseptic. Those cries haunt your dreams when you've tried to stop them.

Doesn't sound like that is related to any magazine anywhere.

I've just read that book and yes, there is much more to our nation's breakdown of morality and family, than Heff, but let's leave that alone for the nonce.Instead, let's go directly to the AIDS & Africa stuff.

Have you ever been to South Africa ? Do YOU personally know any South Africans ? Are YOU related to any South Africans ? Do you even know the factual history of that nation ? I doubt that you can truthfully answer " yes " to any of those questions. So, dear, just WHAT are you basing your almost 100% erroneous statements on ?

Clitordectomies are NOT performed on South African girls, many of whom are CAUCAZOIDS , with Dutch, French, German, British, Hungarian,Indian,and Portuguese ancestry. Neither do Afrikaners or the vast majority others, including blacks ( especially the Zulus ) believe that one can get rid of HIV/AIDS by having sexual relations with a virgin. Also, that belief, which predates HIV/AIDS, by centuries, was a superstitious belief held about other venerial diseases,and crosses racial, religious, and regional lines.

In South Africa, this has been a recent development, due, in very large part, to Mbeki and the ANC's pronouncements about the WHITE MAN'S medicine being poison, meant to kill blacks, and has sent some blacks to seek " cures " from witch doctors,instead of first class doctors of ALL races, as they once did.

I could go on, but instead of wasting bandwidth, FREEPmail me and I'll be more than happy to explain what the REALITY of life in South Africa is, instead of your delusional ramblings...of which, about the ONLY thing you managed to get right, was that some blacks, in South Africa, do indeed rape infants and toddlers; sadly.

And, if you believe that NO ONE, in South Africa has " normal" sexual relations, after marriage, I could have several 100 of thousands, there, black and white, send you affidavits to the contrary, several 100, or so, of my extended family and their friends!

Caucaziod is a variation of the word Caucasion. Since Indians are Caucasion, but a sub grouping, I didn't just write " white ". K?

You certainly have a quaint take on it: the word is "caucasoid".

Now, instead of trying so hard to sound " clever ", or make a joke out of it all, try reading what I wrote,again, and learn something!

I'm not trying to sound clever; I'm pointing out your use of a word that doesn't exist.

As for your posts having something in them worth learning, I must say you have a very active imagination.

There are TWO legitimate ways to spell that word; I used one, you the other and, even though you used the same word,call my " take "..." quaint ".Tell that to the Brits and others, who also use this spelling! Oh picker of nits,since this is your " profound " way of adding to a thread,get someone, with better reading comprehension and abilities to help you. You can't say that I used a nonexistent word and then use the same word, spelled slightly differently, and claim it legit! LOL

Now, as far as my not having anything valid or worthwhile to say about South Africa...you're again in error. Unlike the vast majority here, whose knowledge of that nation is slight to nonexistent,mine is extensive. But, since you'd rather get your info about African nations from old Tarzan movies and National Geographics from 1922,be my guest. LOL

There are TWO legitimate ways to spell that word; I used one, you the other and, even though you used the same word,call my " take "..." quaint ".

Wrong, as per your usual.

Tell that to the Brits and others, who also use this spelling!

Ok, they're wrong.

Oh picker of nits,since this is your " profound " way of adding to a thread,get someone, with better reading comprehension and abilities to help you. You can't say that I used a nonexistent word and then use the same word, spelled slightly differently, and claim it legit! LOL

You're more delusional than usual, I see. I've made no claims about being profound.

I've been there, I've done business there, and have lived in Africa.

I would suggest that you get your information from some source other than the voices in your head.

There there, now, sure you have lived in Africa...of course you have and you know everything there is to know about SOUTH AFRICA . LOL

Does your shrink know that you're out of your padded cell ? :-)

Or, dear, is your keeper on holiday ?

You really DO need to talk out your delusions of grandeur,as well as your projection problems. Both should be treatable, if only you'd stop fighting them all so.

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