There are very few constants on this big blue marble we live on, but the thing I think most of us can agree on is that Hugh Hefner changed pop culture more than any man in history!
Hugh Hefner, the 91 year old founder of Playboy Inc. passed away in his sleep Sept. 27th, 2017 in his home surrounded by his loved ones. And knowing Hef, that could mean hundreds!
For decades, Playboy captured the beauty of women on film like no other magazine ever had. And men and women of all races and backgrounds have found themselves nose deep inside an issue at one point in their lives.
Though Playboy started as a magazine that featured naked women, it quickly separated itself as something more than porn and slowly chipped away at stigma to become one the most popular "mainstream" magazines ever. And through Hef's vision and charisma, it quickly It was a lifestyle!
Celebrities, politicians, everybody wanted to be part of the Playboy dream that Hugh was living!
But what a lot people don't know about Hugh Hefner is that besides, being an admirer of the female form, he helped a lot of writers, artist, photographers, musicians, actors, and more, build their careers!
He's was also influential in speaking up for civil rights when it was wildly unpopular to do so in this country! And not mention heavily responsible for saving the famous "Hollywood sign" from being to torn down when a greedy land developer was trying to get rid of it to build some useless rental property!
THE ELEPHANT IN THE GRADO!
Obviously there are those who would say that Playboy was obscene, or hurt women's causes. But I never felt that way. I never felt that women were being exploited, if anything I felt they were being celebrated.
Having gone to the Playboy mansion on numerous occasions, the vibe there was always that the women who were there wanted to be be there and nowhere else!
And though some would argue that Playboy is porn, just because a woman is naked in a picture, doesn't mean that it's degrading!
Anyway...
Regardless of what side that argument you fall on, there's no denying that Hugh Hefner left a big mark in this world, and we have lost a giant that probably won't ever be replaced!
He made it ok to have "grown up fun!" And the world just seems a little less fun now that we have lost him!
Nice community.
"He made it ok to have "grown up fun!" probably sums up his legacy the best. He was an irreplaceable giant for American culture.
My one question to the people who are critical of him because of his sexual politics out of the belief that the public celebration of sex is immoral and degrading: Are you then just as, if not more, critical of the normalization of violence in our culture? Take Game of Thrones, for example - whenever I hear people complain about the show, it's always about the sex and never the violence, despite the fact that there is way more graphic violence depicted on that show than sexual content, and even much of the sexual content is graphic and somewhat violent. I'm a lifelong student of the martial arts, so I'm obviously not advocating against the depiction of violence in the media. I'm merely highlighting the inconsistencies in the arguments of social conservatives surrounding Hef's legacy.
Great point sir!