Hugh Hefner Has Died - Age 91

[+ WilliamM]

He funded the search for the bodies of the civil rights volunteers in Philadelphia, Mississippi "depicted" in that whitewashed white savior movie Mississippi Burning, which made it seem like the FBI cared when it didn't: a far more egregious error than the portrayal of LBJ in Selma about which Steven and others waxed so wrothe.

 

Why is that far more egregious than the portrayal of Lyndon Johnson in Selma? Both film got it wrong.

 

Johnson had remarkable achievements in civil rights legislation as majority leader in the Senate.

 

I supported LBJ for president in 1960 because of that civil rights record, despite living in Massachusetts.

 

(Full disclosure: I was born in Austin, TX because my dad was briefly stationed there before Europe in World War 2).

[+ WilliamM]

For me he is one of those people from the past who lived larger-than-life existences and had a big presence in popular culture in my early childhood. Imagine if Frank Sinatra, Andy Warhol, Jackie Onassis, John Wayne, etc., were still around. Hefner was the coolest of the cool... edgy enough to be controversial but still appear on The Tonight Show.

 

I do not remember anyone thinking those people were cool even when Jack Paar hosted "The Tonight Show" before Carson. The one exception might be Sinatra. Since I remember Jack Paar, we may disagree because of the difference in our ages. I am 74.

[+ quoththeraven]

Why is that far more egregious than the portrayal of Lyndon Johnson in Selma? Both film got it wrong.

 

Johnson had remarkable achievements in civil rights legislation as majority leader in the Senate.

 

I supported LBJ for president in 1960 because of that civil rights record, despite living in Massachusetts.

 

(Full disclosure: I was born in Austin, TX because my dad was briefly stationed there before Europe in World War 2).

Because the real history is well-known and was discussed in many reviews and articles about the movie, whereas most people only know the barest facts about the civil rights worker's deaths and nothing about the FBI investigation. To retcon an FBI with white agents who cared about the civil rights workers' deaths is a gross misrepresentation that is likely to become the truth to most people who see the movie, making a movie that purports to support civil rights activism into another white savior narrative that centers the experience of white people at the expense of the people whose interests the movement sought to advance. For white people and mainstream institutions like the FBI to get the credit is twisted and insulting to those who died.

 

An article I read by the son of the man who sent the slain workers to check out a bombed-out church suggests that the FBI already knew where their bodies were buried and only disclosed that information because of Hefner's reward and funding that enabled comedian Dick Gregory to successfully pester and shame the FBI into making the information public.

 

https://stillcrew.com/how-dick-gregory-forced-the-fbi-to-find-the-bodies-of-goodman-chaney-and-schwerner-fa9790c49ad4

 

LBJ's reputation can stand up to that. After all, there's an entire presidential library and many books out there that lay out the real story. The rebuttal is all around us. In one case, the distortions are about Black history, about which we as a collective entity know little and care less; in the other, the actions of one of the most powerful men in US history. It's okay to be offended because you consider it disrespectful to Johnson, but the consequences aren't equivalent. One reinforces white supremacy. The other doesn't.

 

Also Hollywood adaptations of stories, whether a book adaptation or an interpretation of real life, always differ from the original source anyway, so this is also a misunderstanding of the function of narrative.

[+ Italiano]

As far as I know, this was the only time when a dick appeared on the cover of a Playboy magazine:

 

[bigvalboy]

I respectfully and strongly disagree. His porn sucks and he's got a reputation for being unlikable at best. He's done nothing for the gay community except malign folks for going bareback until he realized he could make money off of it. Hugh Hefner's last breathe had more soul in it than Micheal Lucas could ever hope to have.

 

RIP, Hugh.

 

Well said...

[+ quoththeraven]

Hefner as artist and visionary.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/09/28/how-hugh-hefner-became-hef-from-sexually-repressed-childhood-to-playboy/

 

I'm waiting for the obituary of a female media mogul who dies surrounded by an adoring and respectfully treated group of young men.

[+ quoththeraven]

There's a lot I deplore about Hefner and the attitude toward women his magazine encouraged and enabled, but I applaud the willingness to talk about sex openly. He certainly made a mark on society, and in the long run the good probably balances out the bad.

 

Fun fact: my mother once bought a Playboy calendar as a gift for my father. She was ahead of her time!

 

This commentary expands on my point above.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hugh-hefner-was-a-feminist-if-you-believe-feminism-is-pretty-women-having-sex-with-you/2017/09/28/215885fe-a465-11e7-ade1-76d061d56efa_story.html?utm_term=.096862f03077

 

And a discussion of Hefner's function as a peddler of air-brushed fantasy that became obsolete three decades later:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/09/29/hugh-hefners-safe-sex/?utm_term=.64b0d5c3628d

[+ quoththeraven]

An even harsher take on Hefner's influence:

 

https://static.currentaffairs.org/2017/09/good-riddance-to-an-abusive-creep

[+ FreshFluff]

Hef apparently let a guy blow him once. Some of the live-in gfs claimed that he watched gay porn in bed, but others denied it.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2008/06/24/new-biography-reveals-playboy-founder-hugh-hefners-gay-experience/

[+ FreshFluff]

I'm waiting for the obituary of a female media mogul who dies surrounded by an adoring and respectfully treated group of young men.

 

The reason you don't see harems of young men is that very few women crave polyandry or sexual variety. Madonna famously dates young men, as do a few other female celebs.

 

More typical is Maria Carey. She's worth half a billion, but she still prefers men who are wealthier than she is.

[+ WilliamM]

Critics have argued Hefner was a misogynist who’s life work degraded women, but he funded numerous legal battles for reproductive rights and birth control, declaring in 2002, “I was a feminist before there was such a thing as feminism.”

 

In more recent years, the man who wasn’t a big proponent of going down the aisle shared his support for marriage equality.

 

I tried reading Hugh's magazine when in grad school (1966). It was okay, but never believed it spoke it me, as a gay man. And the Bunny Clubs and the aura around the Playboy mansion just seemed silly. ... as if he was trying much too hard.

[+ quoththeraven]

The reason you don't see harems of young men is that very few women crave polyandry or sexual variety. Madonna famously dates young men, as do a few other female celebs.

 

More typical is Maria Carey. She's worth half a billion, but she still prefers men who are wealthier than she is.

The audience for mmf/mfm menage romance and for the books of Alisha Rai, one of which features a billionaire heroine who arranges sex parties, say you are wrong. In fact, the sentence you quote is a modification of a tweet Rai quote tweeted.

 

 

There are women, most of them married, in the swingers community, and in polyamory, queer and straight. While polyandry is not as common as polygamy, some of that is due to society disfavoring it, which also leads to what exists being hidden.

 

I mean the following kindly: you don't know about such things because you're not looking for them. It would be a good idea to Google alt sexuality sites to see what people are in fact doing in the real world before making similar points in the future.

[+ FreshFluff]

The audience for mmf/mfm menage romance and for the books of Alisha Rai, one of which features a billionaire heroine who arranges sex parties, say you are wrong. In fact, the sentence you quote is a modification of a tweet Rai quote tweeted.

 

 

There are women, most of them married, in the swingers community, and in polyamory, queer and straight. While polyandry is not as common as polygamy, some of that is due to society disfavoring it, which also leads to what exists being hidden.

 

I mean the following kindly: you don't know about such things because you're not looking for them. It would be a good idea to Google alt sexuality sites to see what people are in fact doing in the real world before making similar points in the future.

 

I'm aware that there are communities of women who are interesting in all sorts of things, including polyamory. The question is not whether they exist, but whether they are more than a vanishingly small proportion of the female population as a whole. Most of the research on the hookup culture suggests they are not.

 

As for Rai's books, it's unclear whether the plot you mentioned really represents readers' fantasies. Perhaps it just makes for a more interesting read than a bodice ripper. BTW, since I haven't read the book, does the billionairess eventually fall in love with one of these men and dump the rest, as Hef himself did a couple of times?

[LADoug1]

Went to the Bunny Club with my swim team in high school. Won a plaque with a bunny tail on it. Threw it away as soon as I got home. Guess that was a sign I was gay even though I was still in denial.

[+ FreshFluff]

Went to the Bunny Club with my swim team in high school. Won a plaque with a bunny tail on it. Threw it away as soon as I got home. Guess that was a sign I was gay even though I was still in denial.

 

How did you win it?

[Becket]

Good discussion of important themes here pointing to the overall question: What is the meaning of sex in our lives? Most would agree what he offered was an illusion though. It made him a rich and well known personality, and no doubt he had an interesting life. Wonder what would be written on his tombstone.

[TruthBTold]

The reason you don't see harems of young men is that very few women crave polyandry or sexual variety. Madonna famously dates young men, as do a few other female celebs.

 

More typical is Maria Carey. She's worth half a billion, but she still prefers men who are wealthier than she is.

 

And, I believe at least in this case, less attractive.

[+ FreshFluff]

And, I believe at least in this case, less attractive.

 

Sure, that's the point. There are many hot young adoring men available to a half-billionairess like Mariah Carey, but she chose the less attractive billionaire even though she doesn't need his money.

[LADoug1]

How did you win it?

A raffle.

[Nvr2Thick]

[+ quoththeraven]

Umm....

[marylander1940]

Jared Leto to star as Hugh Hefner in biopic

Considering how loved Hefner was, this could bring Leto another Oscar.

 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jared-leto-star-hugh-hefner-biopic-140757176.html

[marylander1940]

 

Hefner seduced with money, power and fame, Cosby just drugged them while going after his own ethnicity and blaming them for all their problems. What a hypocrite!