Words By Elana Berkowitz
Photos By Mark Mahaney
Dressed in a beige skirt suit (no bunny tail), Christie Hefner, chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, daughter of Hugh, and the country's 80th most powerful woman according to Forbes magazine, declares herself to be both a feminist and an activist.
She is preparing to announce the 2007 winners of the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards but remains mum on dropping any specific names. Previous winners have included famed First-Amendment lawyers; the comedian Bill Maher; a high school student who successfully defended her right to form a gay/straight alliance at her Texas school; and the AP reporter who sued for the release of thousands of pages of Guantánamo Bay tribunal transcripts that revealed evidence of prisoner abuse.
Never afraid of being outspoken, Hefner, 54, explains that her politics developed while coming of age during Vietnam and Watergate. Though she ascended to the Playboy presidency at age 29, she was originally "very suspicious of all business. It was business that was prosecuting the war and dirtying the environment. Business was the establishment."
But Hefner now leverages her multimillion dollar business--built on naked ladies and bunny-emblazoned products--to take high-visibility positions on controversial issues, a tradition begun by her father decades ago. The company filed an amicus brief in Roe v. Wade, was the only corporate sponsor of Masters and Johnson's groundbreaking sexuality research, and has come out strongly in favor of gay marriage. Both the company and the Playboy Foundation provide large-scale support for civil liberties, sexual health, reproductive freedom, gay rights, and women's rights.
The magazine's content often intertwines with both the foundation (which has disbursed $20 million since 1965) and Christie Hefner's personal philanthropy. For instance, in 1983, Playboy became one of the first national magazines to write about AIDS--at a time when the syndrome was still being referred to as "gay-related immunodeficiency disease." Hefner has also helped raise $30 million to build the CORE Center in Chicago, the first outpatient facility in the Midwest for people living with AIDS.
Of course, though Hefner is a shrewd businesswoman and a co-founder of EMILY's List, the massive grassroots political network dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women, she is also a pornographer who recently acquired ClubJenna, one of the largest producers of XXX multimedia content, making her an articulate tangle of seeming contradiction.
Hefner dismisses what she describes as the "puritanical, antisexual, antimale" wing of feminism, but she nonetheless identifies herself as a feminist, declaring, "To say you're not a feminist is virtually the same thing as saying you're a racist." Still, it's hard to deny that the women in Playboy's pages have become increasingly airbrushed and silicone-enhanced over the years, as the magazine competes on a newsstand now crowded with lads' magazines. Is Playboy doing the average woman any favors? Hefner argues that Playboy women represent what she already sees at the gym, but given the power of the brand, it's hard to conceive of Playboy merely as a reflection of culture and not a cultural instigator in its own right.
Though Playboy may have slipped from its halcyon days of cultural relevancy, when contributors included Alex Haley and Truman Capote, it still has a U.S. circulation of 3 million. The magazine's stories, like a recent investigative piece on untreated post-traumatic stress disorder in Iraq veterans, can have a much broader impact than niche political publications.
A Chicago-dwelling supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Hefner has a palpable passion for politics and, perhaps, slightly less passion for partying in the grotto at the Playboy Mansion. Jokingly contrasting herself with her famous father--who oversees the editorial content of Playboy while she manages the business side--she notes, "I don't want to live in a bathrobe."
Read more and watch original video at GOODMagazine.com.
They just Photoshop a different face on the SAME BODY every month.
Ms. Hefner is not a feminist and she's not fighting for the first amendment. She's fighting for the right to make money. Don't confuse the two. If there were no money in porn, neither she or her father would be in the business.
At $5 or so or maybe $30 for a one year subscription, I imaginge that any Dad who couldn't afford Playboy already has trouble feeding his kids.
EBennett: I wonder how many rapists used it as a tool before assaulting a woman. I'm betting quite a few.
Quite a few? By the time they get around to rape, rapist have graduated to some pretty damn sick stuff.
EBennett: Ms. Hefner is not a feminist
Not *your* type of feminist, you mean.
EBennett: If there were no money in porn, neither she or her father would be in the business.
Thank G-d there is money in porn; less offensive stuff that needs saying gets a free pass when the self righteous have porn to bash.
Hugh Hefner blazed a trail by mass marketing erotica in the 50's-60's-70's. Playboy fought the censorship battles, and gained respectability through its association with free expression and human rights. To gain acceptance, Playboy never ventured beyond the limits of softcore.
Beginning in the 70's, the hardcore adult entertainment industry came into prominence--its success made possible by the groundbreaking efforts of Playboy.
Now hardcore has reached a high level of acceptance, while Playboy's soul is still softcore.
People who once would've purchased Playboy for the erotic content now have more potent options readily available. People who once valued Playboy's intellectual content can also find greater satisfaction elsewhere.
As I said, "No Man's Land."
As for her plolitical persuasion, why would anyone on in their right mind support a political party that has gone out of its way to put you out of business for the last fifty plus years? Democrats don't come up with Meese Commission reports!
True... sexuality is seen differently in Europe. Nudity is seen as nudity, rather than being attached to sexuality....hence the ability for women to go topless at beaches without having perverts with "pudgies" coming over to them to 'talk' and gawk. A woman in Europe is considered beautiful when she is natural, feminie, intelligent and outspoken. Champagne glass (not flute) sized breasts are revered, rather than the D-cup saggy jugs and lypo-suctioned asses the idiots of Playboy and similar smut push as "women."
It sickens me to see how these smut magazines DISTORT womens' image. Stupid bleach-blonde bimbos, with botox injected faces, painted faces and as much substance as... GW Bush.... are not in any way helping women in America to accept themselves...let alone to be seen as equals. They are bimbos! They only destroy their self esteem... and teach young girls to strive for something that rarely comes naturally... eventually becoming victims of "the kinfe" or botox injections. Not to mention the distorted image MEN have of women. NO! Those are NOT real and yes, it IS airbrushed!.. is what I remind my guy friend all the time.
Playboy is only perpetuating the insecurities women collect throughout life when they see these bimbos and compare themselves to them... as well as men's view of women....just as PORN distorts the reality of sex.
BOYS... many of you out there are lousy lovers because you learned about sex from PORN and think women are some sort of a sexual prop in an otherwise disconnected boring act that a woman often has to "put up" with rather than enjoy.
Ms. Hephner is anything BUT a feminist... she does help degrade women though... degrades their bodies, character and mind..... into the likes of a barbie... that even Ken would get sick of eventually.
And NO, no one buys your smut "for the articles."
Wilbur
Seriously...are we STILL fighting these puritan battles people? There is nothing pornographic about a gorgeous woman as Playboy presents them.
Some of you people are wound so tight is it any wonder you can find beauty in the female form at all. I don't know if it's guilt, jealosy or what not but for the love of humanity, get over your judgemental hysteria over a magazine.
You have no idea what real women look like... do you?
I picked one up recently and the publication is undergoing a severe identity crisis. It's profile once catered to sophisticated men - - interested in politics, arts and good looking women. Now it can't decide whether it wants to be Maxim magazine. Esquire magazine picked up Playboy's slack a long time ago and never looked back - - and they don't even feature naked women.
As for Ms. Hefner, she is an absolute star with the patience of a saint. Every corporate entity has to deal with the financial drain of someone at the highest level of the organization. Imagaine if that were your own father - - an absolute American icon.
it was the right to print,to sell and
to buy was what it was all about
and thank you Mr.Hefner. However
you still are under attack along with
your family for defending my rights.
If you ever were a subscriber you
would know its content was not just
the beautiful (naked) women.
Some of the best story's, information
and commentary, stick that in your
pipe New York Times.
PS: got to see first addition my
best friends dad got it from day
one, we boys always looked forward
to every new glorious month.
it was the right to print,to sell and
to buy was what it was all about
and thank you Mr.Hefner. However
you still are under attack along with
your family for defending my rights.
If you ever were a subscriber you
would know its content was not just
the beautiful (naked) women.
Some of the best story's, information
and commentary, stick that in your
pipe New York Times.
PS: got to see first addition my
best friends dad got it from day
one, we boys always looked forward
to every new glorious month.
Just to save you the trouble of actually reading the article.