Colegio Alemn Humboldt

Carlos Prez Extended Essay

Hugh Hefner changed the role of American women in society Subject: English

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Hugh Hefner changed the role of American women in society

INDEX

Introduction.4-5 Chapter 1.....5-6 Chapter 2.6-8 Conclusion..8-9 Bibliography.....................................10

Introduction

Hugh Hefner published the first issue of playboy in December 1953. The cover of this issue was a picture of the beautiful Marilyn Monroe and the centerfold was a nude picture of the same actress. After that first issue, which sold about 50, 000 copies, Hugh Hefner revealed himself as a revolutionary. In an interview he stated I didnt intend to be a revolutionary. I wanted to make a mainstream mens magazine with sex in it. That turned out to be a very revolutionary idea. 1 Back in the 1950s, womens ideal role was to be homemakers and nothing more, but Hugh Hefner introduced a new type of woman. A beautiful yet provocative type of woman. He took normal, every day women and converted them into sex symbols by showing nude pictures of these women. Also, Hugh Hefner changed the publics view of sex, because Playboy was not like other magazines showing nude pictures of women at the time. These magazines showed dirty and offensive pictures of women but Playboy showed glamorous pictures instead. He wanted to show people that sex was not dirty and immoral; he wanted to convince people that it was something glamorous and amusing. He wanted women to embrace this image of themselves and feel sexy, just like the women in the magazine. He envisioned a world were women were not just homemakers and sex symbols, but also important players in society, which he shows by being a womens rights activist. I believe this issue about Hugh Hefner being a perverted old man that converted women into mere sex objects is wrong and exaggerated and I would like to take a stand against this statement. When you talk to women about Playboy they demonize the magazine and they think Hugh Hefner offended them and I do not believe a single man could have
1

Carl Jameson. www.slideshare.com. Hugh Hefners Impact on society through his magazine Playboy. 16/12/2010 20:48. www.slideshare.net/.../hugh-hefners-impact-on-sociey-through-hismagazine- playboy.

done that kind of damage to womens image. I believe that he actually changed the role of women in society from simple homemakers to important elements in society, economically and culturally.

Chapter 1

Hugh Hefner was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 9, 1926.

He is the elder of two

sons born to Grace Caroline and Glenn Lucius Heffner. Hefner was born in a conservative family, which he described as conservative and Methodist. 2 His familys strong beliefs in Puritan religion strongly restrained his independence sexually and as a man, but it also sparked a fear in the opposite sex. This sexually uncomfortable childhood probably led to Hughs search for a sexual relief, therefore Playboy was published in 1953. Also he is considered a genius. He has an IQ of 152 3 and a normal person has an IQ of 90-100. The worlds most important and most intelligent physicist, Albert Einstein, had an IQ of 1604, only 8 units more than Hefners. Perhaps his genius led him to his revolutionary idea, copied by many unoriginal magazines. He was married to Mildred Williams from 1949 to 1959. This was a very chaotic moment in Hefners life, because his marriage was a lie. He committed adultery several times with the Playboy bunnies during this period. It was a short marriage in which Hefner had two children, Christie and David Hefner. Before he got married again, he became a playboy, a lifestyle he promoted in his magazine. After a minor stroke in 1985 at age 59, Hugh Hefner re-evaluated his lifestyle and the wild nightlife habits were toned down significantly.
2 3

www.wikpedia.prg. 2010. 15 December 2010 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hefner> www.wikpedia.prg. 2010. 15 December 2010 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hefner>

www.yahoo..com. 2006. 21 December 2010. Cual era el coeficiente intellectual de Albert Einstein? <http://mx.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070329011828AAuLz3f>

Three years after he married Kimberly Conrad, a former Playmate and they had two sons, Marston Glenn and Cooper Hefner. For the sake of his children, The Man (some people refer to Hefner as The Man due to everything he has done and accomplish) turned the Playboy Mansion from a party house to a family friendly House. They separated in 1998 and divorced in 2010, because Hefner stated irreconcilable differences.5 Hefner then started to have more than one girlfriend at a time, but he has currently settled down and is only with his number one girlfriend, Crystal Harris, a beautiful 23 year old blond, stating at age 84, one must know his limits.
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Chapter 2

For more than fifty years, Playboy Enterprises has been one of the most successful companies in the US. Also, since its first publication, it has been said that the magazine insults women by showing obscene pictures of naked women. Such a statement is not true, while Playboy has turned many women into sex symbols, not sex objects as some feminist say, Playboy has also fought for women s right to be sexy. A right that women defend nowadays. Besides, it is a woman who runs the empire, not Hefner but his daughter, Christie. Christie Hefner, a self-declared feminist, has been running the Playboy Empire since 1988, while Hefner stays as chief editor. Christie defends the magazine against its public demonization by asking My question is: If you think women should be allowed to be sexy, if that is, like, a good thing, an acceptable thing, and you

"People.com Hugh Hefner Finally Files for Divorce". <http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20303278,00.html>. 17.12.2010 6 TheAge.com, Party's over for Playboy king Hugh Hefner , The Age October 18, 2008. Accessed October 30, 2008 .< http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/people/partys-over-for-playboy-king-hugh-hefner20090403-9qlf.html

don't think Playboy imagery is acceptable, what imagery is?"7 Christie Hefner is right. These days, women like to dress sexy and show what god blessed them with: their body. If it was not for Hefner, women wouldnt be able to dress provocative or at least, society would not accept this. It was Hugh Hefner who started the so called sex liberation from the 60s or the sexual revolution. This revolution affected men, because it was no longer so unacceptable for a man to sleep with a woman before marriage, nevertheless, the degree of affection was not as high as the degree on how this liberation affected women. Since it was accepted that men like to see women when they are dressed sexy, women started to do so. Back in the 1950s, women werent allowed to show their ankle, much less their calves. After the release of Playboy, society was getting softer on their taboos about sex. As a result women were socially allowed to show more parts of their body, thus a woman who says Hefner is only a perverted old man who sees women as mere sex objects should not wear a short skirt and show any part of their beautiful body.

Another statement that Playboy defends is that women also like sex. In the 1950s sex was a taboo and women were supposed not to enjoy it. In an interview Hefner stated the message (from Playboy) was that nice girls like sex, too 8. No disagreement there. It is well known that women also like sex. No need to make a study or research. Women admit it, thus, Hugh Hefner made them a huge favor. He opened the gates for women to be sexually expressive. Women are now allowed to enjoy the coitus. Playboy En-

Womens Rights. Jenna Thompson. Hugh Hefner, Playboy and their fight for womens rights. 18/12/2010 http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/hugh_hefner_playboy_and_their_fight_for_womens_rights
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Womens Rights. Jenna Thompson. Hugh Hefner, Playboy and their fight for womens rights. 18/12/2010 http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/hugh_hefner_playboy_and_their_fight_for_womens_rights

terprises has also fought for womens reproductive right. In midcentury America abortion was not only illegal but also socially unacceptable. Abortion has always been a conflictive issue for people. Hugh Hefner promoted sex and a liberal lifestyle, a lifestyle that did not include children. Therefore he fought for abortion to be legal as long as the future mother did not want to have the child. Sexually active women should be thankful to The Man for this. Now they are not going to have to bear with the beautiful burden of a child. He gave women a choice, he freed them from the oppression of society, or at least he freed them from the oppression of the law.

Women of the 21st century defend their right to work and have salaries equal to men. They say they are as productive and efficient as men and that is completely true. Though Playboy Enterprises has not directly helped women to accomplish their laboral dreams, it has indirectly helped by fighting for sex education, birth control, reproductive choice and equal rights for women.9 Giving women more rights has helped them to achieve more important and better paying jobs making them as important as, in some cases more important than, men; as a result men are no longer the bosses of the house, women can also be the ones in charge.

Conclusion
When I first started this essay I though that Hugh Hefner helped womens role in society to evolve economically and culturally and to become sexual beings, but to a lesser degree. I have to admit the fact that I also thought Hefner had turned women into sex objects, though I never believed it to be as degrading as women thought. After investi9

Gibbons, Sheilla . Playboys Legacy is Leering, not Liberation. www.womensenews.org. Ed. Brittanny Campbell. 21/ 12/2010. < http://www.womensenews.org/story/uncovering-gender/031217/playboyslegacy-leering-not-liberation>

gating the matter and reading feminist and pro-Playboy articles, I found out that it was the opposite. Hugh Hefner did help women to become important players in society, economically speaking, but indirectly. He did not contribute that much to this part of the evolution of womens role in society. Instead he helped women to become sexual beings just as men, because they are as sexual as men, perhaps even more. He did this by utilizing his company to fight for women for more than fifty years, although most women do not know it and are not grateful for it. In an interview he stated about Playboys launch: It permitted them to be natural sexual beings, as men are. 10 He couldnt have said wiser words. He liberated them from the wraps of society, letting them be what they are, just as any human is, sexual beings. He has contributed so much to the sexual liberation of women that thanks to him women can reveal their true nature instead of having to hide beneath a conservative dress.

Womens Rights. Jenna Thompson. Hugh Hefner, Playboy and their fight for womens rights. 18/12/2010 http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/hugh_hefner_playboy_and_their_fight_for_womens_rights

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Bibliography

1. www.people.com 2. www.slideshare.com 3. www.theage.com 4. www.wikipedia.org 5. www.womensrights.change.org 6. www.womensenews.org 7. www.yahoo.com

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