As many of us already know, Hugh Hefner died of natural causes on Wednesday. As a result, this weekend was riddled with frat and apartment parties claiming tribute to the “legend.” All throughout Allston, guys walked around wearing bath robes and Hefner’s signature captain’s hat, while girls sported their favorite lingerie and bunny ears. I recognize this display was supposed to be just fun and games, but I made an effort to avoid these functions at all costs.
Why, you ask? Because as far as I’m concerned, Hugh Hefner can burn in hell.
The girls who claim to be progressive, devoted, pussy-empowered feminists by day completely contradicted those assertions by attending these parties, wishing Hefner a luxurious afterlife. After trading in their “A woman’s place is in the House and the Senate” T-shirts for a silk robe and bunny ears, these girls baffled me. Don’t they understand who they are celebrating? Though these degrading parties were temporary, existing for a few hours and then probably vanishing from the memory of drunken teens — the actual Playboy bunnies are trapped within their lives as sex objects, unable to free themselves from the walls of the infamous Playboy Mansion and Hefner’s sky-high beauty expectations. We need to inform ourselves.
Upon Hefner’s death, we seem to have forgotten that he is simply a glorified pimp. He is celebrated for giving opportunities to women, but we somehow forget that he simultaneously trapped them in the adult entertainment industry. While it is true that Hefner frequently donated money to philanthropic causes, provided opportune positions to many struggling women, and only hired bunnies who consensually accepted their position on their own — he stood for a concept that was certainly subversive to his philanthropic duties.
Speaking out against this trap, former girlfriend of Hefner, Holly Madison, described Hefner’s legacy as being full of evidence of the exploitation of women for professional gain. While his “professional gain” as a leader of misogyny skyrocketed, the professional gain of his bunnies rarely actually presented itself. While they were reeled into the Playboy lifestyle with the promise of fame and fortune, Hefner would only take them to prestigious events long enough to get his photo taken, and then he would herd his bunnies away, without allowing them to network or even talk to anyone else.
But wait, there’s more. While he boasted about supporting Children of the Night, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing America’s children from prostitution, Hefner created one of the largest sex businesses in the world. By capitalizing off of the objectification of women, Hefner was responsible for the perpetuation of prostitution’s popularity cycle, making his monetary donations more of a publicity stunt than actual charity.
Other girlfriends of Hefner also opened up about his controlling behavior. Izabella St. James told The Telegraph in 2009 that “Wednesdays and Fridays were sex nights when all the girlfriends were expected to be on bedroom duty,” in addition to the strict 9 p.m. curfew the girls had to abide by, all while being forced to live in an “extraordinarily dingy Playboy mansion, where all the furniture was falling apart, the mattresses were stained and the carpets were covered in dog poo” in order to receive payment. Does that not sound like some form of prostitution to you? These girls were dependent on the income and the lifestyle Playboy Bunnies were afforded. Does that count as consent?
It should also be taken into consideration that Hefner vastly contributed to unrealistic beauty standards modern women are trying so hard to dispose of. He shelled out $70,000 a year on the breast implants for his bunnies alone, and frequently “would encourage competition — and body image issues — between his multiple live-in girlfriends,” according to Holly Madison.
So I beg you to ask yourself: why are we celebrating the life of a misogynistic hustler? In doing so, we are only supporting the damage caused by turning porn into a legitimate business, and thus, we are allowing the buying and selling of women’s bodies to continue.
You got the nail on the head. Good job, so proud of you!
Madison I totally agree with you about the lifestyle that Hugh lived and the things that he would do to the girls. You also need to remember that the girls had a choice and they didn’t have to stay there. They chose to that lifestyle .
Good article !!
Barbara
Thanks for reading up Barbara! This manipulative method of keeping girls in the porn industry is used in many cases where they make the risk of leaving to high due to the lack of support in the interim, unemployment period. When a single source supplies you with the clothes on your back, the roof over your head, and your paycheck, you’re risking a whole lot more by leaving that industry.
You nailed it, Madison!
Excellent post! I don’t understand how Hefner could be “celebrated” in any way. It seemed obvious to me that he was a control freak, and always meddling presence at the Playboy mansion. He preferred women who behaved more like petulant teenagers, than actual women, without very much going on upstairs. He also had a skanky “Svengalian” vibe with them too, encouraging them to dye their hair a particular shade of pale bleached blonde that hasn’t been in style since maybe Marilyn Monroe. Speaking of Marilyn Monroe, it was reported that some years ago, Hefner bought the crypt right next to Marilyn’s which is pretty terrible, considering that he bought a nude picture of her (and almost ruined her career) and used it on the cover of the first issue of Playboy, without her consent. He is now buried next to Marilyn Monroe which I find horribly disturbing and unseemly considering how he used her for his own gain. Hefner was a gross and disgusting man who demeaned women and then tossed them aside.