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Saturday, September 30, 2017

Hugh Hefner, April 9, 1926 - September 27, 2017

Speaking facetiously, I would like to say I know what caused the death of Hugh Hefner, too much honey for one man to absorb, but the fact is that all that honey helped him to live a long, and oh so sweet life that is envied by men all around the world.

He is the one man who had undue influence on my own life, but not all of it was good. On his passing people are falling over one another to comment on the changes he brought to our lives and our attitudes, and without doubt he did a lot of good for the world of charitable causes and in challenging the law that moved us all out of the dark ages.

I bought a copy of the very first issue of Playboy Magazine that was released in 1953 with the image of Marilyn Monroe on the cover. I kept it for decades but I have only just come to release that Hef never met Monroe.  However, he adored her so that he has chosen to be her neighbour forever as he will lay in rest next to her.

I grew into becoming the image of "The Playboy Man" including taking up smoking because the Playboy Man smoked Kool cigarettes. What an idiot I was back then.

I became a devotee of Playboy Magazine, first for the centerfold and other pictures of naked women, but as time passed I became more interested in the features. I actually grew blasĂ© over images of naked women because there is just so many ways in which we can slice cheese cake and still make it interesting.  It is because of this realisation that I wonder at what point did Hef become jaded. It is possible to have entirely too much of a good thing, even a very good thing.

Eventually I grew bored and turned my back. I am also happy to say that this year I celebrate the 52nd year since I gave up smoking.

Was the Playboy revolution a good thing and now that I am older and a whole lot wiser am I inclined to stand up and unequivocally defend Hugh Hefner and Playboy? No, not unequivocally. There was some good that came with the revolution, but in some things I genuinely believe that harm was caused.

The way we see sexual matters is highly subjective, of course. Before Playboy my view of women was, above all one of respect. Even today I see women as being different from men in that women are our  mothers and our children's mothers. Pre-playboy I saw a woman's body as something that was special and that belonged on a pedestal.

I felt that women required their absolute privacy and the idea of raping a woman was so horrid as to have been out of the question. Men have to accept that No means No, then as it does now. I never even uttered a four letter offensive word  in a woman's presence.

Sexual intercourse was something that was done under muted lights, if any lights were used at all. The mystery added to the enjoyment, and to the respect for the lady's modesty.

Playboy turned on all the lights, delighting and disappointing us males at the same time. We have been confused ever since. If the woman in our lives wears a negligée when she wants to share her naked image with us that is so much more interesting than simply showing up naked. Consequently that image will live so much longer and so will our desire for her.

Playboy practically showed us what a girl had for breakfast and that was just too much information. Now the magazine has changed to a format that focusses on its literary content. I believe it no longer features nudes. How's that for a change? Is this because the adult readership have all become jaded and bored?

Hef married three times, which is a surprise when he need not have married at all. However that allowed him to father four offspring and to experience some normality in his otherwise amazing life.
When he died he left a wife who is 60 years younger than he. Somehow that seems fitting although my condolences go out to her.

He was one of a kind and he has left his mark for all time.  He let the Genie out of the bottle and we cannot put the Genie back.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael