Lesson #2: Fight for your Beliefs

“I fought the good fight,” says Hefner. “I didn't start the magazine as a crusade but there's always been a little bit of the crusader in me.”

Emerging from a time that was very conservative – when skirt lengths were going down instead of up – Hefner was unknowingly pioneering a sexual revolution in the 1950s. He was a true entrepreneur in that his initial goal was simply to use his love of publishing to fill a void that he saw in the men’s magazine market. He was interested in pushing some boundaries but did not anticipate the kind struggle he would be embarking upon for the next 50 years.

Hefner’s interest in exploring the nature of sexual repression began even before his Playboy years. While taking postgraduate courses at Northwestern University, Hefner wrote a research paper comparing the just-released Kinsey report about sexual behaviour with the relevant US laws. “When I did the paper, any form of sexual behaviour that was not for procreation was considered immoral or illegal,” recalls Hefner. “I said that the laws were inappropriate and should be changed.” He got an A for the research but was marked down to a B+ for his conclusions. This would be a telling sign of things to come.

“I never intended to be a revolutionary. My intention was to create a mainstream men’s magazine that included sex in it,” says Hefner. “That turned out to be a very revolutionary idea.” At the time Playboy was first released, most of the other men’s magazines dealt solely with outdoor adventure. “They were all about hunting and fishing and things I didn’t care a great deal about,” says Hefner. Insistent on publishing the nude pictures of Monroe in his first issue, Hefner decided to take on the US Post Office and its anti-obscenity regulations, which until then nobody had been willing to do.

In 1962, feminist Gloria Steinem worked undercover as a Playboy bunny to expose the poor working conditions of her fellow ‘bunnies’. She was just one of many who were routinely criticizing Hefner’s pursuits for exploiting and objectifying women. But, Hefner dismissed their claims, believing that women were in fact the major beneficiaries of his sexual revolution. “It permitted them to be natural sexual beings, as men are,” he says. “That’s where feminism should have been all along.” To further support his beliefs, Hefner donated portions of his fortune to funding court cases in the 1950s and 60s that challenged states that still outlawed birth control. These cases would eventually lead to Roe v. Wade. “I was a feminist before there was such a thing as feminism.”

Hefner contends that throughout his career he has fought for sexual freedom. “One of the great ironies in our society is that we celebrate freedom and then limit the parts of life where we should be most free,” he suggests. He has pushed the limits not only of the US Postal Service but also of society more broadly, and by staying strong in his beliefs, he was able to create a multi-million dollar empire and become one of the most envied men in America.

Lesson #2: Fight for your Beliefs

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