I am fascinated by Hugh Hefner. The 87 year old magazine entrepreneur is still worth upwards of $43 million dollars from an empire built on showing pictures of naked women. I’m being glib. The Playboy Empire is about status and even moreso about the controlling the concept of what is and, perhaps more importantly, who has access to desirable beauty. I’m of the concept that young, sexy women generally are not attracted to geriatric dudes, but there it is on display, and as a man I’m expected to smile and say, “that’s whats up.” But that’s not whats up. These women who sell themselves into a glorified form of sexual slavery are as much victims as perpetrators of a false perception. Age is glorified in men whereas it is shunned in women. Hef reminds us that with a few bucks we can have a house full of gorgeous girlfriends ready to drop trough at a moments notice. Moreover, he reminds us that bras unstrap at the sound of money.
In other words, Hefner’s legacy is the belief that men need to be pimps to be powerful.
I don’t want to think that the only way to gain mainstream status is to be accepted as a man who has a large following of females who, despite my advanced age and physical deterioration, are still ‘in to me’. I want to believe it is okay to age gracefully and that as I mature, so will my tastes. Most of all, I don’t want to feel like women are for sale to the highest bidder. Maybe this is still a significant part of our gender relations schema, but we don’t need it anymore. Its time for a change.