The death of Hugh Hefner is the death of
eroticism. His iconic Playboy, that hit the news stands in
1953, completely glorified sexuality. We tend to look at things from the prism
of false morality and the Grundyism of our age can never accept the in-your-face
nudity. He ridiculed our collective and indoctrinated ethical values and
elevated a female figure in its full naked splendour. Detractors may say
that he objectified women and relegated them to commodities.
It's an outright mistaken perception.
Hefner showed that a woman could be an object of lust and wonder
simultaneously. A woman's body is nature's most beautiful creation. Hefner
eulogised that creation and tried that we all should also admire this
magnificent creation sans the encumbrances of clothes and impediments of faux
societal ethos.
The difference between raw sexuality and
creative eroticism is often a bit nebulous. Hefner made no attempt to deify a
woman's body because a naked woman needs appreciation of men as well as women,
not their deification. His playmates, right from Marilyn Monroe to Erica
Simpson, demanded the same spontaneously forcecful admiration from
predominantly male gaze.
When Sherlyn Chopra of India shed her
clothes for Playboy's centrespread a couple of years ago, she
admitted that she felt an overwhelming sense of freedom and acceptance from the
readers, nay viewers.
Hefner was not a manipulator or an
exploiter of women. He was their catalyst to catapult to stardom. Many Playboy playmates
went on to become famous models. In other words, he provided a launching pad to
them. To judge a feminine figure, one doesn't just need a pair of eyes, but
also an inner sense of aesthetic evaluation. He assessed a woman with that
innate aestheticism and that's the reason, even bawdier magazines like Penthouseand Hustler couldn't
present their women with such naked aplomb.
This was his greatest legacy and the best
quality that Hefner had. His own undiminished sexuality and indefatigable
virility lent a dash of sexual adventurism to the magazine which's still read
and viewed by innumerable connoisseurs.
Mind you, his magazine was not all about
female sexuality. There're other features as well which are far removed from
sex and so-called 'vulgarity.'
Who can forget Playboy's famous
and most perspicuous interviews which enthralled cerebral readers over the
years? In December 1966, Playboy'syearly issue carried American
non-white novelist James Baldwin's long and perceptive interview which's
considered to be one of the finest creative interviews of all time.
There were also famous Playboy jokes,
which're racy, raunchy and readable every time they appeared in its jokes
section.
Alas, the Indians could never find this
magazines in this country but people like yours truly still managed to get
smuggled copies of it.
We, the lovers of feminine beauty, will
always remember the man with respect and doff our hats to his gumption for being
an unabashed admirer of explosive female form.
Au revoir, Hugh Hefner. We'll sorely miss you.
