An Analysis of Hugh Hefner and How
His Choice of "Playmates" Impacts the
Beauty Culture
Hugh Hefner is an icon for any heterosexual male in the United States. He is rich, powerful, and constantly surrounded by groups of beautiful women. However, he has actually hired these women to be classified as his "playmates" or "playboy bunnies." All of the women that he chooses can be considered to be the image of absolute perfect beauty, as compared to society's beauty expectations. Having a majority of blondes in his clan, it is obvious which type of "beauty" look is considered to be more appealing. Hugh Hefner had developed the Playboy magazine by including endless amounts of sexualized women coating each and every page. The only women that are portrayed in these magazines are those who fit the stereotypical beauty ideal, however. Since Hefner was able to become so profitable off of his publication, more and more women continue to flock to him and wish to be put into his works so that they can develop a name for themselves. However this ultimately puts all of the women in a negative light since they are obviously only involved for the fame and money, which seems somewhat pathetic.
In order to better themselves, ironically enough, these women "work" for Hugh Hefner in hopes to raise their economic as well as celebrity status. He had opened up Playboy clubs as well, inviting men to come and experience what they see in the magazines in real life. These women are wholeheartedly playing into the fact that they are being completely objectified by men. Lisa Jervis claims that "the folks makin' this stuff do men and their range of desires a disservice; their implication is that anything outside the "big hair, fake tits, tiny waist, no pores, limited body hair" aesthetic is deviant, weird, not normal- and not something that a red-blooded American man would be interested in, " (Jervis 172). I agree with Jervis when she states that this type of production certainly makes men out to be the equivalent of pigs, however I disagree with the fact that American men are not interested in it because otherwise, Hefner would never be as successful as he is. With putting this certain type of women on display, women have no choice but to compare themselves to them and demean their own personal qualities, since they have witnessed men become in awe over them. Naomi Wolf provides an insight on why women become so self conscious when seeing other women naked by stating, "in the United States and Great Britain, which have no tradition of public nakedness, women rarely- and almost never outside a competitive context- see what other women look like naked; we see only identical humanoid products based loosely on women's bodies," (Wolf 136). Since women in society are only seeing other women's bodies that are considered to be "more attractive" than their own, according to society's beauty standards, they instantly feel as though they are completely unattractive since they do not portray the same "look."
It is quite interesting however that in media, the image of a naked woman is always seen far more than the image of a naked man. Wolf continues upon this theory by including, "the practice of displaying breasts, for example, in contexts in which the display of penises would be unthinkable, is portrayed as trivial because breasts are not "as naked" as penises or vaginas; and the idea of half exposing men in a similar way is moot because men don't have body parts comparable to breasts... unequal nakedness almost always expresses power relations," (Wolf 139). In comparison to Hugh Hefner and his "Playboy Bunnies," Hugh Hefner is obviously in continuous hold of the power since he is always surrounded by half-naked females while he stays bundled up in his red velvet robe.
The Playboy Bunnies display an unhealthy and unethical way for a female to lead her life. After becoming employed by Hugh Hefner, they are basically his "toys" to do with however he wishes and display however he wishes. The fact that one man can have this much power over not even just one woman, but a whole group of women because of money and fame is sickening. This not only demonstrates an unhealthy example for women, but it also shows young boys and men that it is okay to objectify women and that the man is able to control them. Nancy Chodorow explains how this type of exploitation can effect young men and their development by stating, "a boy's male identification often becomes a "positional" identification, with aspects of his father's clearly or not-so-clearly defined male role, rather than a more generalized "personal" identification... that could grow out of a real relationship with his father... For the boy, the tie between affective relations and masculine gender identification and role learning (between libidinal and ego development) is relatively attenuated. He identifies with a fantasied masculine role, because the reality constraint that contact with his father would provide is missing," (Gilbert 372-373). Since boys are basically taught to develop their own role model and are expected to simply acquire the qualities and traits of a man as he grows, without any direct direction, they choose male role models that are considered to be powerful and successful. However, it is very unfortunate that some boys look up to Hugh Hefner and idolize him because he promotes a negative moral way of living and objectifying women, which today's society certainly doesn't need any more of.
In my next post I will be analyzing the television show, 8 Simple Rules and how the treatment of each of the daughters on the show is completely different simply due to their differences in physical appearance; here's to digging deeper on the next post!
Sincerely,
Samantha
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