《花花公子》創(chuàng)始人休·海夫納的訃告發(fā)布了不到24個(gè)小時(shí)，新聞里一直播放著外界對(duì)此事的反應(yīng)，但并不都是贊譽(yù)之詞。

毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，海夫納是傳媒先驅(qū)和文化偶像，他重塑了美國(guó)主流社會(huì)談?wù)撔缘姆绞?。一些批評(píng)人士認(rèn)為他把女性視為純粹的“性物體”，是女權(quán)運(yùn)動(dòng)的敵人。但海夫納確實(shí)支持女權(quán)的某些方面——在他的帶領(lǐng)下，《花花公子》成為倡導(dǎo)女性生育權(quán)的先行者。下面就讓我們看看這兩種觀點(diǎn)：

女權(quán)主義者之友

1986年，休·海夫納在美國(guó)《新聞周刊》的一篇封面文章中自稱為女權(quán)主義者。對(duì)此，有些女性表示認(rèn)同。芝加哥洛約拉大學(xué)教授伊麗莎白·弗拉特里戈在文章《〈花花公子〉和現(xiàn)代美國(guó)美好生活的形成》中寫(xiě)道：“《花花公子》和女性運(yùn)動(dòng)的自由元素立場(chǎng)相同。” 弗拉特里戈指出，表現(xiàn)之一就是這本雜志對(duì)“負(fù)責(zé)任的丈夫/父親照顧經(jīng)濟(jì)上依附于他們的家庭主婦的家庭工資觀念”提出了挑戰(zhàn)。

據(jù)弗拉特里戈介紹，對(duì)于貝蒂·弗里丹1963年出版的女權(quán)主義著作《女性的奧秘》，海夫納認(rèn)同其中的大部分內(nèi)容，而且表示這本書(shū)“跟[他的]感覺(jué)完全一致，那就是社會(huì)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的方式毫無(wú)道理。”海夫納的粉絲還指出，海夫納讓女人的性欲變成了正?，F(xiàn)象，因而有助于女性的解放運(yùn)動(dòng)。

《花花公子》支持墮胎合法化、性行為教育和生育控制。它刊登了主張人工流產(chǎn)合法的文章和人物采訪，還就羅伊訴韋德案，也就是在全美國(guó)實(shí)現(xiàn)墮胎合法化的里程碑式案例，提交了法庭之友意見(jiàn)書(shū)。

最后，在海夫納治下，《花花公子》刊登了大量女作家的文章，包括瑪格麗特·阿特伍德和杰梅恩·格瑞爾。1975年，海夫納把自己的女兒克里斯蒂·海夫納任命為花花公子公司總裁，1988年又任命為首席執(zhí)行官兼董事長(zhǎng)?？死锼沟僭谶@兩個(gè)位置上一直待到2009年，成為美國(guó)上市公司歷史上任職時(shí)間最長(zhǎng)的董事長(zhǎng)和CEO。這可相當(dāng)重要，因?yàn)椤敦?cái)富》500強(qiáng)中女性CEO的比例還不到5%。

女權(quán)主義者之?dāng)?/strong>

In the less than 24 hours since the announcement of Hugh Hefner's death, there's been an outpouring of reactions to the news—but not all of them are glowing tributes.

While the Playboy founder was undoubtedly a media pioneer and cultural icon who reinvented the way mainstream America talks about sex, some critics argue that he viewed women solely as "sex objects" and was an enemy of the feminist movement. Yet Hefner did support some aspects of women's rights: Under his watch, Playboy established itself as an early advocate of women's reproductive rights. Here's a look at both sides of the debate:

The feminist's friend

In a 1986 Newsweek cover story, Hugh Hefner proclaimed himself a feminist—and some women have agreed. "Playboy stood on common ground with the liberal elements of the women's movement," writes Loyola University of Chicago Professor Elizabeth Fraterrigo in Playboy and the Making of the Good Life in Modern America. For one thing, Fraterrigo notes, the publication challenged the "family wage ideology that insisted on responsible husbands/fathers caring for financially dependent homemakers."

According to Fraterrigo, Hefner agreed with much of Betty Friedan's 1963 feminist text, The Feminine Mystique, and said that the book "had a direct parallel to [his] feeling" that the way society operated "didn't make sense. In normalizing women's sexuality, Hefner's fans argue, he helped the women's liberation movement.

Playboy threw its support behind legalizing abortion, sex education, and birth control. The publication published pro-choice articles and interviews and filed an amicus curia (friend of the court) brief in Roe v. Wade, the landmark case legalizing abortion across the U.S.

Finally, under Hefner's watch, Playboy published a host of notable female writers, including Margaret Atwood and Germaine Greer. He also appointed his daughter, Christie Hefner, president of Playboy Enterprises in 1975, then CEO and chairman in 1988. She served in that dual role until 2009, making her the longest-serving female chairman and CEO of a public company in U.S. history. That's a pretty big deal, considering the fact that there are fewer than 5% female CEOs on the Fortune 500.

The feminist's foe

Despite Hefner and Playboy's advocacy on behalf of women's reproductive rights, not all observers see him as an ally. Rather than empowering women, some argue that he "gave them just one more restrictive role to choose from," as University of Exeter Professor Thekla Morgenrot told the BBC. That role, writes feminist writer Jessica Valenti, was as "collectible sexual trophies."

One of Hefner's most famous critics was the feminist icon and journalist Gloria Steinem, who posed as a "bunny" (as waitresses at Playboy clubs were called) for a Show magazine story in 1963. She portrayed the job as demeaning, writing that the outfit bunnies were forced to wear was "so tight the zipper caught my skin" and that "just about" all of the bunnies stuffed their bras to enhance their cleavage. "I think Hefner himself wants to go down in history as a person of sophistication and glamour. But the last person I would want to go down in history as is Hugh Hefner," she wrote then (though she declined to comment on this story).

Former "Playmates" (women who lived with Hefner at his Los Angeles home, the Playboy mansion) have conflicting reports as to his treatment of them. Some, like Pamela Anderson, are publicly mourning his death ("You taught me everything important about freedom and respect"), while others depict life at the mansion as oppressive.

As for Playboy's activism, Fraterrigo notes that critics saw it at the time as "merely serving the best interests of Playboy, promoting more sex for women while reducing male responsibilities for unwanted pregnancy."

But perhaps the best insight into Hefner's conflicted relationship with the women's movement comes from a 2010 interview with Vanity Fair. When told by the interviewer that feminists believe he treats women as objects, he answered with, “They are objects!” and then, in the same breath—seemingly as a defense—rattled off the ways in which Playboy has fought on their behalf.