Hugh Hefner - A true (urban) hedonist hero!

One of my favorite Hef pics - with his longtime girlfriend Barbi Benton in the 70s, note the Playboy Jet in the Background.

Hugh Hefner is profiled in the New York Times this weekend.


Hef as he is called is one of my personal heroes - for a variety of reasons; a true hedonist, he has lived his life to the ripe age of 83 by his own measures - with beautiful women, a great business (that admittedly is in decline) and achieving his own place in business and pop history.

While a lot of people focus on the sex/debauchery, they seem to forget one simple fact - one that I think everyone should be aware of - if you are not successful - you do not control your life. Hef created a business driven by his creative hedonistic vision, and in turn that vision and hard work allowed him to create a sexual garden of eden.

As a fellow hedonist, I am in awe of both his success and his courage in the light of what was - in the 1950s - a stifling sexual and cultural and lest we forget - racial environment.

The best part - is that hef seems to be in a more evolved place sexually when it comes to dealing with women than most men alive - including, if we are being honest, this writer.

He did not see the engagement between the sexes as a zero-sum game but rather as a case of creating an enabling environment. As a man who wants to enjoy sex with a variety of beautiful women, I think there is a lot to learn from hef.

And as a hedonist; who enjoys the world, good food, good drink, great sex and the breadth and width of human possibility - I truly believe one could do a lot worse than emulating Hugh Hefner as a role model.



Pictures courtesy of the New York Times.