The debate over the publication of magazines like Playboy have resurfaced following the death of the magazine's founder Hugh Hefner.
Hefner died yesterday aged 91. Playboy combined softcore pornography with in-depth journalism and sold 7 million copies a month during its peak. Its publication coincided with the sexual revolution. In a 2008 interview with Time magazine, Hefner claimed some credit for that shift in values.
Feminist writer and activist Jaclyn Friedman tells us Hefner didn't bring freedom for women but rather freedom for women to be objectified.
"He saw this opportunity, of the rise of feminist rhetoric and the rise of sexual liberation rhetoric, and he commodified it and sold it to men in a way that women were the product."
