《花花公子》創始人休·海夫納的訃告發布了不到24個小時，新聞里一直播放著外界對此事的反應，但并不都是贊譽之詞。

毫無疑問，海夫納是傳媒先驅和文化偶像，他重塑了美國主流社會談論性的方式。一些批評人士認為他把女性視為純粹的“性物體”，是女權運動的敵人。但海夫納確實支持女權的某些方面——在他的帶領下，《花花公子》成為倡導女性生育權的先行者。下面就讓我們看看這兩種觀點：

女權主義者之友

1986年，休·海夫納在美國《新聞周刊》的一篇封面文章中自稱為女權主義者。對此，有些女性表示認同。芝加哥洛約拉大學教授伊麗莎白·弗拉特里戈在文章《〈花花公子〉和現代美國美好生活的形成》中寫道：“《花花公子》和女性運動的自由元素立場相同。” 弗拉特里戈指出，表現之一就是這本雜志對“負責任的丈夫/父親照顧經濟上依附于他們的家庭主婦的家庭工資觀念”提出了挑戰。

據弗拉特里戈介紹，對于貝蒂·弗里丹1963年出版的女權主義著作《女性的奧秘》，海夫納認同其中的大部分內容，而且表示這本書“跟[他的]感覺完全一致，那就是社會運轉的方式毫無道理。”海夫納的粉絲還指出，海夫納讓女人的性欲變成了正常現象，因而有助于女性的解放運動。

《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，也就是在全美國實現墮胎合法化的里程碑式案例，提交了法庭之友意見書。

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年又任命為首席執行官兼董事長。克里斯蒂在這兩個位置上一直待到2009年，成為美國上市公司歷史上任職時間最長的董事長和CEO。這可相當重要，因為《財富》500強中女性CEO的比例還不到5%。

女權主義者之敵

雖然海夫納和《花花公子》倡導女性生育權，但并不是所有觀察人士都把他視為自己人。埃克塞特大學教授斯科拉·莫根羅特告訴BBC，部分觀察人士指出，他并未給予女性力量，而是“給了她們又一個可選擇的受限制角色”。女權主義作家杰茜卡·瓦倫蒂寫道，這個角色就像“可收集的性戰利品”。

在海夫納的批評者中，女權主義經典人物、記者格羅麗亞·斯泰納姆是最著名的一位，她曾為1963年《Show》雜志的一篇文章扮作“兔女郎”（花花公子俱樂部女招待）拍照。她說這份工作并不光彩，兔女郎必須穿著的服裝“非常之緊，以至于拉鏈都勒在我身上”，而這“只是為了讓所有兔女郎都凸顯其事業線”。斯泰納姆隨后寫道：“我覺得海夫納想作為一個精明而有魅力的人而青史留名，而我最不希望在歷史上留名的人就是海夫納。”（斯泰納姆拒絕就這篇文章發表評論）。

前花花公子玩伴（跟海夫納住洛杉磯豪宅家中的兔女郎們）對海夫納怎樣對待她們說辭不一。帕米拉·安德森等人對海夫納的離世公開表示哀悼（“你教會了我自由和尊重”），其他人則說在花花公子大廈的生活很壓抑。

說到《花花公子》倡導的行動，弗拉特里戈指出，批評人士認為倡導女性生育權在當時“只是對《花花公子》最為有利——鼓勵女性性行為，同時讓男性為意外懷孕少擔責任。”

《名利場》雜志2010年的采訪也許最能展現海夫納和女權運動的沖突。記者告訴海夫納女權主義者相信他把女性視為物體時，后者回答說：“她們就是物體！”但他立即又急匆匆地提到了《花花公子》為女性而戰的事例，似乎是在進行辯解。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

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.