The first thing that comes to mind when the name Hugh Hefner arises is not usually political and social activism, though the 84-year-old Playboy mogul has been involved with both most his life.
Brigitte Berman’s new documentary, Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel, explores a part of Hefner’s life most people are not familiar with, according to Fox News.
Before Hefner’s publishing forays, he was raised in a strict Methodist household in the Midwest, where he was the Democrat in an otherwise Republican home.
Hefner said Playboy was part of the sexual revolution that benefited women. He said the revolution gave both sexes more freedom in the bedroom and everywhere else. It helped change the situation of women being beholden to men.
Closely related to Hefner’s pursuit of women’s rights, his non-profit organization, Hef’s Playboy Foundation, has worked since 1965 to advocate abortion rights throughout the U.S.
“We fought for birth control rights and the change in birth control laws, the change in abortion laws, we fought cases to give women the right to choose,” Hefner said.
He recounted an instance when a woman wrote him in 1971. She was given a 15-year jail sentence for manslaughter because she had an abortion.
Hefner sent his legal team to Florida, the case was re-opened, the woman sentenced to minimal house arrest instead of jail and the state’s abortion laws were later amended.
The Playboy founder was also a civil rights activist.
He has met former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, though his favorite is Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
He said he would like to tell President Barack Obama to stop the war because it is the same as Vietnam. The U.S. gets involved with the best intentions, but makes enemies along the way.