Subscribe
Previous Post
Last night while woman-beater Chris Brown was performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony, Hugh Hefner’s son, Marston Hefner, was arrested for assaulting his live-in girlfriend, Playboy Playmate Claire Sinclair, at their home in Pasadena. Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Hef received a humanitarian award.
So … right. Brown was just a kid who made a mistake. It’s not at all like we create an environment where violence against women is, at best, overlooked.
Sinclair told police Marston, 21, kicked and punched her. As my co-writer Hanna said: Hugh Hefner’s son wasn’t raised to respect women? COLOR ME SHOCKED. Which, right. Hefner’s son who lived next door to the Playboy Mansion as a teenager has some issues with respecting and not punching women. That’s not terribly “surprising.
But as everyone chirps about Chris Brown’s comeback and downplays the seriousness of his punching his ex-girlfriend in the face (do check out some of the ‘Chris Brown can beat me anytime’ tweets), let’s remember there’s no ‘allegedly’ here—Brown plead guilty to felony assault against Rihanna.
But almost exactly three years from that assault, people are talking about second chances and Brown is one of two performers to take the stage twice at the Grammy Awards ceremony—a ceremony produced by people who think they were “the victim of what happened” between Brown and Rihanna. A ceremony where the death of Whitney Houston—no stranger to domestic violence—loomed. On the same night Hugh Hefner’s son was arrested for beating his girlfriend.
I like redemption narratives and rough sex as much as the next gal, but real violence against women has nothing to do with either one. Real violence against women is what happens in a society that doesn’t send a clear message that domestic abuse is not okay. And I think last night verifies that ours doesn’t.
Photo: New York Daily News
I very much agree with Naiomi. Just because he runs a men’s magazine does not mean he disrespects women. I think the fact that the pictures in Playboy still remaining tasteful even though they are losing a lot of money because if it proves that Hef respects women.
“As my co-writer Hanna said: Hugh Hefner’s son wasn’t raised to respect women? COLOR ME SHOCKED. Which, right. Hefner’s son who lived next door to the Playboy Mansion as a teenager has some issues with respecting and not punching women. That’s not terribly “surprising. ”
Um, what? Have Hugh or any of his associates ever been charged with physically abusing women? One might find Playboy or even pornography distasteful, but they do NOT automatically equal disrespect to women, or approval of violence toward them.
What an awful, snide, and unfounded bit of overreactionary snark that quote is.
Hugh may have built an empire on photos of naked women, but I have never heard of any of those women being forced, coerced, held at gunpoint, or otherwise abused or disrespected into doing so by the Playboy organization. If I’m wrong, by all means, show me evidence to the contrary.
I’m growing so tired of the “SEXUALIZATION OF WOMEN = ABUSE ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS!!” nonsense. (And I say this as a survivor of both domestic violence and rape.)
I have also known a number of women in the adult industry who have also worked with Playboy over the years, and I have never heard one word from any of them about being treated with anything less than respect and professionalism given the circumstances.
The pathology of domestic abuse is so complex and varied that to even attempt to cast intelligent guesses as to WHY he did this is ridiculous unless one is a mental health professional who has evaluated them. Domestic violence happens across all backgrounds, ethnic groups, and economic levels.