Seeking full transparency, Hugh Hefner opened the doors of the Playboy Mansion to those sociologists, as History reports. He also let the Playboy Bunnies living in the house speak freely with the visitors, who asked them questions about how they were treated working for Playboy and what their feelings really were about posing for explicit photographs in the magazine. Ira L. Weiss was one of the sociologists given a behind-the-scenes look at Playboy. According to his account posted at History, most of the women had career aspirations beyond just the magazine. Most felt working with Playboy or in a Playboy Club would boost opportunities as actresses and other kinds of performers later on.
Hugh Hefner himself appeared during the visit, and through conversation, proved himself to be well aware of contemporary sociological thinking on subjects relating to sex. Overall, Hefner's plan to invite actual sociologists over paid off, at least in the eyes of Weiss, who wrote, "If you had read Playboy's philosophy writings, you would have seen that they supported sexual change in America. Their philosophy favored increasing the range of sexual behavior that Americans accepted as moral. They wanted homosexuality and a wider range of heterosexuality to be accepted ... [T]here was no question in my mind that the sexual behavior and attitudes of Americans was at that moment changing dramatically, and I believed that sexual pluralism would be gradually popularized in our society by these changes" (via History).
The five-part documentary series "Secrets of Playboy" begins streaming January 24 on A&E.
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