--- title: Watch: Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner on Sex and Politics description: "Sex and the attraction between the sexes does make the world go 'round," Hugh Hefner, who has died at 91, told TIME in 2009. canonical: https://time.com/4960897/hugh-hefner-interview-sex-politics/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-28T16:01:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:38:35.777Z article:section: History og:title: Hugh Hefner on the 'Playboy Philosophy' and How Love Keeps You Young og:description: Hefner went on camera in 2009 to answer questions from TIME readers og:url: https://time.com/4960897/hugh-hefner-interview-sex-politics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa2533ea2bb75df0/698767fb5f570fea4ab137a2/hefner-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 1967-03-03 Cover og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hugh Hefner on the 'Playboy Philosophy' and How Love Keeps You Young twitter:description: Hefner went on camera in 2009 to answer questions from TIME readers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa2533ea2bb75df0/698767fb5f570fea4ab137a2/hefner-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hugh Hefner on the '_Playboy_ Philosophy' and How Love Keeps You Young by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 28, 2017 4:01 PM UTC  The Mar. 3, 1967, cover of TIME The Mar. 3, 1967, cover of TIMETIME by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 28, 2017 4:01 PM UTC Perhaps it’s not surprising that Hugh Hefner, the _Playboy_ mogul who [died on Wednesday at 91](http://time.com/4960470/playboy-founder-hugh-hefner-dies), was relatively public about his own private life. After all, he made a name for himself by championing a mid-century lifestyle revolution that was best known for nude photography and sexual adventure. In interviews with TIME over the decades, Hefner put his own openness to the test, answering questions about everything from his political beliefs to how sex at age 82 compares to sex at age 33 (different and better, he said, because people are more “liberated” these days than they were back then). In 1967, a [cover story explained](http://time.com/4677808/1967-hugh-hefner-playboy/) how _Playboy_‘s glossy vision had, by arriving at just the right moment and with just the right spokesman, helped a particular type of erotica make the leap from shameful secret to a mainstream lifestyle aspirational. In 2014, Hefner [spoke ](http://time.com/3547122/playboy-hugh-hefner-1967/)about why that cover story was a “very important moment” to him, as it signified the success _Playboy_ had had at bringing its ethos to the mainstream. **_MORE:_** [_How_ ](http://time.com/4071282/playboy-centerfold-1967-history/)[Playboy_’s First Naked Centerfold Got Published_](http://time.com/4071282/playboy-centerfold-1967-history/) In 2009, he sat down for a “[10 Questions](http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,7586064001%5F1872206,00.html)” interview (seen above) in which he answered queries from readers and, in the course of doing so, explained his own take on “the _Playboy_ philosophy,” which he said had helped sex in America change “dramatically” since he had first gotten into the business of magazine publishing. Those societal changes — greater acceptance of out-of-wedlock pregnancy, the legalizing of abortion, the increasing commonness of oral sex — were all part of the magazine’s history, but at the heart of _Playboy_, he said, was “a case for life as a celebration.” Still, Hefner’s history wasn’t all [limousines and waterfalls](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-03-24/page/57/). As the reader questions made clear, many people throughout his career were quick to point out that he had made his fortune by trading in women’s bodies. He didn’t deny that there was objectification going on. He just didn’t believe that objectification was bad. Hefner [broke publicly](http://time.com/3963237/playboy-feminists-brownmiller-hefner/) with the feminist movement nearly a half-century ago, but said that what he did was helpful for women, not harmful. But, whether or not one agrees with him on that, Hefner — who, then 82, said that “new love” was his secret to staying young — proved that desire could be a force to be reckoned with. “Sex and the attraction between the sexes,” he said, “does make the world go ’round.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4960897/hugh-hefner-interview-sex-politics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4960897/hugh-hefner-interview-sex-politics/"},"headline":"Hugh Hefner on the 'Playboy Philosophy' and How Love Keeps You Young","datePublished":"2017-09-28T16:01:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:38:35.777Z","description":"Hefner went on camera in 2009 to answer questions from TIME readers","url":"https://time.com/4960897/hugh-hefner-interview-sex-politics/","keywords":["remembrance","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa2533ea2bb75df0/698767fb5f570fea4ab137a2/hefner-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa2533ea2bb75df0/698767fb5f570fea4ab137a2/hefner-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"1967-03-03 Cover","caption":"1967-03-03 Cover","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4960897/hugh-hefner-interview-sex-politics/","name":"Hugh Hefner on the 'Playboy Philosophy' and How Love Keeps You Young"}}]}] ```