--- 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: 2026-10-08T09:54:11.624Z 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=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 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=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hugh Hefner on the '_Playboy_ Philosophy' and How Love Keeps You Young > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=a5481ef3-5cd2-433b-95b1-6e67241663a0&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=a5481ef3-5cd2-433b-95b1-6e67241663a0&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 10 Questions for Hugh Hefner [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Hugh Hefner](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DwxfFl9n.m3u8) (6:46)  _Published 2017-09-28. 10 Questions for Hugh Hefner_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 28, 2017 4:01 PM UTC 10 Questions for Hugh Hefner 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.” ## Transcript Hi, I'm Allison Stateman and this is Ten Questions for Time. I'm here with Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine. Thank you for joining us. My pleasure. Jeff Wolman in Silver Springs, Maryland asks how much has sex changed since you started Playboy. Sex in America has changed men's behavior. Has changed dramatically when I first published Playboy Magazine, and certainly when I grew up, and when I was in college. Having a baby out of wedlock was a scandal. A scandal that drove some people to suicide. Abortion was illegal. Oral sex was A major felony. Even oral sex inside of marriage was illegal, and very few people know that. Playboy played a major part in changing all those laws. Tom Hale in New York City asked, has the Playboy lifestyle fallen out of favor due to current recession and the changing cultural values? I see no evidence [ LAUGH ] that Playboy's lifestyle has changed, has fallen out of favor. People may not be spending as much money, but I don't think the spending money has much to do with Playboy lifestyle, I think the playboy lifestyle where it has its own attitude to towards life. I was raised in a very puritan home, a prohibitionist home, a very repressive home, a home in which that ws not allowed a lot of hugging and kissing. The Playboy philosophy is makes a case for life as a celebration. With a suggestion that there is more to life than simply a vail of tears. That life should be lived with a little style and you can do that if you are wealthy or if you are working on wanting to be lesser means. I think it more, it has to do with attitude on life. Your industry is often accused of being damaging to women yet you assert that you are an active feminist, could you clarify this position? I think we have to start with an ocean of by industry. We're talking about the magazine, the magazine never, ever has been anything even remotely related to pornography If you think that and if you label pin up pictures, pictures of nude ladies or semi nude as pornography, then there is nothing that is erotic. And then it's just a matter of labelling. Are you an active feminist? I'm not an active feminist, I'm an activist humanist. I've separated away from the American feminist movement when they became anti sexual. I believe that embracing sexuality is a part of what it means to be free. Women have been historically the ones who've paid the greatest price for every irrational attitude historically related to sex. It's women who have been held in a place of bondage. As second- class citizens. And all that is changing, and I'm very much in favor of that. How can you justify the objectification of women for monetary gain? I don't even know what it means because that's a question that is so loaded with the language. That you have to separate it into its real meaning. What is wrong with celebrating women as sex objects? Isn't that a part of what we're doing? Isn't that a part of what life is all about? If women were not sex objects, there wouldn't be another second generation. Women are sex objects. That doesn't mean they're not human beings. To be a sex object and to be desired gives a woman tremendous amount of power. It makes the world go round. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Sex and the attraction between the sexes does make the world go round. This question is from Lisa Pearl in Toronto. Do you ever feel like a dirty old man? Not for a moment. I'm on the side of the angels and always have been. I consider myself, on a serious note, a very moral man. And always have. And morality has always been very, very important to me. Elaine Stuart in Chicago wants to know, really now, how often do you have sex these days? Well, more often than in the recent past because I have a bunch of new girlfriends. I would say on average three to four times a week. The busiest time is the weekend. Everybody is here . >> Andrew Webster Sydney Australia was curious to know, Is sex as good at the age of 82, as it is at age 33? I wish I remembered more clearly exactly what sex was like when I was 33, I would say that sex is better now, but of course I know few tricks than I knew back then. And everybody's a good deal more liberated today than they were back then. So it's a different kind of sex. And it's no secret that I have more than one girlfriend, and that makes things a lot more interesting. Do you every grow tired of the playboy lifestyle and regret not settling down? I've tried it both ways. I've been married twice, and [ LAUGH ] the only time I wasn't having a lot of sex was when I was married. And I've also expressed on more than one occasion that it is Easier to deal with several girlfriends than one wife. I think there is no single answer to happiness and I think that this version different folks with different folks is really cruel. This is right now as happy at time as I ever had enjoyed If I look back over the years, the happiest times for me were the times in the early stages of romantic love. It keeps you young. [ LAUGH ] Young love, new love, keeps you young. 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