Los Angeles Times

Hugh Hefner mainstreamed male sexuality, stood for civil rights, and never stopped exploiting women's bodies

LOS ANGELES - Years ago, I pulled into a long driveway in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, then stopped in front of an imposing wrought-iron gate. I had been directed to announce myself to a large boulder on my left, which I did. The gates swung open.

Suddenly, I was outside the storied Playboy Mansion, a beautiful stone chateau that had become synonymous with orgiastic bacchanals (is that redundant?) tossed by its owner, Hugh Hefner, who died Wednesday at 91. Those parties - decorated by scantily clad young women - were rites

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