Adult Boundaries
Eric Renderking Fisk | September 29th, 2017
As I wrote on the morning;
Upon hearing the news about Hugh Hefner's passing, we should take a moment to remember one of the greatest names in publishing. The man who put his own name and reputation on the line and started his own magazine. I still have some of my favorite issues on the shelf! This man wasn't afraid to write editorials each month and tackle important issues. A man who created a revolution in the written word.
Isaac Asimov... even though he died back in 1992, I still feel the loss. Mr. Asimov is STILL an influential voice in my life and when I'm working on a rant I often wonder... WWIAS? [What would Isaac Asimov Say?]
And there are a couple of people out there who shutter at the idea of me writing another tribute piece about Isaac Asimov and his own publication… fear not because everything I had to say about Mr. Asimov I’ve said here. Beyond fixing a few errors, I can’t do any better than that. What I will say, though…
Whenever I bought one of Isaac Asimov’s magazines I always read his editorials or commentaries first, when I bought one of Hugh Hefner’s, I didn’t. I’m not sure if that says something more about them, or more about me, or the nature of content targeted towards demographics… but there it is.
Apparently, Hugh Hefner wrote a lot of editorials for his own magazine and odds are that he wrote more editorials for Playboy than Mr. Asimov wrote in the magazine that shared his name simply because of the amount of years each man wrote them, it’s sheer math. But who do you think folks are going to remember more for their editorials?
In all the obituaries, I’ve read about Mr. Hefner, I have yet to encounter more than a few that mentioned his writing. There are a few, I admit. But not a lot. Again, I’m not sure that’s a criticism of him, his publication or audiences in general.
I thought long and hard about adding an “Adult” section to The Fedora Chronicles and discuss topics about sex, passion, relationships. the whole gamut. Maybe broaden my audience. But then I thought, what kind of people would I be bringing in? Is that the kind of audience I actually want?
Then there are the hustles. And do I really want that? Do I really want to go thought some of the things he went through… starting with divorce?
The question I will have after all the tributes and memorials for Hugh Hefner are done and the media is finished giving him credit for making the topic of sex less taboo, will we be able to have more honest and genuine conversations? Can we actually have a conversation where we can admit that we need to stop treating all women as mere sex objects and we men can actually admit that women can be both attractive and intelligent?
Can women be successful without being accused of granting sexual favors to get ahead?
Can women be strong and powerful without being called “bitches?”
And can we address the issue that women who are “open, free, and liberated” aren’t role models for all women, but without the slut-shaming?
The answer to those questions as of tonight is… I don’t know. I don’t know if we can have these conversations and be honest about sex without everything else devolving and degrading. And there was a time when I thought that The Fedora Chronicles should be a place where folks can go to escape some of that crap. Wasn’t The Fedora Chronicles supposed to be a “safe zone?”
In the months ahead I will be publishing some controversial rants on the topic of relationships. We’ll see what happens.
