Christie Hefner

So I was browsing the Huffington Post, just to see who's blogging, and who should i come across? None other than Christie Hefner.

Hm, I thought to myself, I didn't know Hugh Hefner even had a daughter. What does she do? Oh, up until a few months ago she was just the CEO of Playboy Enterprises, Inc.

Say What?

I mean of course it's not really that shocking that Hugh Hefner would have his own flesh and blood take over for him since the last time I saw him he looked about 110. And it's not even that he chose his daughter to run his empire, because women are fully capable of running any company...but who knew that Hef knew that? 

For one, she was the CEO of Playboy since 1988. That's 20 years (she resigned in January of this year) and still as far as I know there hasn't really been much change in the gross objectification that is Playboy. Of course, as a businesswoman, you shouldn't "fix" a product that isn't broken. I get that. But Christie is obviously a bright woman. It just makes me a little sad that when women do have power, and power that could so influentially affect gender perceptions on such a wide basis, they don't really do anything about it. 

More surprising: Christie is actually what I like to call "enlightened." She serves on the board of the National Women's Political Caucus, apparently fighting for equal rights and opportunities and has been influential in founding the women's organizations EMILY's List (pro-choice political candidate fund raising), The Chicago Network (professional women helping each other out), and Committee of 200 (organization of successful women business owners/executives). 

Huh. So she obviously gets it. I guess she's one of those types that gets the political aspects of feminism but not the social? 

On one hand, I feel really proud that strong woman ran a heavily male dominated business so successfully. And even more so that she has used her influence to positively help women politically. But at the same time...look at the basic picture. She ran Playboy. While not exactly hardcore porn, it's still sending out some pretty bad messages. 

How do feminist contradictions like this happen?