[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ince Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s recent death, a variety of voices have been calling him everything from a cultural icon and innovator to, according to New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, “wicked,” a “chauvinist” and “a pornographer.”

“Hef the vanquisher of puritanism, Hef the political progressive, Hef the great businessman and all the rest,” writes Douthat. “There are even conservative appreciations, arguing th...