Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner died at age 91 this week. CNN's Breaking News Director Amanda Wills has a conversation with Town & Country Senior Digital Editor Lindsay Silberman about their summer working at Playboy nearly 10 years ago.

Amanda: I had only been in New York City for three days when I reported for work at Playboy nearly a decade ago. I was raised in an evangelical family in Tennessee, where the only talk about sex is that it was a sin outside of marriage. The walk, of course, was a whole lot different.

Playboy changed all that for me. My exposure to sex culture forced me outside my comfort zone. It was the first time I really thought about my place as a woman.

Lindsay: I romanticized what it would be like to work at Playboy as a woman. But I struggled with it—at least initially—more than I'd anticipated. I was in my early 20s and insecure. I hadn't quite figured out who I was yet. Talking about sex was something I did with girlfriends. But the thought of having those conversations at work, with colleagues I barely knew? My worst nightmare. Or so I thought.

It turned out to be the most liberating, empowering experience of my young adult life. There's a certain confidence to be gained in that kind of scenario. Being pushed out of your comfort zone. I expected to learn about writing, editing and how to lay out a magazine. I didn't expect to come to terms with my own sexuality. It was an environment where female sexuality was normalized. And celebrated.

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