Just weeks after the Easter bunny made holiday visits to deliver treats, a different sort of bunny is visiting campus to ask women to disrobe for a chance to be in Playboy [email protected]
Playboy is holding interviews for women interested in posing for the magazine’s “Women of the PAC-10” October issue. Playboy started conducting interviews and preliminary photography at the Best Western New Oregon Motel on Monday and will continue through Wednesday.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the magazine will call back the women it selects and have a formal shooting session at locations around Eugene.
Playboy spokeswoman Theresa Hennessey said the magazine scheduled interviews with University students after they called a special telephone number advertised in newspapers and online.
“We’ve been having great luck,” Hennessey said. “Between 50 and 100 applicants at each school.”
She said the women are asked to bring a two-piece swimsuit to the initial interview. They are then asked to fill out a questionnaire about their school status, activities and interests. Afterward, they are photographed by Playboy veteran photographer George Georgiou.
Hennessey said there is no specific physical features the magazine is after.
“There’s not one specific look,” Hennessey said. She said they want women who are fresh-faced and collegiate-looking. She said they look for all shapes and body types.
Senior Britney O’Connell said Monday that her roommate talked her into attending the interview. She said she’s from the Las Vegas area and has been exposed to the showgirl scene there.
“It’s something I’ve thought about before,” O’Connell said. “I just didn’t think I’d actually have the opportunity.”
She said she isn’t too worried about her family possibly seeing her posing in the magazine and added her grandfather and grandmother read the magazine regularly.
Drew, a senior who preferred to be referred to by her first name only, said she was not nervous about the interview.
“Me and my roommate thought we would do it together,” she said. “Kind of a bonding thing … I know there are feminists who would say it’s totally wrong and would feel it’s degrading women on the U of O. But it’s our own personal choice and at the same time, who wouldn’t want to be in Playboy?”
Assault Prevention Shuttle co-Director Diana Erskine said she wouldn’t want to pose for the magazine. She said the magazine has helped contribute to the tolerance of mainstream media violence against women.
“I think unfortunately Playboy being here is a reflection of the idea that young, college-age women are the only sexually desirable women,” Erskine said.
She added that any time women view themselves as objects, it sends out the wrong message.
“When they’re willing to be photographed as things you can buy, this is one of the biggest things that contribute to assault and rape,” she said.
Hennessey said the students may have the opportunity to model for Playboy in the future and that may be a springboard for bigger things. Cynthia Kaye, make-up, hair and wardrobe artist and former Playboy Playmate, said even if they don’t pursue a career, it gives students a day they will never forget.
“They want to be here; they want to be beautiful,” Kaye said. “They want that movie-star-for-a-day kind of feeling.”
Reactions from University students were mixed when asked about the Playboy shoot.
“I think it’s their choice. It doesn’t affect me,” senior Katy Shameklis said.
She added that it may have appealed to her more as a freshman but now that she is older, she said she wouldn’t pose.
“For one, it could affect your
future and work against you,” Shameklis said.
Senior Natalie Reygers said
she heard about the interviews on
the radio.
“It bothers me that they advertise the way they do,” she said. “They make it seem cool.”
“It puts too much emphasis on your body image,” she added. “There’s more to women than big boobs and their body.”
Sophomore Cameron Patterson said he didn’t mind.
“It’s cool,” Patterson said. He acknowledged it would be “weird” to see members of his family posing
in Playboy.
“I think it’s very perverse,” junior Mari Mizobe said. “It surprises me that students in higher education go and model for these things,” she added.
The last time Playboy put out a Pac-10 edition was November 1999. After the distribution, three University women received phone threats and sexually explicit calls. Police traced the phone calls to a Middletown, N.Y., man’s residence and arrested him. The man was on probation for threatening to rape and kill two women.
Hennessey said students have the option of using a different name.
“If women are not comfortable, they can use a stage name,” she said.
Drew said she isn’t afraid of having someone unwanted pursuing her. She said this is simply a chance to have some fun.
“Even if it doesn’t go far with this, you can look back and go ‘ha ha, in college I tried out for Playboy,’” she said. “Everyone has their fun, crazy stories in college.”

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