College Recruiters for Playboy Photos Spark Protests

SEATTLE —  A dozen women protested outside the Seattle hotel where Playboy magazine representatives began interviewing University of Washington students for a layout of nude college women.

Chris Gaston-Oswell, a member of the National Organization for Women, said feminists protested last week to show the public they think Playboy is a pornographic magazine that violates women’s civil rights.

“We hope to raise consciousness,” she said. “We would like Playboy to stop exploiting women wherever they do it.”

Similar protests have been held at Washington State University in Pullman and at Stanford University as Playboy prepares its October issue featuring undraped women from Pacific 10 schools.

A Playboy photographer and assistant will be photographing clothed women during the next week, and then finalists will be filmed in the nude before the final selections are made for the yearly college issue, Playboy spokeswoman Lisa Cole said.

She said 84 women at Washington State University in Pullman competed for appearances in the issue, which pays $100 and up, depending on the degree of nudity.

The magazine is not concerned about the string of protests because “it’s always good publicity for us,” Coles asserted.

Coles said the magazine is not in the business of exploiting women but is merely “celebrating the female form.”

She defended the right of college women to pose in the nude if they choose.

But Gaston-Oswell accused the magazine of “cashing in on the inexperience” of college women.