Nagle has spent a lot of time studying Hefner. She's one of the directors of a Baltimore-based group called FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture. The group is interested in promoting consent — communicating clearly with your partner about if, when and how to have sex. FORCE argues that the way Playboy talks about consent is problematic — including the magazine's annual list of top party schools.
"The way they describe women on the list [makes them sound] like campus perks," Nagle says. "Sort of alongside things like good bars and a good football stadium."
FORCE wanted to change the message, so last September the group created a fake Playboy website. But instead of listing party schools, the site highlighted colleges working to promote consent. Nagle says it's not hard to imagine Hugh Hefner getting behind that.
"If you're somebody who's all about sexual pleasure," she says, "it makes total sense that you're somebody who's all about consent."
The website looks like it could have been created by Playboy; there's the bunny logo and language with just the right amount of smugness. FORCE also created fake reports on the fake list from several online outfits, including the Huffington Post and BroBible.com.
Playboy hasn't responded publicly to the prank — but BroBible, a site aimed primarily at college-age men, did. Associate Editor Andy Moore agreed with FORCE's message that consent and party-school lists can co-exist.
"They didn't say 'Don't have a good time,' " Moore says. "I think there's a way to rank these schools and talk about this while keeping in mind that any sort of terrible behavior is not allowed."
That's something the organizers are hoping more people will think about — and not just those who read Playboy or BroBible. They've used other brands — notably Victoria's Secret — to get that message across.
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