Playboy Prison?
 

Former bunnies are speaking up, and it's not pretty.

I've cobbled together snippets of the article below, but you can read the full article here:
Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion more like a squalid prison say former Playmates | Mail Online

Is it slander, or reality?
Is this an example of exploitation?
What differences do you see between a living situation such as this and human trafficking for the sex trade?
Do you see similarities to other groups, such as communes or polygamous cults?

I was admittedly shocked at this article. When I got to the part with un-housebroken dogs soiling the carpets, I was outright repulsed. Then of course there's the part about Hefner handing out prescription pills. That's when I found myself downright bothered. Is this whole situation considered ok because they're consenting adults? When would it be bad enough to require someone to step in - should that ever happen?

This article caught my attention because a friend spent a year or so trying to work her way into the Playboy harem. She seemed obsessed with the goal to an unhealthy level, but none of us said anything to her about our concern. We just figured she was one of those strange women who had a thing for geriatric men. She went golfing with old men during the day and attended parties with her bunny-looking friends in the evenings, trying to get the attention she craved. She was overjoyed one night because she was in the same room with Hefner. Eventually she realized it wasn't going anywhere. I never understood what motivated her into that lifestyle. Had I realized her goal could have placed her in such an unpleasant place, I would have spoken up.

If you take the money, I guess you ought to do the work.

I have no doubt that from a moral point of view life with Hugh Hefner is squalid, demeaning, and somewhat pathetic.

But presumably these women are paid good money to be prostitues or cortisans or whatever you want to call it to this old man.

As long as they arent coerced to join or stay there, I dont have a problem with it. At the same time I wouldnt want any friend or relation of mine to be such a person.

Is it slander or reality?

Who's to say? Doesn't seem to matter much anymore.

Is it exploitation?

Of course it is. Consensual exploitation.

How is it different from prostitution?

It's not remarkably different at all, I guess. Unless you consider the fact that there is just one 'john' remarkably different. But then, I support the legalization of prostitution so that doesn't bother me so much. In fact, none of it really reads on my 'moral compass' but I find many facets of it distasteful nonetheless. Not the least of which that Hugh Hefner, who started the golden age of beautiful, all-natural nude photography prefers women who are surgically altered. yuk. that's just fucked up.

Similarities to polygamy?
Not really. It seems more a 'lifestyle' than a 'way of life.' If that makes any sense.

For me, it's nothing more than icky. I don't have any moral objection.

I admit I find it amusing that these women are surprised that they are little more than props in Hef's feeble (non-Freudian) attempt at remaining 35. It reads like, "Wait a minute, I'm pretty! I'm a princess! Shouldn't the carpet in the bedroom match the drapes, even if mine don't?"

I lost interest in Playboy back in the 80s when the boobs turned hard. I also miss the journalism. Now, it reads like Maxim. Everything good about Playboy has faded.

Very curious; the prefix 'omg' appears in several spots in the quoted article, but does not appear on the original page. It's almost like we are finally seeing the fnords.

If there is exploitation going on, the question is who is exploiting whom here?

This kind of blurs the line between being an "exploited prostitute" and being a "gold digger" exploiting a pathetic old man who just happens to have an appetite for sex and a lot of money to spend.
Viagra, quaaludes, and bolt on tits. They go so well together.

Lindy

What... I don't omgsee anything...

First time I hear about fnords, quick googling does not enlighten me yet, but I'm hopeful. :thumbsup: Fnord has a scandinavian ring to it.

Somehow this article doesn't surprise me at all.

Exploitation? More like they might feel sorry for the guy. :rolleyes:

I don't see anything wrong with the situation. The girls aren't forced to stay there. They are there to either further their careers or get plastic surgery. They have to pay for it somehow, and they chose sex party with Hef. If they were worried about the dog crap, then they could've just cleaned it up. Not hard to clean up dog crap.

I do think that they should check for STDs before entering the house....and the drug thing.

It might help to Google the phrase "I see the fnords". On the other hand, it might not. :paranoid:

OmgPlayboy's been sending out the clones for a couple of decades now.
None of this should be omgsurprising.
Hefner's not really in charge any more, though.

if the living conditions were really so terrible, each of those girls had the opportunity to say "fuck off Hef, im out" but if standing in dog crap and doing old people is really worth the career boost, go for it.

maybe these girls think they're entitled to career advancement, but then again if they were just a tiny bit smarter, they'd be in college getting a degree in underwater basketweaving.

as for the prostitution, i dont think so, its just one dude/'sugar daddy'. there are high school girls who are bigger whores than that.

why should anyone step in? people taking drugs isnt anything new and these are "responsible" adults who are capable of putting together that putting chemicals in your body that shouldn't be there will fuck you up long term in a bad way.

Forgive the immature response to this serious sentence, but :lol: :lol: :lol:

Is it slander, or reality?
It's reality. A friend's little sister is... um... associated with that organization and the public face is mostly PR. The mansion seems fairly appropriate for an octogenarian bachelor (with a questionable cleaning staff), living in a fantasy land who is going through financially tight times.

Is this an example of exploitation?
Well, um, yes, but this is Playboy after all. I don't attribute to Playboy an abundance of whatever the antonym of exploitation is.

What differences do you see between a living situation such as this and human trafficking for the sex trade?
The women in the mansion are all volunteers. Despite the fact some of them may come from troubled backgrounds, they do move in of their own volition and continue to live there, often rent free, on the off chance of becoming rich and famous. The same cannot be said of the sex trade.

Do you see similarities to other groups, such as communes or polygamous cults?
No. I see massive similarities between this and reality television. This is the sickness of celebrity, and situations like this enable the disease to become much, much worse. Do you know about the relationship of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston? Isn't it amazing how simply being famous can garnish you attention unlike ever before in the history of the species? Imagine that kind of attention, millions of people hanging on your every word, obsessing over you, perhaps even loving you. All you have to do for that kind of insane, global validation of your self-worth is to sleep with an old guy and live in a seedy mansion.

Regarding the OP: This is another boring case of somebody willingly fucking the reality TeeVee fame monster and not liking it later.

If you wanna be a bubble-headed bleach blond mansion bunny, don't expect to be treated like a woman. You're just a... plaything.

What's next? Maybe... "Playboy playmates complain of being made sex objects!" Deal with it, "ladies." You know he's a 80+ perv.

For all the craziness going on in there (shit-stained carpets? really?), it seems like both parties were getting what they wanted.

...

This. If I wanna read a Playboy magazine today, I have to flip through my father's stash of 1970s-1980s issues.

There is nothing classy about the magazine anymore. The writing sucks (Maxim'd!), the girls are Barbies. No hips, plastic parts.

From what I've read in the Playboy of yesteryear, it used to be a big honor to be picked as Playmate. Today? Too Girls Gone Wild.

I would have totally been cool with my partner posing for Playboy in the '70s. Now? It's just tacky. I blame Intarweb porn.

/"you kids get off my lawn" moment

willravel,
sorry i dont see the exploitation here. stripping down to their birthday suits was the sole choice of these girls. sure they might have to do some nasty shit to get ahead, but if they went ahead and did it anyways, why complain? its a little cliche to hear "this is how tough it was to get what i have". good call on the reality tv thing.

Playboy in and of itself is exploitative. That's the nature of the business. Playboy isn't pushing social boundaries or uncovering conspiracies or furthering our understanding of the universe. It's a magazine with some funny articles and a lot of naked women, intended for the exploitation—knowing or not—of objectification. Having known women in the objectification businesses, they don't all go into these situations fully understanding what's going on. Some, also, come from lives which have been very difficult, and they see this as their only option.

For those women (and I suppose men) who go into an objectification business with their eyes open, great. I don't know that it's fair to paint all of them with that brush, though.

Whose fault is it really, if the women working for Playboy, imagined their life would be all the time like the final results shown in the magazines?

1) All of these "controversial" accusations are coming from a former Playmate who just so happens to be trying to sell a book/hold on to her 15 minutes.

2) I hope all of the accusations are true: that 86 yr old Hef really can get a dozen 18-21 yr old women to stand in dog poo while they wait in line to bang him. And then reward their service with plastic surgery before he kicks them to the curb. GLORIOUS! It makes me want to wrap myself in an American flag and high-five capitalism.

the dog shit aside, the only surprise here really is that this sort of information took so long to surface. playboy must hedge itself round pretty tightly with contracts that limit or prohibit talking about playboy outside of the machinery.

and dog shit aside, it has a kind of sunset boulevard plus viagra vibe to it.

maybe it was always the case that playboy was one of those space that's so obviously about exploitation, one in which everyone is exploiting everyone else, so much that it ore or less cancels as a problem and retreats to the status of synonym. well yes, there we are, everyone is out for what they can get. perhaps there was a period during which the mythology substituted for this, i dont know---i never found the mythology interesting. esquivel keeps it more real in any event.

playboy tells you about its monumental cultural importance. ok. that's nice. if i had enough money and the inclination to do it, i would tell you about the monumental importance of me too.

You've already got a smoking jacket, right?

I used her she used me
But neither one cared
We were getting our share

(As Bob Seger put it in the song "Night Moves")

Lindy

'MERICUH!