Gloria Steinem Calls of Boycott of NBC's The Playboy Club
From Jezebel:
TV viewers may be confused because the Playboy Club seemed pretty glamourous when Don Draper was there (though keep in mind that the visit resulted in a horrific, racially-motivated cane attack). Thankfully, Steinem has given feminists the go-ahead to keep loving Mad Men, even if the club's brief appearance on the program showcased sexy costumes with no mention of the requirement that Bunnies undergo internal exams and STD tests (a rule the clubs were forced to drop thanks to her expose). Steinem says Mad Men is "a net plus, because it shows the world of the early 1960s with some realism." However, she expects that The Playboy Club, "will be a net minus and I hope people boycott it. It's just not telling the truth about the era."
Steinem continues:
"It normalizes a passive dominant idea of gender. So it normalizes prostitution and male dominance...I just know that over the years, women have called me and told me horror stories of what they experienced at the Playboy Club and at the Playboy Mansion."
That doesn't sound all that empowering, but maybe Steinem just has her facts mixed up. She should be sure to watch Bra Burners, NBC's new 1970s historical drama about the ladies who got into pillow fights to protest society pressuring them to wear underwear.
I read Steinem's undercover journalism book about the playboy club when I was an impressionable teen. Outstanding. I think the recent "The Help" discussion is relevant here. Young people today forget what it was like to be judged so unfairly and superficially and blatantly. There's a reason we had a feminist revolution, but those who didn't experience it might not feel it as I did, growing up in the 1970s. Thanks, Caitlin.
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