Gloria Steinem Calls To Boycott TV "Playboy Club"

Gloria Steinem Calls To Boycott TV "Playboy Club"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran rights activist Gloria Steinem of women, said Friday he expects viewers to boycott "The Playboy Club," calling the 1960 club tasteless and far from glamorous places represented in the fair.

"Clearly," The Playboy Club "will not be accurate. It was the tackiest place on earth. It was not glamorous at all," Steinem told Reuters in an interview.

Steinem, one of America's leading crusaders for women's rights for 40 years, went to work undercover for Playboy Bunny in New York City Club in 1963 and wrote a novel exposing some of the burden for women who worked there.

"When I worked there and writing the outline, one of the things that had to change because of my presentation was the need for all the rabbits, which was just a waitress, after an internal review and testing for sexually transmitted diseases" he said.

Steinem said she sees the Emmy Award-winning drama "Mad Men", also set in the 1960s as "a net plus because it shows the world in early 1960 with a degree of realism."

But, he added, "I expect the" Playboy Club "is a less clear, and I hope that people boycott. Simply is not telling the truth about the era."
"The Playboy Club" in the first Playboy Club in Chicago, made its debut in September as one of the cornerstones of the fall season of new NBC television.

Speaking to television reporters last week in Los Angeles, network executives, producers and cast of the series have all rejected the view of critics who believe that the series will idealize the porn industry and is degrading to modern women.

NBC Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt called the show "very funny soap opera," while executive producer Chad Hodge told reporters that the TV was "all about empowering women to be what they want to be."
An NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, has said it will not broadcast the show, but NBC says it is not expected to follow.

Steinem, 77, said Friday that it was important to reject the TV series, even if it is set 40 years ago.
"It normalizes a dominant ideas about sex liabilities. Then it normalizes prostitution and male domination ... I just know that over the years, women have called me and told me horror stories on their experiences at Playboy Club at Playboy Mansion, "she said.
Steinem spoke before the premiere of an HBO documentary on his life, "Gloria: In your own words," August 15.

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