To think this thread has aged hideously?

[O6bftdff]

I’m watching Secrets of Playboy on Channel 4 and the abuse, emotional, physical and sexual, of women that took place over the decades linked to Hefner and Playboy is sickening.

I looked for Mumsnet threads on the documentary, but this came up from 2008 instead.

I’ve read it quite shocked. I know we’re post-Me Too now, but did it ever really look like a fun place to be? Was it not clear Hefner was always exploitative and a creep, albeit not to the hugely criminal extent it’s been revealed to be now.

Then again, I always thought it was clear Jimmy Savile was dangerous but I’ve seen dated threads about him where everyone is rushing to defend him.

On a positive note, I think there’d be a lot more criticism of the way these women were clearly being exploited if the documentary aired this year and now in the early 2000s.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/643859-to-be-watching-quot-girls-of-the-playboy-mansion-quot

👀

‘You go through a lot of screening, there are contracts and no one is forced into doing anything they don't want to. The money is great and the parties (not all get invited to those parties either) have a lot of influential people on the guestlists.’

How was anyone ever this naive?

How bizarre. It's clearly horrifically seedy. How could anyone say an 18 yo was living the dream having condom less sex with an octogenarian with an audience of twenty people? Forced to have surgery, not allowed friends or jobs and curfew of 6pm. 🤢🤢🤢

Not the worst part by far, but I can’t believe the part where a poster describes Pamela Anderson as ‘I can't remember the blondes name but she wrote a couple books (the Baywatch blonde that married Tommy Lee and was seeing Kid Rock) ah yes...Pamela Sue Anderson’.

Mumsnet really is a social history resource.

You cant judge yesterdays behaviour by todays standards.

All this #metoo stuff would make people back then puke.

Puke at finding out that powerful men have been systemically abusing women and girls for decades? I should hope it would.

Nah it was always fucking shady. I remember watching it (the girls of the playboy mansion when I was high school on the E Channel) and seeing his middle girl friend Bridget, who was utterly desperate to be in the magazine but was rejected A LOT, and wound him his girlfriend. At 15 I found that icky, especially as it was dangled as a carrot in front of them.

and then Holly (desperate for marriage and kids) and how her best friend was his 60 something year old secretary. It was giving Stockholm syndrome back then too

In 2008? 😂

🤦🏻‍♀️

Utter nonsense.

If protecting women from rape and assault makes you puke there is something catastrophically wrong with you.
We knew this in the bloody 1970s thanks.😤

I vaguely remember watching some sort of documentary many years ago - possibly that one - and thinking it was pretty grim.

Tbh the tone of that thread did not strike me as especially different from MN now 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is kind of the real meaning for woke - recognising that things that were once considered ok really aren’t but we had been conditioned to accept them.

The just getting on with it bit was the problem.

Really? I thought it was horrendously dated. I think the misogyny would be shot down much stronger and quicker now.

@ScottishMummy · 08/11/2008 21:01

i bet current burds loves when the ole gimmer brings home a new twinky.means he wont sniff around them for a while

eugh all the plastic tits and thongs, a sea of fake tan.sounds like hell

I think this poster summed it up nicely (hope you're still around)

I agree with this. I find some of what I read that women think on here about porn, prostitution, surrogacy and other exploitation of women, astounding. That’s before subtler issues like beauty practices and the like. A lot of internalised misogyny at play still.

Boggling at the idea that 2008 seems like a different era. It's yesterday to me!

eugh all the plastic tits and thongs, a sea of fake tan.sounds like hell

sounds like love island.

I don’t think calling women birds and twinkies is great. It’s the type of language that surprised me. I wouldn’t expect to see it on here now.

2008 wasn’t yesterday it was an hour ago. Figuratively speaking.

Hugh Hefner’s son Cooper very recently offered to purchase the Playboy company back from its current owners for $100million cash.
I can’t remember exactly what they said, but basically it was “we don’t think we’ll be going in that direction…” so f**k off was implied but unspoken.
Evidently, Cooper wanted to take the magazine back to its original form. I have absolutely no idea what form it’s in now. In fact, I wasn’t aware it was in any form at all.

In 1980 I was working for the Sales Manager of a computer company ... he asked me to organise a dinner party at the Bunny Club for his sales team.

You should read Holly Madison's book Down The Rabbit Hole.

Ah that was ScottishMummy she had a distinctly ‘unique’ turn of phrase! I think there was a fair mix of opinions on that thread - I think it represents the cut and thrust of MN of old when robust discussion took place and there wasn’t so much of ‘I think this thread should be moved to the Feminist bit of MN’ or reporting of posts. It was a trip down memory lane for me - whatever happened to KerryMum?