Sparked by Playboy's plans to photograph female Dartmouth students in May, a group of students is discussing actions ranging from writing columns in newspapers to organizing a rally against the visit.
Sarah Johnston '97 led a meeting of about 15 women discussing possible reaction to Playboy's visit. The meeting was in the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences.
At the meeting she said it is important for Dartmouth women to become active and protest against Playboy because the College has a reputation for being the most male-dominated and conservative in the Ivy League.
The protest "will be a true test -- to show that things have changed and are changing," she said.
In an interview, Johnston said the group must first form a statement of purpose to educate people about pornography. She said the group does not want to attack women who may choose to pose for the pictures.
"We are not interested and we do not intend to coerce any woman into not posing [or] interfere with a woman's decision to pose," she said. "What we want to do is to educate people as to what we believe the effects of pornography are ... and we also want to encourage people not to pose."
"We're not interested in taking people's rights away," she added.
Photographers from Playboy will interview women throughout the Ivy League to find women for its "Women of the Ivy League" pictorial in the October "Back to School" issue.
They are scheduled to come to the College on May 8 and 9.
Marlene Sheehan '98, who is working with Johnston, said while people at Dartmouth have a strong sense of individualism that stresses a woman has the right to pose nude in Playboy, she said there are other effects that have wider ramifications.
"It's an individual choice, yes," she said at the meeting. "But it affects society."
Cassie Ehrenberg '96 and Shilyn Warren '96 circulated BlitzMail messages to gather support among students and organizations who are interested in working against Playboy.
"With such a blitz list, we can organize more effectively and everyone interested will have access to events, protests and or rallies being planned," they wrote.
At the meeting, Ehrenberg and Warren said they have compiled close to 100 names of people interested in joining the effort.
Johnston said she and other people involved in the effort will brainstorm strategies over spring vacation.
"There will be some sort of student reaction," she said. "I think that we should get organized instead of being splintered."
She said over the break, they may write pieces in major newspapers like The New York Times or national women's periodicals like Ms. Magazine "in an attempt to get some coverage outside of the college loop."
Playboy previously photographed Dartmouth women for its back-to-school issue in 1979 and 1986.
One of the more radical ideas mentioned was to organize a group nude sit-in with people solely dressed in their resumes, but Johnston said such an action could run into legal problems.
Other ideas include organizing a petition drive to protest Playboy's visit, putting up posters around campus with informational and persuasive messages, contacting groups like the Women's Resource Center and sponsoring forums, debates and educational meetings.
Some women expressed concern that the more controversy that was created on campus, the more people would become curious and want to view the photographs.
Playboy's 1986 Ivy League issue received a tepid reception from Dartmouth students and there was no protest. Only about a dozen women inquired about posing and two photographs of Dartmouth women appeared in the magazine that year.
But the magazine's 1979 Ivy League issue caused a greater commotion on campus and the Dartmouth Bookstore had to order extra copies to meet the demand.
Sheehan said she wants to branch out and join forces with women's groups at the other Ivy League schools.
She said she successfully contacted students who also object to Playboy's plans at Brown, Princeton and Yale Universities.
Sara Abrams, a sophomore at Brown who is spearheading the effort across the schools, said while studies have shown pornography eroticizes the dominance and violence of men over women, nudity of Ivy women is especially harmful.
"A Playboy dedicated specifically to Ivy women undermines this power of women," she wrote in an electronic-mail message. "It takes away our Ivy privilege of being defined first by our intellect and power, and puts in its place our sexuality."
"In my opinion, this will affect not only Ivy students and grads, but all women in positions of power," she added.
