Playboy Magazine photographer David Mecey and his assistants packed up their cameras and left Hanover yesterday, taking with them photos of three Dartmouth women that will appear in the magazine's "Women of the Ivy League" pictorial this fall.
The Playboy representatives arrived at Dartmouth last week to interview women interested in appearing in the magazine's Ivy League pictorial, scheduled to run in Playboy's October back-to-school issue.
Mecey said he interviewed with about 15 prospective models last week and took pictures of the three women selected to appear in the magazine over the past few days.
One model, Xantha Bruso '97 said the Playboy photographers took her to a country home in Etna owned by a student at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.
She said in the photos, she is seated in a chair on a porch with her legs stretched over the porch railing. She is wearing a black skirt, long stockings and an open white blouse.
"I just kind of did it for the hell of it," Bruso said. "I feel I have enough confidence in myself and I'm secure enough with the way I look and my sexuality and who I am as a person to do something like this and feel good about it."
"I've got a different view on femininity and feminism and sexuality than a lot of women on campus," she said. "I don't see this as a really big deal ... I don't think the photos in Playboy can be equated to rape, sexual assault and objectification of women."
Bruso, a member of the women's crew team, said she will tell her parents about her appearing in the magazine soon. She said she did not accept compensation for the shoot because doing so would threaten her eligibility to compete in varsity athletics under NCAA guidelines.
Mecey, who declined to name any of the models, said he will send the pictures of the three women back to his editors at Playboy's offices in Chicago.
