By Sarah Rackley
Contributing Reporter
Playboy completed its first round of interviews here to find the next "Women of the ACC." Fourteen students were interviewed by Playboy photographer David Mecey at a local hotel April 20-21. Mecey anticipates that four of these girls will be selected to be photographed before one will be selected to appear in the October issue of the magazine.
Each year a different college conference is featured, with women appearing from each college in the conference. The Atlantic Coast Conference was last featured in 1989. Though there has been some controversy on campus over the issue, Mecey said he was pleased at the turnout for the interviews.
While as many as 80 students may show interest at a large school like Florida State University, only 15 girls went to the interviews this year at Duke University. Mecey said he has never had no one appear for interviews, but he faces the most opposition from Ivy League schools and schools in the Big East.
Mecey reports being surprised at the quality and turn out for the first round of interviews in which he talked to the women and photographed them in the clothes they wore to the interview. A variety of women attended the interviews, having majors in business, art history, law and psychology, among others.
Three of the women had never seen the magazine, Mecey said, and all were new to modeling. None of the women expressed interest in pursuing a career in the field. Most were just curious, according to Mecey.
"I think a lot of it is just for fun. I think it's something that they think is very interesting. It's usually a young lady with an adventurous spirit. They're pretty intellectual, actually," Mecey said during an interview on WXRA 94.5's April 20 morning show. "I think they find this as some sort of adventurous little project that they might come and see what it's all about."
Mecey feels that women should be able to exercise their right to make decisions for themselves and decide whether posing for the magazine is something they want to do.
Freshman Maria DeMarco agreed. "I think it's okay, because it's a personal choice, it's a voluntary process; but I would be concerned if they actively sought someone close to me for the photo. But I don't think it's wrong, and the option should be open," DeMarco said
Freshman Leslie Overstreet said, "I don't condemn anyone involved in the process, but I think pornography as a whole is wrong."
Mecey recognizes that there will always be opposition when Playboy photographs college students. "You've got to believe that there are some on campus who have a negative view of Playboy, and so they will have a negative view of the women who pose," he said. But he feels that the women who do express interest in posing for the magazine should not be criticized for their personal decisions.
"I think a lot of it is just for fun. I think it's something that they think is very interesting. It's usually a young lady with an adventurous spirit. They're pretty intellectual, actually," Mecey said during an interview on WXRA 94.5's April 20 |