Three UW-Madison students who appear in Playboy magazine's October issue signed autographs and posed (fully clothed) for pictures at the Den, 74 University Square, Thursday afternoon.
The models, juniors Ashley Cullen and Aurora Marie and student Angel Jade, said they had different reasons for auditioning for Playboy. Cullen, a communication arts major, said she hoped it would help her career. Marie said she models as a side job to pay for college. She is a genetics and biology major and a participant in the Medical Scholars program.
The three women said they were thrilled to be picked by Playboy and had gotten positive feedback from family and friends, although Marie has not told her parents.
Cullen said she does not think the magazine is degrading to women at all. Jade agreed, but said posing nude was still a little difficult because she was self-conscious about her body. In the end, she said, the experience boosted her confidence.
\I definitely have hang-ups about my body,"" Jade said. ""I think there's probably a ton of girls on campus that could have done it [too] if they had the confidence.""
Despite the positive feedback from loved ones, the women still had to deal with the implications of posing nude. For example, Marie, who is co-ed of the month for October, has a boyfriend of three years.
""He's not crazy about the fact that everybody sees me naked,"" she said.
Den manager Maurice Gray said he received one anonymous note condemning the event and he heard one complaint from a customer.
Meanwhile, a crowd of mostly male college students, several of whom claimed they had never bought the magazine or had only come to the signing to give copies to their girlfriends, waited in a line that stretched outside onto the sidewalk.
UW-Madison sophomore Dan Swartz, however, admitted to frequently using the magazine.
""I subscribe-for the articles,"" he said.
