'Playboy' CEO Hefner speaks

More than 200 people gathered in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall yesterday to hear Christie Hefner, chairperson and chief executive officer of Playboy Enterprises, Inc., speak on her role as a female business executive. But a recently formed campus group -- The Penn Coalition against Sexual Exploitation -- challenged the Zweig Executive Dinner Series' choice of Hefner as lecturer. "By working hard to resuscitate Playboy, Hefner helps to maintain outdated views of women as consumer objects for men," a flyer passed out at the lecture by Coalition members stated. "I think it's amazing that in 1994 there are still some people who consider it appropriate to celebrate Playboy, a business whose product is sexual exploitation," said Lesley Rimmel, a Coalition member. But those who selected Hefner to speak lauded her "as one of the top female executives in the United States." According to by Zweig Dinner Series board member and second year Wharton graduate student Bimal Gandhi, Hefner has been celebrated by the business world as one of the first women to firmly establish herself in a male-dominated world. "What I want to do today is to talk about what [Playboy is] as a company?and to grapple with [the accompanying] political issues," Hefner said at the beginning of her lecture. Playboy, she explained, has attempted to expand its enterprise in technology, leadership and management on an international scale. "Our ['new media'] campaign is targeted at couples, not just men," Hefner said. "Almost 75 percent of people that subscribe to the magazine are married." Despite that assurance, Coalition members said they were focused on the issues of sexism and sexual exploitation. "You can't separate business practices from that business' product as Wharton seems to want to do," Rimmel said. Gandhi said he disagrees. "I think that she's a great role model for both men and women," he said. "[But] we live in a free society. [The Coalition members are] welcome to put forth their voice." Hefner's selection, according to Gandhi, was based on a poll of Wharton graduate students. She was approved by the board of the Zweig Dinner Series. Hefner defended herself against the Coalition's accusations by arguing that "sexy and sexist do not go together and feminine and feminist [are not synonymous.]" This belief, she said, is mirrored by the increase in Playboy's popularity. "In a world that has changed as profoundly as [ours], no magazine since 1953 sells as many magazines as Playboy does today," Hefner added. As a result of its initial success, Playboy has extended its business into 18 countries around the world. And this success has placed Hefner among the elite in the business world, Gandhi said. Audience members said they were impressed by Hefner's intelligence and hard work. "I thought she'd be ditzy, but she was very intelligent," Wharton senior Mike Kaplan said. "She really believes in what she is doing." "I thought Ms. Hefner handled the question and reactions with a lot of poise," College freshman Shelly Goldklang said. Goldklang added that this poise was evident in Hefner's reaction to an audience member's accusation that Playboy treats women as sexual objects. "I don't feel it is hurtful or limiting," Hefner said. "We need to take a step back from the male/female issue. [We must] understand that sexual freedom is equal to personal freedom."