Some Will Pose for Magazine : Playboy Interviews SDSU Women

Audrey Hodges, an 18-year-old blonde SDSU freshman, says her father likes Playboy Magazine and encouraged her, at least hypothetically, to pose in its glossy pages.

But there’s a catch. She hasn’t yet told her father she actually interviewed Wednesday to appear in the magazine.

“My father looks at it (Playboy), and he always says, ‘If you ever get the opportunity you should try it.’ . . . I don’t know what he is going to say (now that) the opportunity has arisen,” Hodges said. “I haven’t bothered to tell him yet.”

Hodges admits her roommate thought she was “insane when she decided to try it.

“She goes, ‘Are you serious ? ‘ But a lot of my friends are supporting me. They said that if you really want to do it, you should.

About 200 San Diego State University co-eds have signed up for interviews this week with Playboy photographer David Chan. The magazine may feature nude photographs of some of them.

The visit by Playboy has been criticized by campus feminists who say the magazine exploits women.

Those who showed up for interviews Wednesday said Playboy is a prestigious publication and they would be flattered to see themselves displayed on its glossy pages.

Many seemed a little nervous as they stepped into their interviews.

Only two students can expect to be seen in the magazine’s “party school” issue next fall. San Diego State placed third in a January Playboy article on the country’s top 40 party schools.

Chan, who is working with two assistants, photographs the applicants at a motel near the campus. The women fill out a short application, listing name, address, height, body measurements, hair color, hobbies, sports, achievements, major, class year and whether they want to appear clothed, semi-nude or nude. Chan then snaps a couple of Polaroid photos of each on the balcony.

(For published photographs, the magazine pays $100 for a fully clothed photo, $250 for semi-nude and $500 for a nude photo, one of Chan’s assistant’s said.)

Tammy Poulter, 19, studying finance and fashion merchandising, arrived at her interview in a low-cut black sheath. A modeling veteran, Poulter soon changed into a bathing suit.

Poulter had told only her boyfriend about the interview.

Would it bother her if she was not picked? “No,” Poulter said. “In modeling you take a lot of rejection. But I’ve been thinking. What if my father sees it (her picture in Playboy)? He might be kind of bummed. My mother would even have a cow.”

Like Poulter, Mary Lee, 21, checked the clothed box on the application form. The senior finance major said she would only appear “fully clothed. I’m too modest (to appear nude).

“I don’t have anything against Playboy the way some of the feminists do. I think a lot of the shots are really beautiful pictures. They make women look good. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. There’s other magazines like Oui or whatever that I don’t like. Those exploit women. But Playboy makes women . . . look good.

“My boyfriend reads it. I think all guys look at it . . . just like the Sports Illustrated swimsuit thing. I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

A 22-year-old junior majoring in political science and pre-law major declined to reveal her name.

“If I get picked to do this, I will definitely go through with it,” the woman said. “And when it comes out in September everyone will know. But for the time being . . . I haven’t told my parents yet, or anyone, that I came down for the interview. So I really don’t want them to start teasing me. If I get chosen, then I’ll deal with that aspect of it then.”