There's no need to read Playboy under the covers with a flashlight--students can go to Perkins Library and read the magazine in daylight.
"[Playboy is] asked about every so often," said Faye Bennett, periodicals supervisor for Perkins. "People come ask for it, check it out and use it. I think most of [the student interest] is for content." Perkins has subscribed to Playboy since 1953.
Many students said they were surprised that Perkins subscribed to the magazine, but a good number apparently already do know. Current issues of Playboy are kept behind the desk, Bennett said, because the library had problems with students who would steal the paper and microfilm versions of the magazine.
Despite requests for Playboy, there is little demand for the library to subscribe to Playgirl, Bennett said.
Jean O'Barr, director of the women's studies department, said women do not read pornographic magazines at the rate that men do.
"I think that the libraries have to collect what exists in the culture. I don't have to agree with what they collect," O'Barr said.
Some students, however, reacted more strongly.
"I don't think we should have to subscribe to either magazine but if we're going to subscribe to `soft porn' it should be equal," said Trinity senior Liz Clendenin.
"There shouldn't be a double standard. Girls have as much right as guys do to any type of literature."
Trinity junior Khushnuma Cooper was more forthright. "If they don't subscribe to Playgirl then that's definitely sexist," she said.
Selden Holt, coordinator of sexual assault support services, said she thought the Playboy versus Playgirl debate was being incorrectly framed.
"The main question is should Perkins' mission be to provide erotica for the University community," Holt said.
Students reasoned that the library would subscribe to Playboy but not Playgirl because of the different literary qualities of the two magazines.
"I think if both magazines were evaluated for their journalistic merit and then Playboy came out on top--then they should go with Playboy," said Trinity junior Darren Perkins. "If they didn't compare them and just arbitrarily chose Playboy as the naked magazine of choice then that's wrong. And I'd fight to change that."
"Playboy's a more established magazine and it has real quality interviews," said Trinity junior Ted Marblestone.
"I think getting Playgirl is a waste of Duke's money. I would think that Playgirl has a more pornographic content," he said.
Bennett said the criteria she uses to determine whether to accept a patron's request that the library subscribe to a particular magazine include: the justification given by the person who requests the magazine, the availability of the periodical in the Triangle, the availability of information on the topic of interest in other periodicals already available and the cost of a subscription.
Other schools including Harvard, Yale, Northwestern and Stanford also subscribe to Playboy. The latter two also carry Playgirl.
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