Gloria Steinem’s 11-day undercover stint as a Bunny in Playboy’s New York City club was the subject of a bombshell essay that changed her career. The impacts of her exposé absolutely impacted the Bunnies working across clubs – from the pay discrepencies, mandatory gynecological exams, and regular harassment from customers. However, a lot of the women working alongside Gloria, while she was posing as “Bunny Marie,” had mixed feelings on her essay, as their experiences at the clubs may not have aligned with the cruel workplace described in the essays. Kathryn Lee Young (Scott), author of The Bunny Years, collects stories from women with very different memories of the clubs – including the author herself, who worked alongside her as Bunny Kay. Later, this piece inspired a 1984 made-for-TV film starring Kirstie Alley as Gloria (and I am reviewing it!). We’re overviewing the complicated legacy of this exposé – its immediate reception, the changes Bunnies experienced as a result, the contradictory tales from other Bunnies, and Gloria Steinem’s own regret about her time undercover at the NYC Playboy Club.
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Time stamps:
00:00 Intro
00:53 Gloria goes undercover
02:16 The bombshells from “A Bunny’s Tale”
06:01 Disappointing earnings
07:26 Workplace harassment
08:32 Subpoenaed and making changes
09:11 Revisiting in 1980s (and my thoughts)
12:34 “All women are bunnies.”
13:16 Reactions from “real” Bunnies + The Bunny Years
18:01 My reflections
18:40 Debating Steinem
20:57 Would Hugh Hefner and Gloria Steinem dated?
22:00 Why Gloria Steinem regrets being a Bunny
23:31 Kirstie Alley as Gloria in A Bunny’s Tale (1984)
28:59 Final thoughts
Watch…Women of Playboy/Girls Next Door Laura Diez hosts guest conversations and shares stories and pop culture history…on SloppBoxx.Com.
Best surprise refresh! Great video 🔥
i have never been more sat. very interested in every single perspective on this, because what a complex & layered thing.
Love this one shoulder top with your shiny long brown hair … so chic ❤
White feminism should be brought up w Gloria!! always remember feminism is intersectionality!! Womanhood doesn’t look just “one way”… there is room for all of us. At the same time doing A LOT for feminism. I guess she was pretty involved w the Hillary 2014/16 campaign? Heard whispers about that. AND I also heard she worked w the cia? Did u catch any of that during your search? She is definitely an interesting lady! Quite the life!!
ALSO the gyno exam is HORRIFYING! & the costume LOOKS like a torture device. 😛 Truth is always stranger (& WAY more horrible/disgusting/perverted) than fiction.
LOVE LOVE your vids, started watching your playboy bunny series!! Watched GND & follow both Holly & Bridgette on the socials, really get a kick out of & enjoy B’s ghost bunny pod. lol!!
Okee, great vid, such a fan, u make YouTubing look easy! Very at ease behind the camera meaning, your authenticity really shines through & i cannot (& will not😛) say that about everyone!! Hehe, okee take care, really appreciate the work put in to the vids!! bye byeeee!! ✌️🖤✨👯♀️🐇🐇 … OH & im not sure how to interpret that closing quote.. “all women are bunnies” or whatevz, im going to look into that more!! So fascinating.
(also the fact that she was a CIA asset)
@buffysummers7887yes i did mention cia in my novel comment! 😆 just learned of that myself so i don’t know any details!
@gloomcookie023 Gloria Steinem was not a CIA “Asset” or “Operative”. The CIA helped fund “Youth Festivals” around the world. They were meant as a means for diplomacy and for young people to get together and be heard. I’m guessing the CIA funded these festivals as a means to fight Communism. Because Communism does genuinely suck. I’ve been to the Soviet Union and Poland. And I’ve known a number of Eastern Europeans who escaped the Soviet Union and Satellite countries. And people who escaped Communist China. Gloria Steinem wasn’t recruiting anyone for the CIA. And she wasn’t reporting on anyone in the CIA. She’s also never hidden this. This isn’t something that was “exposed” by anyone. The CIA has absolutely horrendously evil $hit. And you do know that the Nation of Islam colluded with the CIA to assassinate Malcom X, don’t you? Although it was members of the New Jersey Nation of Islam Mosque who actually did assassinate Malcom X. Gloria Steinem didn’t collude with the CIA and nor did she assassinate CIA targets.. Unlike the Nation of Islam..
@buffysummers7887 Gloria Steinem was neither a CIA “operative” nor an “asset”. The CIA helped fund Youth Festivals that Gloria Steinem helped to organize. The Festivals took place all over the world. The point was to bring young people together, to get to know each other, and give each other a voice. I’m guessing this was looked at by the CIA as a way to fight Communism. Because Communism was and is terrible. Gloria Steinem did not recruit for the CIA. She also didn’t report on people either. She’s never hidden that the CIA funded this program of organization of Youth Festivals. This isn’t a new revelation at all. And I understand that the CIA did so many f’d up things . There was the MK-Ultra and CHAOS programs. Which harmed and/or killed hundreds of thousands of people. The Nation of Islam absolutely did work with the CIA in the planning and execution of the assassination of Malcom X. The CIA took care that Malcom X had no police presence where he gave his speech. And members of the Newark, Nation of Islam Mosque were the actual assassins. Gloria Steinem didn’t collude with the CIA to harass organizations and people that CIA deemed dangerous.
@katrinaolsen2444the point of a CIA funded operation was to bring the youth together so they can share their voices…😂😂😂😂😂 are you high?
Perhaps minor point, but I don’t see a real discrepancy in an account that said “women were told they had to undergo the exams to be hired,” and “women were told that if they refused the exam, they must have some secret.” The implication is that it is perfectly fine not to hire them if they don’t undergo these exams. To be waitresses. That’s a more lawyer or polite company friendly way to say the first thing.
I never cared for Gloria. She was a known CIA asset.
@horizontalwomanIt’s true, though. Like, ACTUALLY true.
@Gobble_de_Goop no it’s not.
I had watched the Kristie Alley movie a couple weeks ago on YouTube, so it was crazy about Gloria’s passing
It popped up in my suggestions too, a few months ago
Katherine Leigh was a regular on “Dark Shadows” – I think it was her first big break into show business!
Yes please do something on the real estate. I love your channel and you are so good at your deep,dives. Keep them coming!
To me, the line “all women are bunnies” is Gloria saying that all women are objectified and seen as “less than” by men.
Thank you for all the effort you take to put these videos together.
She was a neoliberal femenist, worked for the cia to maintain the status quo in america and in the world betraying the true american society, she was a hypocrite
that’s stupid
Love your videos – so insightful ❤
a 27 unit building in Lincoln Park for $175 a month??? get real woman