Beauty & Bureaucracy

On the evening of last May 18th, David Chan, Playboy's internationally famous Polaroid paratrooper, slipped unobtrusively through Washington, D.C.'s National Airport and sped via taxi to his suite in the Georgetown Inn. There are 740,000 women employed by the Federal Government and Chan was looking for, say, 20 of them headquartered in the Washington area. The day before his arrival, a full-page ad in The Washington Post had announced the beginning of Playboy's search for the prettiest women in the U. S. Government. For the next week, Chan and Playboy were the subjects of dozens of newspaper, radio and television features--and the objects of demonstrations by women's organizations. When it was over, Chan returned to our Chicago office with 400 snapshots of Federal distaffers, some of whom, like flight attendants, Servicewomen and Baylor coeds before them, were willing to risk jobs (or scholarships) to appear in Playboy's pages. We immediately put our In-House Subcommittee on Pictorial Affairs to work on selecting the most attractive of the 400 applicants and, in the process, discovered that visually, at least, our Government isn't taxing at all. But that shouldn't be surprising, because, as Chan says, "Wherever there's power, there's glamor." Sometimes the two qualities come together to everybody's benefit, as in the case of lobbyist Paula Parkinson (pictured on the following page). "The advantage of being a pretty woman lobbyist is that you have a slightly better chance of getting into a Congressman's office," she says. "Just 15 years ago, there weren't more than 40 female lobbyists; now there are more than 500, so it helps to be noticeable." Other women agree with Parkinson that it's easier for women to get ahead in Washington if they're good-looking. Theresa Reuss (opposite page), a computer operator for the U. S. Senate, says, "Looks are a great advantage in Washington. Frankly, while they want somebody who can do the job, the Congressmen and Senators would prefer having pretty women working around them. If you're pretty and competent, it's easier to get a job than if you're just competent." But, Paula adds, "A pretty woman who isn't very bright is at a disadvantage in Washington. If I met a Congressman and couldn't talk legislation with him, I'd be out of his office right away. Also, a lot of Congressmen are rather sensitive about being accused of hiring and working with women who aren't qualified, if you know what I mean." Even a beauty with brains can have difficulties with Washington men, she says, "Washington is basically a very horny city. For one thing, there are more women here than men. And men can be jerks with women and get away with it, because men are so scarce around here." Darlene Aubrey, a Navy yeoman working at the Pentagon, can attest to what (text concluded on page 236) Beauty & Bureaucracy (continued from page 128) jerks some Washington men can be. She claims she's been the victim of sexual harassment on her job, and while she concedes that that happens in offices all over the country, "I think it happens a little more in Washington." Darlene says she has been pinched, gotten "vulgar" notes in the mail and has over heard people discussing having her do jobs for them "because she's got big boobs." She says she reported a man who grabbed her breast to her division officer, but nothing was done about it. She then put in for a transfer out of her office, but it was denied. Asked whether she might be imagining some of the harassment, she says, "Either it's a pass or it's not. People tell me to forget it, but then the same guys will do it again with some other women."

Darlene isn't the only woman with whom we talked who feels the office behavior of Washington men exceeds the limits of good taste. Heidi Rewwer, an industrial engineer in the Department of Transportation, says when she first went to Washington on a work-study program from Purdue University, "I was really shocked at how the married men acted in my office. It was like when they were at work, they were single. Then, when they went home, they thought it was nice to have someone fixing dinner. Even a lot of top officials, whom people look up to, are fooling around." Heidi says Washington's male chauvinism extends into all areas of business. As an example, she says she applied at a local modeling agency and the head of the agency suggested that if she did him "some favors," he could help her career. She turned him down and thinks it cost her the modeling job.

On the plus side, most of the ladies we photographed agreed that working for the Government increases one's chances of meeting famous personages. For instance, secretary Linda Maisel currently works for a subcommittee headed by Senator Edward Kennedy, whom she describes as "a very nice man and a very hard worker." Generally, however, Maisel says she isn't particularly attracted to political types. "I've gone to lunch with a few Congressmen, but I find most of the men on Capitol Hill too straight, not very adventurous. Also, they're usually so self-important." Julie Shorter, a park technician for the National Park Service, agrees. "People in Washington, especially in politics, are all so serious. They're all so worried about what everybody thinks of them." The self-importance of politicians and the boorishness of men in general aren't the only things that make a job in the capital less than a thrill a minute. Krista Rae White, a secretary in Naval Supply Systems Command, says, "It's a very routinized city, with a million codes to follow, particularly if you work for the Government." One of those codes was the main issue raised by the 20 or so pickets from a group called Federally Employed Women (FEW) that marched, placards in hand, outside the Georgetown Inn while Chan was photographing applicants upstairs. Lynne Revo-Cohen, a lobbyist for FEW, told reporters she thought "Playboy is being less than honest about risks to Federal employees who pose for them." She then pointed out a paragraph of the Federal Personnel Manual: "Misconduct generally. Criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct," for which the maximum penalty is "removal." One wonders in this day and age what's disgraceful, let alone notoriously so, about posing for one of the nation's most popular magazines; but the unflappable Chan responded, "It seems to us that what women do on their own time is their business, not the Government's." Most of the applicants felt the same way. As Linda Maisel put it, "I don't know how my boss will react, but as far as I'm concerned, if Jimmy Carter has been in Playboy, it's a bit hypocritical for the Government to tell female employees they can't pose for the magazine." And yet, within weeks after Chan's departure from Washington, some applicants were already feeling official repercussions. Freda Cox, a statistical clerk for the Bureau of the Census in the Department of Commerce, says, "I felt pretty good about appearing in Playboy until a bulletin was circulated suggesting that anyone who posed might be risking her job." And Darlene Aubrey says, "Ten men in my office suggested that I try out for the pictorial. I did, but then Admiral Hayward, the Chief of Naval Operations, sent down word that I could be court-martialed for posing. I hear he wants to make me the first and last example, and I dare him to. For me, it's the chance of a lifetime. I live a very quiet, unglamorous life This is the first glamorous thing that's happened to me, and I don't feel I'm doing anything wrong." Regardless of how the various Federal agencies respond to seeing some of their employees in Playboy, all of the women who posed were sure of one thing: This issue will sell out on Washington newsstands.

Unlike many of those who've appeared in previous Girls of pictorials, few of the beauties of the bureaucracy aspire to modeling careers, most preferring careers in civil service. Those who do hope to model consider an appearance in Playboy an important boost. Darlene Aubrey wants to go into fashion modeling; tall (5'11") Jeannette Wulff wants to be a runway model. All of our Washington discoveries will be glad to know that Associate Photography Editor Jeff Cohen, who supervised this pictorial, says there's a chance one or two of them might appear again as Playmates. If you have any favorites you'd like to see again, write and let us know. In the meantime, if looking at this pictorial has given you Potomac fever and lust in your heart, there's only one cure: You'd better run for office. Here's hoping you get elected.

"Chan responded, 'What women do on their own time is their business, not the Government's."'