India: Playboy unveils Bunny sari as nation rages against rape
Sari, boys: Playboy Bunnies at the upcoming (and simultaneously retro) Playboy Clubs in India will be almost fully clad. Meanwhile, nationwide outrage over Sunday’s gang rape of a 23-year-old physical therapist will likely put a cramp in some public relations firm’s style.
Playboy unveiled the bunny costumes for its upcoming Indian Playboy Clubs on a day when thousands protested violence against women, following a brutal gang rape.
As GlobalPost reported earlier, India is confronting brazen and spectacular acts of violence with the same national outpouring of grief, rage and confusion with which Americans are reeling from the Sandy Hook shooting.
“The reason it's become such an emotive issue is that the expression of violence, particularly gender violence, is in a way a public event,” said Delhi University sociologist Radhika Chopra. “This is not secret violence. This is not happening in a dark corner of a street or shady corner of a park. It's on a bus. It's in broad daylight. It's on flyovers. It's in the most public spaces of all. And there are always people there.”
Plenty of people will see the entrance of Playboy — even with demured-down Bunnies — as throwing fuel on the fire.