On Tuesday morning, a friend of mine posted an article with the headline “Hugh Hefner Says Rape’s Not Bro” to her Facebook timeline.

Hey Playboy, maybe college co-eds aren't always "down to f*ck." (Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Creative Commons)

The article, from brobibles.com, quotes Playboy as saying that “A good college party is all about everyone having a good time. Consent is all about everyone having a good time. Rape is only a good time if you’re a rapist. And f--- those people.”

The commandments instruct that before going forward with sexual activity, one must ask first and obtain verbal consent. They also instruct people to educate themselves and others. 

The final commandment instructs not to rape.

Excited, I shared the article with my Facebook friends. What would have led Hugh Hefner to take this radical stance? And more importantly, what effect would this have on the targeted audience of “bros”?

My friends were suspicious… and sure enough, the commandments turned out to be a well-executed prank by feminist college students who banded together with the organization FORCE to create and spread five fake websites. BroBible, the real website, doesn’t have an “s.” 

I was disappointed until I asked Taylor Markey, co-director of the Women’s Student Assembly at the University of Southern California, what she thought of the prank.

“I think that FORCE's hack was a highly effective satire of problematic aspects of 'bro culture' and of the folks at Playboy and BroBible.com who uncritically reflect and perpetuate that culture,” Markey told me. 

“For a media empire like Playboy, whose brand is largely based around sexualizing college women, to never mention the sexual pleasure or even basic consent of said college women is a glaring oversight.” 

Slate writer Amanda Marcotte agrees, and thinks the infographic is beneficial. And she believes Playboy should re-publish the graphic, even though it was a feminist prank.

Playboy’s "Top Ten Party Schools" of 2012 ranks schools based on three categories: Sex, Sports, and Nightlife. USC ranked highly in the Sex category because of its “countless Southern California coeds.” 

The review of USC on BroBible’s "Top 50 Party Schools" from last year also focuses on USC’s “hot girls” and “attractive women.” 

According to Markey, the phenomenon of ranking schools based on the attractiveness of their women  “conceptualizes female USC students as merely another experience for male students to enjoy while in college, alongside exciting football games and all-night ragers.

“No prominent Top Ten party school list considers the experience of sexual culture from the female or queer perspective. Conceptualizing women as experiences instead of people and then ignoring their perspectives? Sounds like rape culture,” she said. 

“FORCE recognized the damaging implicit message that Playboy and BroBible were sending: that college women exist solely for college men’s pleasure. So, they created their own top ten list that included a female perspective on college sexual culture, focusing on the most important aspect of pleasure: consent.”  

By celebrating the sexual culture of their highest ranked schools, Playboy’s and BroBible’s Top Ten lists reinforce pre-existing rape culture on those campuses.  

Many of the schools featured on those lists, including USC, have been a part of the recent wave of Title IX complaints for the mismanagement of sexual assault cases reported by students and the creation of a hostile environment for sexual violence victims.

The faux-infographic is an example of how a corporation could take a firm stance against the dangers party scenes pose. Since the articles are, in fact, fake, we have to ask: why won’t powerful figures speak up? And how can we, the lowly and un-famous, effect change when they refuse? 

“FORCE’s prank opens up the conversation about what parties, college hook-up culture and our societal notion of a “college experience” are really geared towards, showing us a glimpse of what it would be like if they were geared equally towards all students,” Markey explained. 

FORCE also pranked Victoria’s Secret earlier this year, advertising that the underwear store had come out with “Consent is Sexy” panties.  

When the truth came out, I put a lot of thought into the way companies like Victoria’s Secret seek to manipulate and control the audience into believing their product is the epitome of sexy-ness. When we buy into it, and get the colorful panties with “DTF” printed on them, and find ourselves wearing them throughout the week—suddenly we’ve lost agency. 

If we are told by a company and a culture to be “down to f*ck,” it’s that much harder to stand up and say, “Actually, I’m not.” 

I’d rather wear undies that say, “ASK FIRST!” Even if no one sees ‘em except when I’m changing in the locker room, even if no one see them except for me, at least I know I’m standing for myself and not an oppressive culture.

In the end, FORCE's prank did elicit a postive reaction from BroBible:

"The world is safe for bros to be feminists too," said the website's response: not bad!

So, what’s “Ol’ Hef” gonna do about it? Make a comment? Or let his silence speak for him: that he is comfortable continuing to be seen as a promoter of rape culture?