Model Ines Rau has become Playboy’s first transgender Playmate.
Rau will feature as November’s Playmate, a first in the magazine’s 64-year history. A Playmate is a model who appears on the coveted centrefold within the magazine as its Playmate of the Month.
Rau, 26, is a French model who has previously appeared in Vogue Italia and starred in a fashion campaign, Balmain.
This is not the first time that transgender models have appeared in Playboy. In 1981, Caroline ‘Tula’ Cossey, a transgender actress, was photographed for the magazine. However, at the time it was not known that she was transgender, but Cossey did pose again in 1991.
Rau featured in Playboy’s May 2014 issue, which was a special edition looking at gender as non-binary.
Speak to Playboy about the shoot, Ines said, “When I was doing this shoot, I was thinking of all those hard days in my childhood.”
“Nudity means a lot to me since I went through a transition to get to where I want to be.”
“And now everything happening gives me so much joy and happiness.”
“I thought ‘Am I really going to be a Playmate – me?’”
“It’s the most beautiful compliment I’ve received.”
The November/December issue of Playboy magazine is the first to be published since founder Hugh Hefner died last month.
The magazine will pay tribute to Hefner’s life, while the magazine’s cover features a black and white portrait of the Playboy founder.
Hefner was an LGBT advocate and fought for LGBT rights. He believed that celebrating sexuality meant celebrating all forms of sexuality.
In 2012, he outlined his support for same-sex marriage, writing in an editorial: “The fight for gay marriage is, in reality, a fight for all our rights.”
“Without it we will turn back the sexual revolution and return to an earlier, puritanical time.”
Despite Playboy’s stance on LGBT rights, many have fought back against Rau being Playmate of the Month. One subscriber wrote on the magazine’s Facebook page, “I just don’t want my kids confused.”
Another said, “When I open Playboy, I expect to see women, not some guy who identifies as a woman, or some former male who has had the surgery to become female.”
A third subscriber said, “Males have male parts and females have female parts! Sorry!”
In response, Cooper Hefner, son of Hugh and Chief Creative Officer at Playboy, tweeted, “We should collectively be fighting for a more open world, not one that promotes hatred and a lack of acceptance.”
