ANDERSON, Ind. — There’s nothing typical about Playboy Playmate Juliette Frette.

If someone has a stereotype in mind about a typical “bunny,” Frette probably won’t fit that mold. She’s an artist, regular contributor to several publications, a UCLA women’s studies graduate and passionate baker.

Frette will be at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday decked out in the iconic bunny suit to help promote the facility’s new Playboy Platinum slot machines. She will sign autographs, greet guests and take photos with them.

The first time Frette posed, she was in a 2005 “Girls of the PAC 10” pictorial as a UCLA senior. She was the Playmate centerfold  for June 2008.

Frette, who identifies herself as a writer and then a Playmate, wrote her own article for her 2008 pictorial and contributes to Huffington Post, Examiner.com and other publications. She’s written several analytical works about controversial books for music and literature review. Most of Frette’s work is about social and political issues.

The Herald Bulletin talked with her over the phone.

THB: How do baking and being a Playmate go together?

Frette: Baking is one of my newest obsessions. I’m not going to lie, I tend to be a perfectionist at times. I am very much focused on trying to create the best possible thing, whatever it is that I am working on. I’ve been enjoying perfecting recipes.

In trying to get the perfect cookie, I made it every week for three months, changing something little every week until I got it how I wanted it — thick and chewy and moist for days with all natural ingredients. If there is going to be sugar and fat I want it to be the most wholesome and delicious thing it can be. Finally I perfected my triple chocolate chunk cookie with white chocolate and macadamia nuts. People love it.

You may ask, ‘How can you fit in the bunny costume baking?’ I started really indulging in this habit of cooking and baking a few years ago and when you make something you feel really entitled to eat it, and you should be. The trick is, you eat it for dinner, not in addition to dinner. You don’t want to do it every night though.

THB: How did you first get involved in Playboy?

Frette: I’ve always been relatively liberal but I wasn’t super open-minded to the idea of Playboy when I was younger. I was actually against the idea thinking that taking off their clothes to show themselves to the world was unnecessary and in some ways dangerous. It could ruin a woman’s reputation. But as I went to college I learned more and became more open-minded. I explored women’s studies and feminist issues and it dawned on me, ‘What would it be like if I posed for Playboy and wrote about it?’

I wanted to do it and see what it was like — both good and bad. I felt like taking a risk, and strangely enough the universe obliged me. I wrote about it for my honors thesis. I wrote about the light, the dark and the gray — is it objectifying and is that always a bad thing, is it porn and is porn a bad thing, how does it affect me, how does it affect body issues. I appreciate Playboy giving me that adventure.

THB: How would you reconcile yourself as a feminist and a Playboy bunny? Some say the two can’t coexist.

Frette: People on both sides of the spectrum are kind of correct. I tend toward the extremes in my belief systems. Playboy was a really great but strange journey in trying to teach me moderation. The truth is, it is not entirely good or bad. I wanted to leave the experience being able to saying it was one or the other.

There are a lot of great things for women’s advancement and empowerment that Playboy brought to the table over the years. There is also a lot of contentious negativity brought to image with Playboy — negative body image issues and people saying it objectifies women.

I found Playboy more empowering and ‘subjectifying’ than other forms of media. And over the years, Playboy has promoted the sexual expression and demystified the idea that women can be sexual without being whores.

THB: What would you be doing if you hadn’t gotten involved with Playboy?

Frette: I trace my involvement back to college when decided not to go abroad — recommend girls do that.

I loved exploring the world and traveling and had the opportunity to study abroad but had a boyfriend at the time and decided not to do it because I let my naive worries about the relationship hold me back psychologically. If I’d chosen to go abroad, I wouldn’t have been here when Playboy came to UCLA. I don’t regret doing Playboy, it was amazing and awesome, and is still pretty awesome, but if I had taken that alternate route, I’d have gone out and explored and been a nomad on a  breeze. I probably would have ended up in graduate school and gone into international relations and done something with women or the environment.

I’d be a nerdy, hippie academic. I still do fantasize about making that real.

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