Even by the standards of the 1970s—a decade that famously gave us Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby (1978)—the Playboy spread was shocking. Hugh Hefner’s magazine, which typically featured women in their 20s, was now publishing images of a pre-adolescent girl. The legal age of consent in France was, at the time, 15, but Eva was 11.
Critics and legal experts have used Ionesco’s case to highlight the lack of protection for minors in the 1970s media landscape, often citing the influence of "pedophile networks" at the time. 🎬 Professional Evolution eva ionesco playboy magazine updated