ACCEPT joined ANA (The Society of Feminist Analyses) in its public condemning of the Romanian Playboy magazine. The latter had published an article under the heading: "How to Beat Your Wife Without Leaving Any Marks” (issue 4/April 2000, pp. 100-1).
The article in question consisted in a series of „professional tips”, by which readers were instructed how to beat their spouses without producing incriminatory bruises; which is the tolerable length of a beating; and which household tools can be used in the process. Moreover, it included tips for psychologically humiliating the victim!
        ANA organisation (backed by yet other NGOs, such as the Foundation for an Open Society, the Faculty of Political Sciences, SNSPA – Bucharest, Pro-Democracy Association, Equal Opportunities for Women, Jeunesses Musicales Romania and the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society) stated, "the article is doubtless an instigation to domestic violence. It violates women’s rights and dignity, and undermines the legislative and institutional efforts made by the State, as well as the activity of all the NGOs which dedicated their work to counteracting domestic violence, women’s discrimination and to social reinsertion of the domestic violence victims.”
        The management of Romanian Playboy apologised for the article. Dan-Silviu Boerescu (Chief Editor) stated that "this article is by no means representative for the publication’s general profile or for my personal feelings” and promised to join the NGOs in their efforts of combating violence against women. He also explained that the text was no more than an April fool’s joke…
        Well, a joke that didn’t amuse the managers of Playboy Enterprises, either. Christie Hefner (the company’s President and Executive Director) personally assured the Romanian public that the article opposes 46 years of Playboy’s fighting against any kind of visual or editorial materials illustrating violence against women. "We can neither excuse,  nor tolerate such an article”, she added.