Petition to stop Tesco's selling lads' mags

There is a big debate about 'choice' and the choices young women make to appear in lads mags. For instance, if a young working class woman feels her choice is either to break into glamour modeling, or work in a factory/at tescos, is that a fair choice? And, on top of that, if she feels that she has to do a number of shoots for free to get some work experience, is that a fair choice for her to make?

And then if she takes part in the lads mags recruiting drives like Babes on the Bed (Nuts) where women in nightclubs were recruited to perform 'in a competition' (read: for free) semi-naked on a bed while the men watched, with the hope of winning a photo shoot. Or put up photos of herself, in sexual poses, semi-naked, online, again for free, so that men can rate them and they can 'win' a photoshoot.

The website actually says
"Girls, upload sexy photos of yourself in this section. The most popular girls will win a photo shoot in a future issue of Nuts magazine.
Guys, you can help to choose who wins by voting for the sexiest photos and making friends with the girls."

So the 'guys' get to make friends with the girls too. That's a bonus. So the "girls" need to make sure they are chatty and talking to the men as well, to get the votes.

LoulouH - As for men channelling their leery eyes onto these women instead of the (reluctant) real women around them in real life, I think it is more likely that they will leer and objectify real women, say in a nightclub, if they do it personally with pictures of women.

Rockbird - I agree about newspapers like the Sport. I hate them. But I think they all need tackling. It's not an either/or situation.

Rockbird - There is a campaign against page 3
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=85555267501&ref=ts
turnyourbackonpage3.wordpress.co m/

No, but I'd rather they tackle the newspapers first, newspapers which are lying around in people's houses, read on trains etc. These are far more accessible to children than magazines which they'd have to tear their eyes away from the latest Glittery Sparkle or Fluffy Cute Pets magazine to see.

I don't see too much of a problem with the mags themselves. Put them up near the top shelf where they belong, otherwise I can't see that they are any worse than countless other things you see. For a country that still has 'newspapers' with naked women in, one of which is considered to be a key player, it's all a bit pointless to petition against these.

typo. content not contact

I agree that the nipple to nipple type mags should be sealed and put on the front cover. Then again I think that music videos should be censored too (if Madonnas sex book was released today do you think it would have the same restrictions it had when it was first released - probably not). I see nothing wrong with FHM etc but the trashy ones need to be sorted.

If the women featuring in the magazines are happy to do so, why do other women feel they should stop it? I don't see any harm in it, sorry. Also is it not better that lads buy these mags and leer over the contact rther than letching on other women that are not willing to be objectified.

Signed. Great petition.

I think these magazines are pushing boundaries to see what they can get away with on their covers.

Its embarrasing to go to local supermarkets and have them on full view (often above newspapers).
Signed the petition.

I remember reading somewhere that FHM has made an attempt to extricate itself from the lads' mag market recently, so maybe it doesn't do this sort of thing. But lots of others do.

I'm not trying to undermine it. Just understand it. I don't really see that magazines such as FHM, Loaded etc are that bad. We have equivalents to them. Nuts/Zoom whatever they are called fair enough, but last time I checked FHM was okay.

I'd sign something to change/cover the front page so that young children aren't exposed to it, but I think that banning them outright is ott. Sorry.

I remember seeing at least one lads' mag cover featuring two topless women in a fetching nipple-to-nipple pose. I've never seen any mainstream mag featuring anything equivalent for men (let alone on the cover). I'd bet a large sum of money that the 'Totty of the week' pictures are extremely tame compared with the average content of lads' mags.

No, men can't be objectified in the same way as women in the same way that in a predominently white society white people are not the victims of institutional racism (although they may be victims personally). That isn't to say that I don't object to such items as they are also encouraging the 'pornification' of everyday life. I don't think it's helpful to bring up this kind of argument as women are in a particularly vulnerable position (for example being effectivley under curfew by not being able to safely walk the streets at night - this is not a comparable situation for men however many firemen calenders are printed). Needless to say, I've signed

Shiny - Why are you trying to undermine the cause? [genuine question]

More has/had 'Totty of the week' which featured topless men. No nipple twiddling though. Does FHM have nipple twiddling? it never used to [genuine question]

Does 'More' magazine feature pictures of topless men on the cover twiddling other topless men's nipples? Genuine question. I never look at magazines unless it's Private Eye.

I'm sure men can be, but they're not objectified half as much as women. If men have a problem with More etc, they can set up their own campaign.

Are they going to petition against More magazine too? Or all those Firemen charity calanders?

Or can't men be objectified?

*in any way

I don't represent the campaign in any but I imagine that they're targeting Tesco as it is one of the biggest chains and it's easier to target one place than all of them, you need somewhere to direct your energies.

Lads mags are the worst for objectifying women. www.object.org.uk say it very well.

Why object to lads' mags? - page from Object explaining its position.

Dunno why Tesco specifically though - maybe it's the biggest retailer for newspapers and magazines these days?