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Original poster

....to want to ban page 3???

736 replies

DianaVreeland · 20/07/2012 16:07

I remember seeing a page 3 girl for the first time when I was about 6 as my neighbour bought the Sun. I cringed inwardly, and haven't stopped feeling the same since. I have 5 nieces 3 nephews and my own 2 sons.....I hope they could grow up without seeing images of women objectified like this. Clearly I am not showing this to them but at some point I know they will. Does anyone else feel the same?

OP posts:
NovackNGood · 20/07/2012 20:02

I expect far fewer men have masturbated to Page 3 today than woman in the UK have today reading 50 shades of shit.

GhostShip · 20/07/2012 20:02

Linerunner where has anyone said all men. You're very good at putting words into people's mouths it would seem :o

LineRunner · 20/07/2012 20:03

See, all the arguments are a mish-mash of denial and hypocrisy, including mine.

Page 3 is crap though. It's creepy (to me) and I would ban it because it's a vile anachronism in a 'family newspaper'.

NotAnArtist · 20/07/2012 20:03

Ok, so page 3 is bad because men wank over it and that objectifies all women?
And men aren't objectified in the same way at all?

I don't believe that for a second. Heat magazine (just as accessible to children as the Sun) has torso of the week, where they print a full-page picture of a topless man, often just wearing swimwear or covering his crotch with a towel or football or something equally cheesy.
I see Facebook statuses leering over men every day - the most recent being something about "I'm glad my son is at preschool today as slebIfancy is on the telly and mummy needs some private time ;)"
And for every wolf-whistle or unsavoury comment I've received, I've seen at least as many hen nights shouting "get yer cock out!" at some poor guy in the street.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's all a bit crap and tacky, but it definitely happens to men too, and plenty of men AND women have managed perfectly well to get past that and be seen as intelligent, powerful people.

SamuelWestsMistress · 20/07/2012 20:05

The Sun isn't a newspaper. Tis for wiping ones shitty arse upon! It gives the inner perve in most men some sort daily pleasure so that's probably why it's never been banned. The Sun is pretty much entirely aimed at men isn't it?

Remember the cans of Tennnants that had naked ladies on them? I think I saw more tits by the time they were banned than I've ever seen since, due to my weekly job of clearing the verge outside my parents house.

EclecticShock · 20/07/2012 20:05

The sun is not a family newspaper... It's for adults, like most newspapers. I've been far more disturbed by stories in the mirror, DM and women's mags like chat than p3.

minimisschief · 20/07/2012 20:11

im still wondering how people saw a painting earlier in which a woman was painted naked pleasuring herself is fine and nothing to sweat about but a picture is somehow different.

what about nude models that strip to get people painting them. why is that fine to celebrate the human body but pictures are pervy?

and i have never heard a guy calling women who oggle naked men perverted but women are very quick to judge and look down on men for admirig the opposite sex in the same circumstances.

villagegossip · 20/07/2012 20:13

O.k won't name change but as someone who has actually been a page 3 girl, I can say that it does not pay unless you are a very established name pair of tits and it is/was seen as an acceptable place for girls to get into glamour without the sleaze.

Not saying that was the case for me as was too old for one thing and also had no desire to make it a 'career'.

It happened, I am in a strange way proud of it but have done many more things to make me proud that don't carry the same social stigma - it is not something I tell people and can understand why others find it offensive or not relevant.

maytheoddsbeeverinyourfavour · 20/07/2012 20:14

YANBU

I actually don't have an issue with porn soft or otherwise, but there is a time and a place for it and I think that a newspaper is not it

It also seems rather pathetic to me but that is only my opinion

LineRunner · 20/07/2012 20:15

I might quite like to see Page 3 Classical Nude Paintings. But I wouldn't let Brian Sewell write the captions.

messyisthenewtidy · 20/07/2012 20:17

YANBU.

It pisses me off too. It's sleazy.

EclecticShock · 20/07/2012 20:19

Personally I think a child reading about the Denver massacre would have more impact than p3 on their well being. Newspapers are for adults.

NurseBernard · 20/07/2012 20:24

I honestly don't think anyone wants to BAN anything or take away an individual's right to choose...

I think some people are just a bit better at looking at the bigger picture and would just rather live in a work where -

  • women weren't objectified
  • tits didn't feature in a daily newspaper
  • men didn't need to look at tits over the cereal or on their way into work
  • women were made to feel 'powerful' / 'empowered' by the fact that lots of strangers stare at their tits, etc, etc...

All 'power' to anyone who wants or needs to do this, but to deny the knock-on effect that this is part and parcel of to other women is sticking your head in the sand.

LineRunner · 20/07/2012 20:26

The phrase 'family newspaper' belongs to the Murdoch empire, I think.

NurseBernard · 20/07/2012 20:27

*... live in a world where...

maytheoddsbeeverinyourfavour · 20/07/2012 20:29

I agree electricshock, but I think it would be much easier for a child to 'accidentally' see the pic on page three than to read an article,especially a younger child

It just seems pointless and sleazy to me

squeakytoy · 20/07/2012 20:35

"Newspapers are for adults."

I would strongly disagree with that. If a child is old enough to read and understand what they are reading, which at the age of 9 and above, most should be, then they should be encouraged to read newspapers and have an awareness of what is going on in the world, good and bad.

NurseBernard · 20/07/2012 20:37

Yes, aren't newspapers a widely-used educational tool in schools?

DontmindifIdo · 20/07/2012 20:45

It's just that it's so sleezy, and while the Sun try to pretend to be a 'family paper' they aren't when they have this there. All other publications that show either woman scantly clad or men's 'torso of the week' etc don't sell themselves as being for the whole family, just for one element of it. This is why I have far less issue with other porn, because noone tries to suggest it's ok to leave a porn mag on the coffee table where there's children around, no 'adult' publication aims itself at the 'family' market - 'lads mags' are clear they are just aimed at 16-30 year old men/boys, not also aiming at woman or children. If woman want to read them, then they are happy with that, but they don't but a 'ladies' section like most tabloids do.

I would have no problem with the photos themselves in a different publication. Just not in a 'family newspaper'

smearedinfood · 20/07/2012 20:53

I came to the UK in 2004. I picked up a newspaper on the tube to read and saw an erotically posed woman with no top and quickly put it back down on a seat sharpish

Totally shocked! It seemed like some thing from 60s.

Happily have it banned if it meant kids did not have to see it on art tables.

Just a really odd British thing.

Question: is the sun's target market men and the daily mail target women?

WorraLiberty · 20/07/2012 21:01

Kids don't have to see it on art tables if teachers make sure there are no nude pics.

I went to a catholic school during the 70's and 80's and the teachers regularly went through the newspapers covering the art tables. The just threw away anything they considered rude.

EclecticShock · 20/07/2012 21:01

It's just breasts. They are a thing of beauty IMO. Women are desired by men as vice versa. I don't agree with children seeing this stuff but then my hold has seen my breasts... I'm not sure he'd understand the difference.

TalHotBlond · 20/07/2012 21:11

I feel uncomfortable when I see old men reading it on the train and looking over in my direction. Bleurgh!

Two of my friends were promo girls/ models at uni and got offered page three. Twas a firm no from both of them. I don't think it does women any favours tbh.

Babymamaroon · 20/07/2012 21:11

YANBU!!!! it's a disgrace that soft porn is acceptable in a family paper.

jenny60 · 20/07/2012 21:11

YANBU and neither am I in insisting on my right not to have to see those pages on the tube, newsagent etc.. Why is that less important than the right of women to pose for them and of men to wank over them?