Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask you all to sign the "No More Page 3" petition?

466 replies

UnrequitedSkink · 17/09/2012 21:18

It's a bit of a no-brainer really. How are we ever supposed to show our kids that women are more than just sex objects when Page 3 exists? It's archaic and totally unnecessary. It's also an anachronism and offensive. Please sign if you believe that pictures of topless girls don't belong in a so-called family newspaper.

More info here and a facebook page here

Fantastically, the petition has gone from 2,000 signatures yesterday morning to over 16,000 today!

OP posts:
BlackTieNTails · 18/09/2012 21:03

people have been trying to ban page 3 since Mary Whitehouse and her cronies

Personally I think you are being ridiculous, but if it keeps you off the streets ........

TBH I find Mumsnet far more offensive some days

FreudiansGoldSlipper · 18/09/2012 21:08

well it just shows how many would rather the sun got rid of page 3

one day our voices will not just be heard but be taken notice of too this is how petitions work

GoldShip · 18/09/2012 21:10

hmmthinkingaboutit that's really sad.

threeOrangesocksmorgan · 18/09/2012 21:11

still think yabu

HmmThinkingAboutIt · 18/09/2012 21:22

Isn't it Goldship?

We are apathetic about issues which have very real potential to save lives and stop traumatic experiences, and yet issues like this and you get far more outrage and scandal...

Therefore Tits = More important than better healthcare for women.

Very sad state of affairs.

And by that you can also conclude the power of Tits and how much of value they are to sell newspapers and magazine, as a certain Kate will testify to. So if people think this will stop the Sun having page three they are somewhat deluded.

Tits sell. Thats the bottom line.

Given the demographic of the readership of the Sun I don't think they'll be too bothered by very (middle class) outrage from people who don't buy the Sun anyway. They don't make their money from them...

The ONLY thing the Sun would listen to, particularly in a market of declining sales of printed newspapers, is an organised boycott of the paper. Hit their pocket, not the extra publicity headlines. Cos as they say, there's 'no such thing as bad publicity'...

HmmThinkingAboutIt · 18/09/2012 21:25

Oh and I won't sign the petition.

Far more important things to worry about.

I hope all the women on this thread who are signing are all ending their subscriptions to the various celeb/womens mags at the same time as the vast majority objectify women just as much as Page 3.

The lack of 3 inches of fabric do not morally define the problem.

FoodUnit · 18/09/2012 21:33

Awful how Page 3 is used to harass women and girls and create a hostile environment for them.

It legitimises blatant perving in public spaces, legitimises hollering and hassling, legitimises openly commenting on women's bodies, it legitimises degrading behaviour.

Get rid!

FoodUnit · 18/09/2012 21:33

Awful how Page 3 is used to harass women and girls and create a hostile environment for them.

It legitimises blatant perving in public spaces, legitimises hollering and hassling, legitimises openly commenting on women's bodies, it legitimises degrading behaviour.

Get rid!

StrawberrytallCAKE · 18/09/2012 21:41

I signed the midwife petition and the page 3 petition.

You can believe in and sign up for more than one idea.

CakeBump · 18/09/2012 21:54

What about topless midwives Strawberry?

Would you sign?

prettyontheinside · 18/09/2012 22:24

why stop there? what about the BLATANT Lad's Mag's? you can't go to the supermarket, petrol stations, newsagents without seeing boobs, a gusset etc. at the very least, these magazines should be top shelf or in a cover.

threeOrangesocksmorgan · 18/09/2012 22:25

what about women who sunbathe topless, or wear revealing tops

prettyontheinside · 18/09/2012 22:28

the real women you see topless sunbathing are tangible and possibly not airbrushed to within an inch of their pubes, oh that's right the ones 'represented' in the media don't have them anymore.

DisappointedHorse · 18/09/2012 22:30

Done.

bionicmummy · 18/09/2012 22:30

there should be more publicity of this - like on radio/tv/etc - and get more votes and something actually done.

prettyontheinside · 18/09/2012 22:34

i'm off to bed to watch the adult freeview where i can see some woman jiggling her butt cheeks whilst shaking a phone like a maraca. petition signed.

morethanpotatoprints · 18/09/2012 22:42

I can't believe so many women are trying to stop this. There would be an uproar if you weren't allowed to see the male flesh you see in womens mags. I would much rather my normal lads as teenagers take a ppek at page three than wander onto a really disgusting and outrageous porn movie online. You have no right do dictate what people look at, so YABVU

Honsandrevels · 18/09/2012 22:54

I've signed.

TheCreepingLurgy · 18/09/2012 23:16

I find it rather sad, morethanpotatoprints, that you think your l normal lads have only two options: look at page 3 or a disgusting porn movie. How about considering girls for who they are rather than how they look?

This is exactly why page 3 is so demeaning. It shows how normalised judging women on their tits has become. It shouldn't be the norm. We shouldn't encourage it by condoning it.

Plus, there's always the possibility that your lads wouldn't go looking for a disgusting porn movie if page 3 wasn't there. Now that I would consider normal.

Plus the petition is not about banning or not allowing or dictating what people look at. It is harnessing public opinion to entice a voluntary change.

thebeesnees79 · 18/09/2012 23:26

looks like its getting round more, over 22,000 people signed!! we might have a chance after all

blonderthanred · 18/09/2012 23:40

Hmmthinking you can have more important things to worry about and still care about this.

And I gave up reading gossip magazines years ago for that very reason, when their tone changed from lighthearted to bitchy to misogynistic.

DadDancer · 19/09/2012 00:32

Evening Ladies, I came here from the Stripping the illsuion blog (the pro lap dancing club blog not the Object site). I'd heard from them about the antics on the mumsnet forum so thought i'd check it out for myself. So far it hasn't dissapointed and i am pleasantly surprised to see so many female page 3 supporters on here.

I personally find the whole objectification of women argument a bit condescending. It appears to me that it was conveniently invented by disgruntled feminists to try and win the moral high ground on such issues as this. So basically you are saying that if a bloke views a nude picture of a women, fancies them or fantasizes about an image of them, they suddenly regard all women as sex objects? It's nice to know that some women still regard us as such primitive beings who can't be trusted with such imagery.
Maybe you think by banning page 3 you can somehow reign us in or re-educate us?

With regards to such material not being suitable in the context of a newspaper, since when was there a rule book which defines what a newspaper should be? Whatever happened to freedom of expression and diversity. Take away page 3 and the celeb gossip from the Sun and you are left with a right wing paper similar to the Daily Mail which would be pointless.

I am not normally a Sun reader myself but to sometimes buy it when they give away the free Lego and alton towers tickets, etc. Of the times i have read it, i thought the page 3 was very tastefully done, and the girls were quite curvy and natural looking. Nothing like the surgically enhanced, air brushed girls who some of the posters have portrayed here.

fortifiedwithtea · 19/09/2012 00:56

In reply to DadDancer the majority of posters on here are mothers. Speaking for myself I quirm when I get asked why has that lady got no clothes on. I'm an occasional Sun reader, when a head line grabs me or the week there was the Lego giveaway.

I have no objection to anyone enjoying looking at boobs if that's what floats their boat. There are lads mags for that. And I take your point about freedom of the press but a posed image of a page 3 girl is not news.

Yamyoid · 19/09/2012 01:02

I would just like to object to the crap spouted by DadDancer. I am not one for getting into slanging matches on MN, but couldn't ignore the post. Have you not read some of the very good arguments put forward against page 3 on this thread?

You are obviously trying to be provocative and patronising simply by beginning 'evening ladies'.

I cannot ever see how a page 3 image can be considered 'tasteful'.

Newspaper - the clue's in the name. Although the Sun only just qualifies for that name. Yes, maybe you're right, its existence is pointless.

I have signed the petition.

Dana1981 · 19/09/2012 01:48

Have you not read some of the very good arguments put forward against page 3 on this thread

What "good arguments"? The impression I get is you simply want it removed because you personally morally object to it.

if a bloke views a nude picture of women, fancies them or fantasizes about an image of them, they suddenly regard all women as sex objects?

I don't know how exactly, but that seems to be the general feminist logic.

And as someone said most likely all you are doing is giving the Sun and Mr Dominic lots of free publicity and advertising. When you are trying to sell something any publicity is good publicity! The worst thing that could happen to The Sun and page 3 would be if if got no attention at all and people stopped buying it.

bottom line- do continue with your little petition but as long as people keep buying the Sun they will continue to print it (along with page 3).