Hmmm! I dislike the Sun's Page 3 because the near-naked model is presented as wank-meat in a newspaper (yes, OK, but it's still the best-seller). This means that a man is invited to think of a girl's body as a sex object while he's travelling to work, on his lunch break, whatever ... as part of an ordinary day, during which he interacts with young women. I can't believe his daily tits don't infect the way he thinks about those women.
I have less of a problem with men's magazines because their primary purpose is as a sex aid (Not getting into the whole porn thing here). Wrt to women's magazines & advertising - those are my areas of expertise and, perhaps sadly, women prefer to buy images of women. This is undoubtedly a reflection of ingrained cultural bias: the theory says we are constantly self-critical and endlessly in search of a 'better' woman to emulate. That should be changed imo, but it's a long job and I don't feel it can be changed by attacking it directly.
As for "sex sells" - that's true, but so do babies! They are the two most powerful triggers and, in as far as it can be researched, equally powerful. The completely inaccurate belief that nothing sells like a naked woman is wishful thinking emanating from the offices of 'Mad Men' (and that old).
Cultural sexification of women is nothing more than a symptom of male dominance. So is cultural de-sexification of women. In a healthy and equal society, everyone would celebrate and respect each other's sexuality and their chosen level of sexiness. It can be argued (quite strongly, imo) that current Western fashion is some way forward in this respect.
Last night at the Brits, men and women were sexed-up and painted for everyone's pleasure. During the high points of my career I needed to wear makeup, have my nails painted, etc. By the time it finished it was completely normal to see women at work with bare faces, wet hair, flat shoes, etc. It's small progress, all right. But it is progress.
I see movement towards that mutual respect & celebration. Much/most of the sleazier kind of girlsex presentation stems from outdated male ideas. I worry that some feminists get bogged down in the symptoms of the problem, rather than addressing the cause. And the cause is still imbalance of power.
I don't care if women all wear spangled pink bikinis and hair extensions, as long as they wear them by choice - and as long as they gain equal power, in terms of asset control and political authority. To say such attire would incite rape is an insult to both men and women. To insist it would prevent women from gaining authority is to accept the values of outdated males (and is an insult to Madonna!)
I rather suspect feminism betrays itself by bothering so much about fripperies.