No More Page 3 petition

[StephanieDA]

Anyone else out there supporting the No More Page 3 petition set up by Lucy Holmes?
www.change.org/petitions/dominic-mohan-take-the-bare-boobs-out-of-the-sun-nomorepage3
I wrote a blog about it a while ago, as a mother - please look and share if you want to:
//www.communicatingwithkids.com/our-daughters/

[LapsusLinguae]

Startail and other's who think the say no to page 3 campaign is crap yet find time to post on threads like this - in all seriousness I suggest you read one of these:

The Equality Illusion

Living Dolls

Start joining the dots...

[ashesgirl]

Well FMB bothers me and so does Page 3. I think we can be concerned about misogynistic practices on a number of levels, thank you very much.

I see the 'Haven't you got anything else to worry about?' brigade are out in force.

[ashesgirl]

FMG!

[ashesgirl]

or even FGM

[Procrastinating]

Startail it is all part of the same thing. Men laughing at feminists is part of the same thing too.

I have signed, thanks for reminding me OP.

[SamuraiCindy]

I hate page 3. It is so insidious and I HATE that so many intelligent women seem to see nothing wrong with it...many of them I am sure because they have been told over and over again how 'harmless' it is. It is all about keeping women in our place and these men WANT us to feel uncomfortable when we see it as they think that weakens us and makes us vulnerable.

I am STUNNED that people can even argue the point for keeping it because there is no point.

[StephanieDA]

I think the distorted daily representation of women in the media is a real issue that subtly conditions everyone to view women as decoration only, which undermines our power to effect change in any 'bigger issues'.

After the Leveson report clearly stated that there is a need to tackle 'endemic sexism' in the media, and cites specifically the tabloids' tendency to 'sexualise and demean women', I have seen no mention of this aspect of the report in any newspaper or BBC news coverage, although it affects over 50% of the population. I have never felt so invisible.

Reporting by men for men..? Endemic sexism indeed!

[LapsusLinguae]

The Guardian has a piece on the endemic sexism.

[StephanieDA]

Thanks for that. There was no mention of this in the Sunday Times' extensive coverage of the Leveson report yesterday, except in 'Comment' where Rod Liddle took the piss out of the Guardian and suggested a 'Glamorous Guardianista' every day on page 3.

Why aren't more women angry about this? I have written to the Letters page of the Times, I think we need to make our voices heard to get this taken seriously. Anyone with me?

[LapsusLinguae]

Stop reading The Times! Seriously I read it for years (pre my feminist wake up call). Now I read either the Guardian or the i/The Independent.

Join OBJECT.

[muddledmamma]

Page 3 is wrong wrong wrong! When kids see the objectification of women in NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS it influences the way they see the world. Getting rid of this in our national newspapers is a big step in the right direction. In a generation it stops being normal. What's not to like about that???

I really don't get people's objection to this campaign. No one's talking about banning sex or porn. We're talking about our newspapers ffs.

[DyeInTheEar]

Every day sexism via No More Page 3 facebook page have drawn attention to this in FHM......

here

It's all part of the same crappy attitude to women / violence against women within UK press.

[Frans1980]

Are Page 3 models children or young teenagers? No, they are all 18+ years of age.

Are Page 3 models forced or trafficked? If just one model was proven to be non-consenting I think it would be the end of The Sun as well as Page 3, I don't think The Sun would take that chance. There is no shortage of willing women anyway (as evidence by the large number who enter the Page 3 idol contest each year).

Is The Sun the only newspaper available to buy? No there are plenty papers to choose from.

If it is so offensive why is it the UK's biggest selling newspaper? If it was so bad then noone would buy it and they would go out of business and disappear, no banning would be necessary.

So what's the problem? Is it just prudishness?

[AbigailAdams]

Male privilege in action here.

[Sausageeggbacon]

Laps joining Object? Seriously? They were ripped apart on "that blog" again in the last week or so and called liars. And I can see the point of the article writer. Sorry Object should just be put out of its misery.

[namechangeguy]

If page 3 was banned, would you still be happy about the Sun/Star/Sport, and the kind of 'journalism' you get in them? Wouldn't it be better to shut this kind of gutter press down completely? (and for the record I am happy to ban Page 3). Page 3 is a problem. Gutter press is a bigger problem (in my opinion).

[MrsClown]

Frans1980 - I agree I dont have to buy the rags if I dont want to. However, I do have to live in the world it creates. I do have to be faced with pictures of womens tits everytime I go to the supermarket. I am not a prude. My problem with this is that men do not have the same thing. I actually asked a young man in a newsagents if he would be ok about having pictures of fit young guys with nice packages in nearly every shop and he, bless him, was totally honest and said he wouldnt be. This is a gender issue as far as I am concerned. I went in a newsagents the other week and the manager had put the Sun/Sport and Daily Star with the mens magazines. I asked him why he had done it and he said he was sick of children being infected with all this negative rubbish about women and he also felt for his female staff. I was proud to meet him! I also realise the models are all over 18 but they are often made to look much younger. I realise people should have a choice about what they 'read' but I should also have a choice and I dont. The other week I was on a train. A man aged about 80 opened a copy of the Daily Star on his table straight to the picture of the naked women. Sitting opposite was a little girl who looked over at it and asked her father why that picture was in there. He was embarrassed. I asked the elderly man to put his soft porn away until he got home or at least look at it without having to show it to the rest of the train. I was actually shocked because the father of the child thanked me and said he wished he had my courage!

Namechangeguy - I would love to shut them down but its just too much to hope for.

Sausage - I am a member of OBJECT - dont worry we dont need putting out of our misery - we arent in misery!

[StephanieDA]

Frans, whether the models want to do it or not is beside the point. I question a society which gives our young women the 'choice' to bare their breasts publicly at an age when you don't really know what you're doing. Thinking back to when I was 18 I cringe at some of the things I did thinking it was 'cool'. Luckily for me I can forget them and it doesn't impact on my life. For the Page 3 models, it will always follow them, and make many other careers impossible (including fashion and lingerie modelling). Our young women just starting out in life are exploited for their naivety, even if they are 'willing' at the time. Too late to regret it later. Incidentally, a number of ex-Page 3 models support the No More Page 3 campaign.

Nobody is suggesting a ban, and why does complaining about it make you a prude? I don't understand that.

There will always be a large number of young women clamouring to be Page 3 models and get their tits out for the lads as long as our culture elevates these women as the ones who get the most approval and sexual appreciation from men. The Sun does a great job of promoting this as the only thing women are good for, and many young women believe them.

I think our culture should do more to protect our young women from the kind of sleazy older men who would exploit them for their need for sexual approval. All young people seek attention from the opposite sex, and tabloid editors exploit this need.

[DyeInTheEar]

I'm not a prude. I'm anti page 3. And I'm anti burkas and to a lesser extent hijab - and the Catholic Church and those in the CofE who don't want female bishops. So it's definitely not about being prudish. It's about women not being reduced to their sexuality / gender or being defined and controlled by their gender.

To me saying this is just us being prudish is similar to saying those who spoke up against Black and White Minstrels / casual racist sitcoms / women being slapped in face were being too sensitive or didn't have a sense of humour. It's a much wider and greater issue than you seem to realise.

[Frans1980]

"Frans, whether the models want to do it or not is beside the point."

So you don't want the models to choose. You want to choose on behalf of the models?

"And I'm anti burkas and to a lesser extent hijab"

Anything else you want to ban? Why don't we just ban everything we don't like and we can have a country just like China and have the Government tell us how to live our lives and what we can and can't do?

In Europe a lot of women choose to go topless at beaches. Should we ban that too incase a tiny percentage of people get offended by the human body (despite the fact we are all born naked)?

[DyeInTheEar]

That's my pathetic liberal dilemma I suppose Frans you're right - I'm anti these things. But obviously it's all about freedom and choice and I wouldn't want to be like France insisting on a ban on burkas - but I do have issues with the way women are controlled by various religions.

But if I'm going to take a side of the fence - I can say I'm anti something - and I'm anti page 3 and don't think a newspaper should show bare boobs. I think it's demeaning and dated.

There is a difficult line to tread when you think something is wrong but don't want to hinder an individual's freedom of expression and I absolutely accept I'm on that line.

[DoingItOnTheRoofTopWithSanta]

Franz, feminism is about helping women as a group. The cause of most women will be helped by ending pg3. Those models who lose their jobs will find clothed work else where I'm sure. Nothing wrong with women being topless at the beach. I that's the point breast aren't news

[Frans1980]

"breasts aren't news" neither is anything the sun prints! Stop complaining about crappy tabloids because tabloids always will be crappy. If you want news then buy a decent newspaper.

[Frans1980]

"The cause of most women will be helped by ending pg3"

To be perfectly honest I would guess most non-feminist women don't care if page 3 exists or not.