Feminists: Topless Page 3 has to go
Activists pushing for end to tabloid’s ‘British institution’
LONDON — Britain’s best-selling The Sun newspaper has called the topless women famously featured on its Page 3 a “British institution” — on par, seemingly, with a full English breakfast or quietly queuing at bus stops.
But for a new wave of feminists who are as tenacious as they are Twitter savvy, The Sun’s daily dose of bare breasts is not a quirky tradition worth celebrating, but a poignant example of modern-day sexism that urgently needs covering up.
The plainly named “No More Page 3” campaign has emerged as one of the highest-profile of the many feminist groups that have recently sprouted up in Britain, fueled by social media.
For its part, The Sun is characteristically unrepentant when it comes to the calls to drop its signature photos.
In an interview with the BBC last month, editor David Dinsmore said that the paper polled focus groups and that “the result comes back a resounding, ‘Keep it there, don’t take it away!’ ”
He added: “I’m making a paper for the readers.”
When pressed on what Page 3 brings to readers, Dinsmore replied: “A smile.” Not to everyone. Lucy-Anne Holmes remembers reading her family newspaper as a girl and anxiously comparing her body with those of the topless models.
“I was comparing my breasts to these girls, and I just assumed at age 11 my breasts were there for men to see, which is a powerful thing,” she said.
During the London Olympics last year, she finally had enough. She noticed that the largest single female image in the newspaper wasn’t an athlete, but a topless model.
A year and a half later, the topless models in The Sun’s flagship paper are still there, such as Mel, 22, a brunette who recently posed wearing only a gold necklace and pink underwear.
But instead of fizzling out, the “No More” campaign is expanding.
In August, the Irish edition of The Sun ditched its topless models, citing “cultural differences” between Ireland and England. Dozens of universities have yanked copies from their shelves.
Nearly 130,000 people — including 150 members of Parliament — have signed an online petition asking the editor to drop the feature. The British Girl Guides have voiced their support. So have teaching unions. So has the Welsh government.
Supporters say: So what? It’s a bit of harmless fun, they say, and if you don’t like it, don’t buy it.
This isn’t the first concerted stand against Page 3, which has long been a lightning rod for feminists. In 2004, Clare Short, the then-Labour member of Parliament, said that the images were pornographic.
Illustrating its propensity to attack those who attack it, the tabloid responded by superimposing Short’s head onto a topless model, labeled her “fat” and “jealous,” and dispatched a bus to her house filled with Page 3 models.
In a sign of how visible the campaign has become, British Prime Minister David Cameron has been asked about it repeatedly, including last week in Parliament. He says it’s up to the consumer to decide whether to buy the paper, adding that he does not support a ban on the images.
Campaigners say they aren’t asking for legislation, just for the paper to drop the images, arguing that they objectify and demean women and, unlike topshelf pornography, are easily accessible by children.
The Sun introduced topless models in 1970, under the helm of its new owner, Rupert Murdoch. A year later, circulation had shot up 29 percent.
There have been changes over the years: There are no more topless models on the weekend; no more girls under age 18; no more surgically enhanced breasts; no more “News in Briefs,” a text box next to the model with pithy comments on the news of the day.
But there is a growing sense that the images are a leftover vestige of a bygone era, a time capsule to the 1970s when it was deemed amusing to see scantily clad women chasing Benny Hill. Even Murdoch tweeted in February that he was considering if the images were “so last century.”
The campaign against Page 3 is part of a larger resurgence of feminist activism in Britain, with many women using social media and their personal stories to propel causes forward.
In the case of The Sun, which did not return calls for this article, the topless models are one flick away from the front page, evoking emotions on both sides of the debate.
Emily Wearmouth, 32, who was in a recent Page 3 protest in central London with her mother and infant son, said, “It’s really important that our major, most widespread national newspaper treats women in a more respectful manner, rather than objectifying us over everybody’s breakfast.”