[salem]

The Sun Page 3: 17 November 1970 - 16 January 2015... RIP.


The Sun appears to have stopped publishing topless models on Page 3 after reportedly quietly dropping the controversial feature after 44 years.

Britain's best-selling tabloid has come under mounting pressure from politicians and campaigners to drop the glamour shots amid claims they are sexist.

Today shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman welcomed reports that the photos have been ditched, and said it would mean the Sun is "moving into the 21st century".

But the Sun has refused to confirm a report in today's edition of the Times, which states that it "understands that Friday's edition of the paper was the last that will carry an image of a glamour model with bare breasts on that page".

Dylan Sharpe, head of public relations at the Sun, refused to confirm or deny the reports. He said: "It is all just speculation, it is all wild speculation."

No pictures of bare-chested models have been included on page three since Friday.

Asked why the feature did not appear in the newspaper today or yesterday, Mr Sharpe said: "The Sun occasionally drops it."

Today's edition features Hollyoaks actresses Jennifer Metcalfe and Gemma Merna running along a Dubai beach in their bikinis. Readers are advised to go online to see "Page 3 Lucy from London".

The page three pin-ups were introduced by the newspaper in 1970, less than a year after Rupert Murdoch bought the title.

But the News Corp boss signalled last year that he was considering dropping the feature.

He asked his Twitter followers: ''Aren't beautiful young women more attractive in at least some fashionable clothes?''

He went on: ''Brit feminists bang on forever about Page 3. I bet never buy paper. I think old fashioned but readers seem to disagree.''

The paper's editor has defended the controversial feature in the past, saying women readers fully support it.

Campaigners have hailed the reported move "historic news" and a significant victory in the battle against sexism.

The No More Page 3 protest group wrote on its **24** page: "Wow ... we're hearing The Sun may have dropped Page 3.

"This could be truly historic news and a great day for people power.

"We don't know the details for sure and there's still lots to be done. But this could be a huge step for challenging media sexism. And we are so incredibly grateful to all of you who stood up and said No More Page 3."

The campaign group's founder, actress Lucy-Anne Holmes, said the group would not claim victory if scantily clad women continued to appear in the paper. But she said it was a "step in the right direction" if they were no longer topless.

She told BBC2's Newsnight: "I'm not going to stand here and say: 'There's going to now be women in underwear on page three and isn't that great?'."

Ms Harman, a vocal critic of Page 3, told LBC the move would mean that the Sun is "moving into the 21st century".

She said: "We do think that, in a newspaper that is about news, the idea of a girl standing there in her knickers with some sort of pseudo political quote really is not the representation of women's role in this country that I want to see."

The Labour MP said that while she has "always been against Page 3", she would not support a Government-imposed ban on the feature.

And she added that if the reported demise of Page 3 in the tabloid is correct, "it won't be quiet - we will be making sure it is not quiet".

Labour MP Stella Creasy, who has campaigned against Page 3, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I know people kept saying 'Turn the page, don't look at it if you don't want to see it' - it missed the point that it was having an impact on our society.

"The sexualisation, the objectification of women in this way was basically saying to all of us that what mattered, frankly, were our breasts not our brains.

"Challenging that and saying the impact of just letting this stuff lie, of saying that somehow it's some great British institution like James Bond and moaning about the weather, that's not the world we wanted to live in any more."

Former glamour model Jodie Marsh has led the backlash against the move, insisting on Twitter that "telling girls they shouldn't do page 3 is not being a feminist".

In a series of tweets she said: "So-called 'feminists' really annoy me. Telling girls they shouldn't do page 3 is not being a feminist; women should do whatever they want."

Commenting on her career as a Page 3 pin-up, she said: "I loved doing page 3, it was good money, I felt powerful, I was definitely in control and all the people (mostly women) I worked with were fab.

"I never felt exploited - in fact the opposite. I thought 'Blimey, people are willing to pay to see my boobs'.

"I am very much a feminist. I believe women can do it all and have it all. Women who slag off other women are just jealous and insecure.

"Women shouldn't be fighting to be equal to men. We are there already."

She said campaigners should focus on more important issues that affect women, such as female genital **13**.

Page 3 girl Rhian Sugden, 28, lashed out at the reported move, saying: "It's only a matter of time before everything we do will be dictated by comfy shoe-wearing, no bra-wearing, man-haters."

Former glamour model Nicola McLean said she did not think Page 3 is a "sexual equality" issue.

She told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "It has been going for many years, which is one of the reasons I feel so sad that it has seemingly come to an end.

"I don't think it is outdated. I think the girls still look fantastic on the page, they still clearly enjoy what they are doing, people still want to see it.

"Everybody still wants Page 3, apart from the feminists who are fighting an argument I just don't agree with.

"If you meet any Page 3 girl who has gone on to pose for the Sun, we are all very strong-minded women that have made our own choice and feel very happy with what we are doing.

"We certainly don't feel like we have been victimised."

This could indeed be a sad day. Many of my earliest boob memories are of looking at the Page 3 girls in the Sun newspaper. Donna Ewin was one of the first girls I fell in love with because of her (at the time, for me at least) fantastic big boobs. Many of my favourite models have come from the Page 3 stable, not least the tall, beautiful and long-legged Pet@ Todd .

The 80's was a classic era for Page 3 with the likes of Maria Whittaker, Gail McKenna, Karen Brennan, Sam Fox, Tracey Neve and Pauline Hickey to name but a few. But every era had it's classics, right up to the present day where red haired stunner Lucy Collett and brunette stunner Lacey Banghard still made appearances.

Yes, Page 3 will be a loss. A British institution which will very much be missed.

[gOOber]

^

[solvegas]

Why do so many " Feminists " sound and act so much like the dowagers of the Victorian era ? Rhia Sugden's comments hit it on the nail, says I.

[Robin_K2]

http://news.yahoo.com/feminists-cheer-bare-breasts-disappear-uk-tabloid-125041970--finance.html

Condolences to our British friends!

(I've never equated female nudity with anti-feminsim; in fact, I'd argue for Page-3 lads as well as women, and strip clubs with something for everyone. The Tilted Kilt restaurants come closest, with a little beefcake besides cheescake.)

But back to Page-3 . . . end of an era?  

(P.S. I know we have a P-3 thread for photos; this one is meant for news of the apparent end of P-3.)

[solvegas]

Salem on his Page 3 thread in the General Discussion section alludes to this. Pretty sad day. The Feminazis claiming victory are a strange bunch. They state women's bodies are theirs to do as they wish so they support unrestricted abortion rights yet women who show us their tits should be stopped.  Peculiar. They state women should be in the infantry yet they are too weak to protect themselves from predators so in many colleges they now have this vague standard of behavior in which women can claim **14** yet the accused has no right to challenge the accusation and may get expelled from college without legal representation or police investigation. Seems to be the lunatics are now in charge of the loony bin.

[pedonbio]

Despite sol's enthusiasm for ranting against anyone he perceives as having a view of life which differs from his, I doubt that the change has anything to do with feminism. Rupert Murdoch pulled the photos from the Irish edition two years ago. Ireland is hardly a hotbed of feminism.

[TheZookie007]

"Women shouldn't be fighting to be equal to men. We are there already."

I wish this were true, but it isn't.

i-D: "stop the press: page 3 is being abolished"
The controversial institution that's seen women posing topless in The Sun for 44 years is no more.

"Ever since its inception, thousands of think pieces have been whipped up on the subject of Page 3. Whilst most have condemned it for its degradation of women, its rendering them sexual objects, purely for the delectation of the male viewer, others have defended it for its celebration of the female form. After all, these women are choosing to take their clothes off and exercise their right to do what they want with their bodies. In fact, they see these nude images as an expression of their own female sexuality, and feel empowered by being in them. Then again, other women are forced into it just so they can pay the rent, and it's these women who feminists and groups like No More Page 3 have been campaigning for. Finally, they no longer have to, with The Sun announcing today that the Page 3 girl is no more. While this hardly heralds the end of objectifying women in the media, it's certainly a step in the right direction."

[TheZookie007]

To be fair, Page 3 models haven't disappeared. They just will be wearing bikinis instead of being topless.

[gOOber]

To be fair, Page 3 models haven't disappeared. They just will be wearing bikinis instead of being topless.

Thank gawd we don`t have to look at nipples.

[LinaRomayFan]

Seems that Page 3 is back in The Sun as of today.

I'm not sure if it was a publicly stunt, but I would imagine that Page 3 is less important to The Sun than it once was. I'm not sure who buys The Sun these days, but younger men obviously have a big selection of 'lad's mags' to choose from.

Certainly the Internet has hurt top shelf (soft porn) magazines, which is a shame. I'm sure we in the UK recall fondly the days of Mayfair and Club. I'm sure even international publications like Playboy and Penthouse have seen vastly reduced circulation.

I'm not a luddite, but new technologies always seem to mean the end of an era.

[TheZookie007]

Well, that was quick.

Daily Mail: "Page 3 returns… after a week: Winking topless woman appears in The Sun under 'clarifications and corrections' headline"

• Segment in The Sun was believed to have been dropped after 44 years
• Newspaper had not published topless glamour model photos since Friday
• But feature returned today under heading 'Clarifications and Corrections'
• Paper 'apologises' and publishes photo of 'Nicole, 22, from Bournemouth'
• No To Page 3 campaign group spokesman admits 'fight might be back on'

[Robin_K2]

Yup. Either looks like a publicity stunt -- which many say it is -- or it was The Sun doing an impression of "New Coke."

[togolane]

Maria Whitaker in WHOOPS APOCALYPSE https://www.sendspace.com/file/9xdr7w

[pedonbio]

I'm not sure who buys The Sun these days, but younger men obviously have a big selection of 'lad's mags' to choose from.

Solvegas buys it for the intellectual stimulation.

[salem]