Clearly exhausted following six challenging months of pretending that Page 3 exists to a) enhance women’s self esteem (HA!) and b) save women’s lives (HAHAHAAAAA!), the twelve year old YTS lads in charge of content writing at The Sun shovelled up this pile of steaming manure yesterday:
Although The Sun is famed for it’s critical objectivity in framing and presenting ‘news’ stories, ‘The history of Page 3 girls in 21 classic photos’ appears to be a tiny bit, y’know…biased. Dave Dinsmore and his cronies were clearly having an off day – perhaps they’re still adjusting to lunch being an hour ‘later’ after the clocks went back the other week – but, whatever the reason, they forgot to include some incredible milestones of Page 3’s history. To jog their memory, here are a few to add to their list:
1) Remember when Page 3 featured topless sixteen year old girls (in the glory days before the Sexual Offences Act, 2003
Sam, 16, Quits A-Levels for Ooh-Levels
2) Aaah, and the fun ‘Back to Skool Girls’ feature, which included topless models dressed as schoolgirls, alongside photos of them as CHILDREN? How sweet!
Photo courtesy of www.weareunfinished.com
3) And wasn’t it amusing and completely harmless that the Page 3 ‘schoolgirl’ theme continued well into the 2000s…
4) …as did the ‘faux lesbians in the bath’ theme.
5) And don’t forget all the times The Sun made tits political…
6) …but bullied politicians who stood up to them, like MP Clare Short…
In ‘Dear Clare: this is what women think about Page 3’ Short wrote:
‘The Sun newspaper took a particularly virulent line in their attacks on me. They branded me ‘Crazy Clare’, ‘Killjoy Clare’, and assembled a number of unflattering photographs and printed them daily inviting their readers to write in Freepost to ‘Stop Crazy Clare’. They also produced a car sticker and invited readers to send for one… The Sun approached a number of MPs who had voted against me asking them to appear on Page 3 with their favourite ‘lovely’. Four or five did this…’
7) …and ‘killjoys’ Harriet Harman and Lynne Featherstone.
Image: www.bloggerheads.com
8) Remember the completely innocuous ‘News in Briefs’ feature, which hilariously put Murdoch’s words into the mouths of models?
Image: www.bloggerheads.com
News in Briefs 03/02/2004:
‘Zoe is certain Tony Blair was right to take Britain into the war with Iraq. She said “you don’t need to be an international diplomat to realise the world is better off without Saddam. We should be proud of what has been achieved.”‘
9) And the many times The Sun hashed out a bizarre, Islamophobic ‘boobs vs burkas’ debate?
10) Oh, and that uplifting Page 3 article about a plastic surgeon’s ‘scientific formula’ for acceptable tits.
11) Don’t forget the times when the presence of Page 3 undermined major news headlines.
‘Paedos saw girls undressing’ positioned above Page 3 ‘girl’ Nicole.
12) And remember the time when….oh, maybe we should all forget about this one.
Well, that was about as jolly and refreshing as Murdoch’s acrid morning breath. Wishing you all a buoyant day unbesmirched by festering, sexist balderdash.
Sign the No More Page 3 petition here.
Ah the Soaraway Scum. Memories. The sooner it is just a memory the better.
Ah ha ha! Just had to say: I bloody love this blog.
*curtseys* 🙂
The Sun is surely Britains most prolific sexual predator?! For decades it has bullied, exploited and degraded women, all in the name of self-defined ‘fun’ and of course, profit!. The crimes of this paper are great but its continual, daily harassment of woman via Page 3 is reason enough to close the offices! Great post by the way.
At my gym there was a sign in the lady’s change room to cover up before using the steam room,AND in the coffee shop the was sun sitting on the tables for all to see the irony!
.When the women were asked how they feel about this ,some were shocked that page three still existed.
Suffice to say no more sun at my gym.
This tolerance of sexual exploitation and obvious pandering to paedophilia has to be stopped.The sun should be on the top shelf of some seedy shop where it belongs.Or removed from society for good.It is nothing but a perverts comic.Talk about dumbing down of intelligence.
All you tits at P3, your days are numbered. We WILL win!
the link to the petition does not seem to be working. It just says “page not found”
Ooh will sort that out. thanks Clare!
Let’s just go through your points one by one…
1. It’s legal to have sex with a 16 year old girl. A man in his 80’s can do so quite legally. In those circumstances, why are you so shocked at a 16 year old Sam Fox posing topless in the Sun prior to a change in the law (raising this to 18)?
Would you like to raise the age of consent as well?
2 and 3. St Trinian’s films? Come on. The schoolgirl theme is common in men’s fantasies. I’m sure Ann Summers still sell these uniforms.
Yes they do…
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ann-Summers-Chestywood-School-Outfit/dp/B002GYT1IK
Ban them???
4 and 5. So What?
6. Claire Short is a thick skinned outspoken politician. She gives as good as she gets.
8. It’s a joke. If you take the Sun seriously then more fool you. Oh and btw….it’s under no obligation to print serious news.
9. I’d like to think you, as a woman, would have serious issues with Islamic doctrines. Your common cause against women being seen in any sort of ‘sexual context’ is perhaps the only thing that unites you. However, they would go a lot further than you, and maybe only then would you value your liberal traditions and personal freedom.
10. Perfect boobs. Everyone is entitled to give (and print) an opinion. Same with flat stomachs. Same with flawless skin.
11. see 8
12. Top of the Pops. The BBC. Various hospitals and Charities. You think you can spot a peadophile?
Hi John! Thanks so much for sharing your research on ‘Chestywood School Outfits’ and for telling us all about your favourite St Trinian’s films (there’s a great fan club online, where you can discuss your favourite hilarious outtakes with like-minded aficionados: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/st-trinians). I am indebted to you for your advice regarding what to do if the Islamic state ‘goes further’ than me – I am stocking up on tins of beans, plum tomatoes, semolina and candles in case the worst happens. Please do write back and tell us your opinion on flat stomachs and flawless skin; I have a debilitating wheat allergy John, and it’s absolutely wrecking my silhouette. Honestly John, some mornings I feel so bloated you’d be forgiven for thinking I’d consumed several Dundee cakes before breakfast!!!
Hi Flo,
I can see you have a sense of humour (which makes such an angry attack on the Sun seem rather strange).
Clearly you don’t see Page 3 as a bit of a joke? Perhaps the prevalence and distribution of this (the mildest kind of soft porn) is a threat to society’s values and our very moral fibre? Or maybe not.
I don’t watch St Trinian’s films, but i won’t be writing a piece about how they encourage sexual violence, peadophilia, objectification or female depression anytime soon.
Islamic values couldn’t be any further apart from yours…but i appreciate they are a minority group so you perhaps feel some empathy in certain respects. I would urge you to familiarize yourself with how the Qu’ran suggest women dress.
http://www.fashfaith.com/p/islamic-modesty-in-quran.html
You would make odd bedfellows indeed.
My advice for flat stomachs is eating less or increasing exercise.
For flawless skin…early nights, good diet, moisturise…and most importantly…don’t get stressed out over a women posing suggestively in a national newspaper. It really doesn’t matter.
John, how do you feel about beavers being reintroduced to Britain?
Great blog, great article. The Page 3 mentality is misogyny at its most obvious and most naive. I don’t understand how people can defend this blatant sexism.
“It’s just a bit of fun” – says the man who has never been reduced to his appearance, and who is respected and believed, even applauded, if he explains how something hurts him.
How different to female experience! When women complain they are whining killjoys, or jealous and bitter, or man-hating feminazis. Anything but believed.
As a society we need to start listening to women and believing them. The double standards are absurd. It’s sometimes hard to remember women make up 51% of the population, considering the lack of respect and visibility for women in mainstream media.
I came here hoping for some tits …where are they?
They’re at the top. With the feathers.