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Should we back the No More Page 3 campaign? Please let us know what you think...

(106 Posts)
KatGransnet (GNHQ) Thu 20-Feb-14 16:25:28

We've been contacted by the No More Page 3 campaign to ask if we'd like to be added to their list of supporters, so we thought we'd put it to gransnetters to tell us what you think about the campaign.

The campaign started in the summer when Lucy Holmes found she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that the largest female image in The Sun was of a young woman showing her breasts for men, even though Jessica Ennis had just won her gold Olympic medal.

We'd like to know your thoughts on the campaign, if you support it and your reasons behind it - and if you do support the campaign, if you've already signed the petition.

janeainsworth Fri 21-Feb-14 22:52:29

Signed.

whatsgoingon Sat 22-Feb-14 04:06:47

Why just the Sun ' newspaper ' Doesn't the the Star have topless models also?
What's more worrying about the Star is that they have their models on the front page. It has been a long time concern that newsagents have these papers on display for even the youngest members of our community to see.
At least with the Sun, the pages do have to be opened before one sees these images.
The Sun sells a huge amount of papers every day, are these readers going to sign the petition I wonder? Is the top less image the reason for buying the paper. It certainly isn't for the cutting edge news reporting!

Anniebach Sat 22-Feb-14 09:23:45

Yes,

Lona Sat 22-Feb-14 15:39:05

feetle it might not make much difference, but every little helps.

If women don't make it clear how we feel, then men will never know!

Lona Sat 22-Feb-14 15:39:25

Signed!

Lona Sat 22-Feb-14 15:40:45

Ooops! Already posted once blush

nannyfran Sun 23-Feb-14 14:50:51

Yes please.

Nonny Sun 23-Feb-14 18:39:58

YES . I have signed!

gillybob Mon 24-Feb-14 13:40:54

Sorry but I have never understood the fuss about page 3.

So a silly girl takes her top off for money (she probably regrets it years later but thats another story). Some sad men pay money to look at the picture (in the guise of reading the news) so what?

I don't watch porn on TV or the internet, I don't buy or look at pornographic magazines, I don't buy or look at newspapers with page 3 girls.

End of story.

Iam64 Mon 24-Feb-14 21:04:01

gillybob, I'm in the same camp as you are in not watching porn, buying/looking at porn mags/ newspapers with page 3 girls.
It isn't the end of the story for me though, that's why I signed the petition.

Eloethan Mon 24-Feb-14 23:19:53

gillybob I haven't done any of those things you mention either. But is it OK on all occasions to say: when I dislike or disagree with something, I have to accept that other people like and agree with it and it is therefore enough that I don't buy the newspaper, watch the film, etc., etc.?

In the 50's it was not that uncommon to see in people's windows "Room to Rent: No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish". Would it have been sufficient to say "I don't agree with that and therefore I wouldn't put up such a notice"? A decision was made (by no means universally accepted) that notices of this kind were demeaning and discriminatory and they were outlawed.

I'm not suggesting that page 3 is in this category of awfulness, but a whole page of a mainstream newspaper being devoted to a topless woman is, I think, demeaning to all women and damaging to the way in which young women perceive themselves and their chances in life. Some of these "silly girls" (Sam Fox, Katie Price Melinda Messenger) have been rewarded with long and lucrative careers through initially posing topless.

mrsmopp Tue 25-Feb-14 01:17:37

Why ban just page 3 when there are lots of lads mags on the shelf in the newsagents, mostly showing a lot more than a pair of boobs.
If you are campaigning to ban page 3 why not include Penthouse etc?

Eloethan Tue 25-Feb-14 08:49:43

The Sun is a mainstream newspaper with a large circulation and the existence of "Page 3" in such a widely read newspaper seems to me to normalise the objectification of women. I don't think it can be compared to magazines like Penthouse which is not a newspaper and which has a target audience that knows exactly what will be in the magazine. You won't find Penthouse openly displayed in the home (of most people), a dentist's waiting room, a cafe, a pub, etc., etc., but you may well find the Sun.

Lilygran Tue 25-Feb-14 09:28:49

The whole idea of Page 3 seems incredibly old-fashioned, doesn't it? As Mrs Mopp says there are much franker images everywhere. It's like a What the Butler Saw machine!

dollie Tue 25-Feb-14 09:54:07

have to say i think its a pointless excercise and theres more porn out there that needs to be stopped not some women showing her boobs in a daily newspaper!!!!!

gillybob Tue 25-Feb-14 10:33:50

In my opinion (which doesn't count for much I know) I think the page 3 bimbos are a drop in the ocean compared with other publications I have seen on open shelves in the supermarkets. At least page 3 is exactly that and not on the front page for all to see. I really don't see what the fuss is about.

dollie Tue 25-Feb-14 11:13:10

Of course your opinion counts gilly and as you say 'much ado about nothing'

Eloethan Tue 25-Feb-14 11:21:54

dollie as you say, everyone has a right to voice his/her opinion but others do not feel this issue is "much ado about nothing".

BAnanas Tue 25-Feb-14 12:45:18

I really don't like page 3 and it used to make me very angry when I was a lot younger and it was a newer concept when this sort of material in the guise of calenders wold turn up in the work place. It also irked me the way the models implied that women who found their pictures offensive were merely jealous of them. Absolutely not, it was the way they offered themselves up as a piece of meat to be judged and the rest of their sex to be compared to them, by some men.

However, time has passed, and whilst I still find topless women inappropriate in a newspaper, particularly when children might see those pictures and the conclusions they might draw from them, I have to say that I'm tending to agree with the comments posted by dollie and gillybob. There is a such a ghastly tidal wave of really offensive images out there possibly I have become desensitized because page 3 just seems really tame. There are some girls these days who will happily put pictures like this of themselves, and a lot worse, out on a public forum, why I don't know. I'm not sure they would even begin to understand how a previous generation found this sort of thing unpalatable because they seem to glorify themselves in sleazy posses on say Facebook. Different times bring different attitudes I guess.

mrsmopp Tue 25-Feb-14 19:42:11

I'm afraid I object more to seeing unnecessary sex scenes when watching a play, they are not necessary to the plot,are often very prolonged, and are embarrassing when maybe your teenagers or elderly parents are with you.
In the past the scene would just fade away, cut to waves on a beach.... We all know what they are doing so why do we have to see it? Gives me a chance to go and put the kettle on anyway. Prudish? No I'm not, and I'm not narrow minded, it's just gratuous and unnecessary.
Yes, Page 3 seems tame to us now, because we are becoming immune.
When nothing shocks us anymore there will be no boundaries at all.

gillybob Tue 25-Feb-14 22:27:17

Thank you dollie smile I think calendars in the workplace are an entirely different thing BAnanas. I have worked in engineering for a long time and it used to be very "fashionable" for suppliers to send their customers calendars depicting topless girls and it was very much a case of put up and shut up. I also remember the time when car spares and ball bearings companies used bimbos in full make up to deliver their products. Did they really think that this would increase sales ? Perhaps it did? grin. In my experience it doesn't happen so much any more, times have thankfully moved on.

gillybob Tue 25-Feb-14 22:29:41

What about being on a foreign beach? Boobies left right and centre! More often than not a lot less attractive than those on page 3 !

gillybob Tue 25-Feb-14 22:30:23

Not that I find boobies particularly attractive (you understand) smile

When you are in a hole.............

BAnanas Wed 26-Feb-14 09:29:43

I've never had a problem with women who want to go topless on a beach gillybob, it's not quite the same thing as being objectified in a publication, Although many years ago I remember falling asleep on a beach in France and waking up to be confronted by a man right in front of me with all his parts swinging around, it did rather make me wish I hadn't chosen to wake up at that particular moment!

Yes agree with you about salacious material in the work place it made many women feel uncomfortable and glad to hear it isn't so common these days. I also agree about women being used in a state of undress to sell things like cars. The annual car shows of yesteryear spring to mind where it was common to have some half naked bimbo type woman draped across a bonnet.

However, we now have young women, some clearly very intelligent, I'm thinking of university fresher weeks, who seem to glory in going out dressed, or not dressed, looking like strippers, it's really quite sad when so many of generation fought against that very thing, particularly when we grew up in a culture where many women thought that putting on a revealing costume and having rabbit ears on top of their head was some sort of amazing career choice to aspire to. I'm not sure girls today would understand our objections. I actually know a daughter of a friend who posed for Nuts whilst at university. Katie Price has made it all seem a very attractive career choice and many see it as an attractive way to earn money.

gillybob Wed 26-Feb-14 13:12:37

I have never "done" topless myself BAnanas but really don't have a problem with those who choose to. Hated the pin-up calenders that used to be around as they were right in your face all the time. For a joke I once put a "hunk" picture up in the office and within a few days he was sporting a moustache, goggles a bra and boobies which only went to show they could dish it out but not take it ! grin

Page three is not "in yer face" as it is on page three and you have to open the newspaper to find it.