Page 3 Girls

Topless women have been a fixture on Page 3 of the Sun for more than four decades, but the popular feature has now been killed off.

Executives at the Sun have decided to quietly shelve the tradition after a baying lynch mob of critics branded it sexist.

Instead of bare breasts, the pictures will now show scantily-clad women wearing bras and pants.

The move was confirmed by The Times, a fellow News UK paper. It is understood that the parent company's chairman Rupert Murdoch signed off on the decision.

Topless models were first introduced by the Sun in 1970, less than a year after Rupert Murdoch bought the title. In recent years, the paper has faced growing criticism from miserable campaigners who claimed the feature was out of date.

According to the Guardian , executives had planned to drop Page 3 quietly, without fanfare. It is understood the change may be reversed if it causes a dramatic drop in sales.

The Sun newspaper's decision has inevitably been welcomed by miserable MPs particularly from the Labour Party.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan, who also holds the women and equalities brief, said the move was long overdue . The Conservative cabinet minister crowed:

This is a long overdue decision and marks a small but significant step towards improving media portrayal of women and girls. I very much hope it remains permanent.

Downing Street refused to be drawn on the issue. A spokesman said it was a matter for the Sun .

The move also received the backing of Liberal Democrat women's and equalities minister Jo Swinson - although she criticised the alternative content in Tuesday's edition.

I am delighted that the old fashioned sexism of Page 3 could soon be a thing of the past. I welcome this apparent step forward from the Sun, but I would encourage its editors to consider whether parading women in bikinis is really a modern reflection of the contribution women make to society.

Labour frontbenchers including the shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan, the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and the former culture secretary Dame Tessa Jowell all tweeted support for the No More Page 3 campaign.

Harriet Harman, the deputy leader of the Labour party, who has long spoken out against the Page 3, said she would ensure that the Sun would not be able to make the announcement quietly. Speaking on her LBC phone-in on Monday evening, Harman bayed:

It will be the Sun moving into the 21st century, if that is the case. Because actually we do think in a newspaper, which is about news, the idea of girls standing there in their knickers with some sort of pseudo-political quote, I mean it really is not the representation of women's role in this country that I want to see.

I've always been against Page 3. But bearing in mind that we've had a lot of discussion about freedom of speech and what people can report, it's my right to say I don't think it's right, I think they should get rid of it. But it is absolutely not the role of any government to ban it. But if they've seen sense, so much the better.

Update: Next!

21st January 2015. See  article from  twitter.com

Well it didn't take long. The man hate group Object seem raring to go against the Daily Star for its topless Star Birds.

Update: Clarifications and Corrections

22nd January 2015. See article from theguardian.com

The Sun has been having fun with the campaigners who seized upon 3rd party reports of the demise of Page 3.

The paper ahas again featured a photograph of a topless model, which appears under a Clarifications and Corrections header and comes after a front-page panel announces: We've had a mammary lapse.

PC campaigners were a bit taken aback with the most notable comment being from Julia Churchill, a No More Page 3 supporter who tweeted:

After #NoMorePage3 it felt like we were taking a good deep breath after being held under water, and now, a punch in the face.

Nevertheless, commentators were confident that the days of Page 3 are ultimately numbered. Sources told the Guardian that the Sun had planned for the demise of Page 3 to pass under the radar. When the Guardian revealed plans to scrap it on Monday, a senior editor quipped privately: If I were the boss, I'd put in a topless pic just to spite everybody.

Sometimes, the world looks like a bleak place: the Middle East is still rocked by bloody violence, endangering thousands of innocent lives; millions around the world are still dying from poverty and preventable diseases. And yet, No More Page 3 (NMP3) campaigners are still convinced that the real crisis facing humanity today is the influence of boobs on working-class men.

...Read the full article

Supermarket Tesco will no longer show the front covers of tabloid newspapers to avoid children seeing sexualised pictures of young women .

After months of lobbying by campaign groups No More Page 3 and Child Eyes, the largest supermarket chain in the UK said it would change the design of its news cube stands so newspapers will not be displayed vertically.

Tesco will now only show the names and logos of newspapers on the sides of the display stands. Customers will now have to walk right up to the display in order to see what's on the front of the newspapers. The policy will affect how all tabloid papers are displayed, from the red tops to mid-market titles like The Daily Mail and The Express.

Representatives from No More Page 3 and Child Eyes, which campaigns against sexual imagery met with Tesco at its head office in September to convey their ideas for censorship.

Tracey Clements, customer experience and insight director for Tesco, said:

We are first and foremost a family retailer and it's important we do everything we can to promote the right environment in store. We've asked our customers what they think about the issue and we have spoken to campaigners. The change we're making will strike the right balance for everyone.

It seems that the word 'balance' has now adopted the new meaning of censorship being imposed and/or rights being taken away.

Update: Waitrose follows the leader

24th November 2014. See  article from  gloucestershireecho.co.uk

Waitrose followed has followed Tesco's lead in censoring newspaper covers, saying it had been working on it for some time and would be changing their newspaper fixtures to display covers out of children's eyelines.

Offsite Comment: Modern Mary Whitehouses Want to Censor Newspapers, Magazines, Clothes and even Mugs

25th November 2014.

Right wing US commentators have fun watching Tesco censoring newspaper covers:

See  article from  breitbart.com

Update: M&S

2nd December 2014. See  article from  nomorepage3.org

M&S followed suit telling a supporter they had recently taken the decision to display these particular newspapers on the higher shelves so they were out of the eye line of children.

The Co-op has refused to bow to demands from anti-Page 3 campaigners to withdraw advertising from the Sun newspaper and to banish its sales to the top shelf.

The No More Page 3 campaign had targeted local Coop regional meetings and had won votes to censor the Sun in three southern regions.

The board of Co-operative Food told campaigners that it entirely respects the views of those campaigning to have 'Page 3 ' type images dropped from the Sun and the Star , but said:

We are mindful, in consideration of these motions, of the need to balance the following: our commercial need to market effectively to our customers; our commitment to create a family-friendly shopping environment and the problems associated with using corporate influence via sales, promotions or advertising to seek to influence editorial decisions.

With over 18 million customers using the Co-operative every week and a significant proportion of our target audience, including members, reading the Sun it is vital that our media choices continue to reach this large audience cost effectively.

Removing advertising from the Sun based on what the paper chooses to publish runs the risk of being seen as trying to directly influence editorial decisions and sets a precedent for all publications and media channels in the future.

There is a need to balance, in a free society, press freedom alongside newspapers ' responsibility to deliver accurate, fair and appropriate content.

For these reason we do not use advertising to influence editorial decisions and currently have no plans to change this policy.

The Co-op sells half a million copies of the Sun each week.

The Royal College of Nursing has issued a statement in support of a ban on the Sun's topless Page 3 glamour feature saying:

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) supports the No More Page three campaign because we believe that the humiliation and exploitation of women is something that should not be acceptable.

Gender stereotyping and the sexualisation of women can have detrimental effects on the safety of women in our society. The RCN promotes a working environment where our members and staff can work with dignity and not be placed in compromising situations that cause offence, humiliation, embarrassment or distress.

All nursing staff should be seen as respected professionals with no sexualised stereotypes attached.