“The Sun has scrapped Page 3’s topless women after 44 years, delighting the legion of critics who have branded the photos of bare-breasted models sexist, offensive and anachronistic.”
I take it those in the No More Page 3 campaign in their celebration won’t be queuing up to catch Lina Esco’s arthouse documentary Free the Nipple film (Pick of the Week 14th Jan.) for which the #FreeTheNipplists have campaigned just as hard to highlight “the hypocritical contradictions in our media-dominated society” not letting them poke theirs out on Instagram.
“The move follows a 28-month campaign, launched in September 2012, by a woman who asked the paper’s editor to ‘stop conditioning your readers to view women as sex objects.’”
Likely Current Bun owner Rupe Murdoch is feeling he’s entered into the modern world after being called an “old dinosaur” again (MB 7th Jan.), this time for maintaining in a public place—like Twitter—that old Mr Chowdhury at the local branch of Happy Shopper needs clean house for his religion along with his storeroom. Finding that people on Twitter tend to answer back, and to him in person rather than to his hand up a phone tapping editors jacksie, you can perceive the relief of all Current Bun employees splattered over Page 4 in that at least his sauropodian fury didn’t bring down the axe on it this time à la The News of the World.
“Insiders said the decision has been taken to kill off the controversial feature quietly but that the feature would continue online.”
And likely tipped as another reason for “white van man” Sun readers to pop a coin in The Current Bun’s paywall slot (Pick of the Week 5th Aug. 2013), or so Rupe hopes, having not yet found that typing “tit” on a Road to trip with Bing fills your screen with more free #FreedNipple than you can shake your didgeridoo at, at which point he may change his mind.
“There is no ban on topless photos—of celebrities for example —if they are deemed newsworthy and The Sun has left open the option of a ‘reverse ferret’, newspaper lingo for an abrupt reversal of a previous position.”
Likely because arch-rival The Daily Mail is still keen to publish RiRi’s “dissscusssting” see-thru boobage too whenever it appears. I admit, I am eager keen to discover more about her “reverse ferret” in a pictorial if a change of heart is had or not.
Love it, hate it, or be totally unmoved as you live in a much more modern internet boobed world, for those growing up in the age of the tabloid journalism, Page 3 was a British tradition that made household names of Page 3 girls in the 80s and 90s.
For example, in the 80s, you were judged accordingly as to whether you prefessed your favour for Samantha Fox or Linda Lusardi. Sam Fox was the more bubbly blonde, working class, bigger boob (34D) choice, who would later make that imfamous shambolic appearance with Mick Fleetwood at the 1989 BRIT awards (theguardian.com). Linda Lusardi was the relatively more modest breasted (34 or 36C—bust measurement was really still a bit of an arcane mystery back then) brunette and slightly older choice of those who were, or rather that wished to appear, more refined.
The mid-80s introduced Maria Whittaker (sundaysport.com), the even bigger boobed (36DD) who first posed for The Sun in ’85, at the age of 16—which was allowed back then.
The 90s had Jo Guest, Jordan aka Katie Price, and the noughties brought Lucy Pinder and Keeley Hazel, who introduced the concept of “sex tape” to many for whom the celebrity world consisted mainly of Cornination Street.
And, of course, Helen Flanagan… Coronation Street actress who would later claim “I have the best boobs I’ve ever seen on anyone in the world. Ever” (Pick of the Week 5th August 2013), The Current Bun allowing us to see them too in 2013.
The list of names and careers it helped launch is seemingly endless, so perhaps fan or not, The Current Bun’s Page 3 and its models deserve a standing ovation as they cover up. Thank you Page 3.
Former glamour model Jodie Marsh led a backlash (independent.co.uk) insisting on Twitter:
“Telling girls they shouldn’t do page 3 is not being a feminist. I never felt exploited—in fact the opposite. I thought ‘blimey, people are willing to pay to see my boobs.”
Updated 22nd January 2015
Scrub all that, it was all a rascally ruse by The Current Bun because other than those disapproving “feminists” no one was really giving Page 3 much attention any more.
The Sun brings back Page 3— but was it all a stunt? (telegraph.co.uk).
“The newspaper has tweeted out a picture of Thursday’s Page 3 which features a blonde-haired model, under the headline ‘clarifications and corrections’, winking and baring her breasts. A notice underneath the picture reads: ‘Further to recent reports in all other media outlets, we would like to clarify that this is Page 3 and this is a picture of Nicole, 22, from Bournemouth. We would like to apologise on behalf of the print and broadcast journalists who have spent the last two days talking and writing about us.’”
I am indeed fully expecting promised pictorial of her “reverse ferret”in lieu of it’s jolly jape change of heart. The NoMorePage3 campaign vows of course to keep up the fight, but, you know, I’m really wondering if one can do without the other.
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