Britain鈥檚 Sun drops its Page 3 girls
Print Edition
British newspaper The Sun has ended a 45-year tradition of picturing topless models on its page three, scrapping a daily feature denounced by women鈥檚 rights groups since the tabloid launched it in the early years of Rupert Murdoch鈥檚 ownership.
Murdoch had staunchly defended 鈥淧age Three girls鈥 for decades. But pressure on Britain鈥檚 best-selling paper had intensified in recent years, with a campaign drawing support from politicians, trade unions, universities and a breast cancer charity, among many others.
The Times, also owned by Murdoch鈥檚 News Corp, reported that The Sun had decided to quietly drop Page Three girls and that the tycoon had signed off on the decision. It said topless women would still feature on the dedicated page3.com website, which is behind a paywall.
A spokesman for The Sun said: 鈥淧age three of The Sun is where it鈥檚 always been, between pages two and four, and you can find Lucy from Warwick at page3.com.鈥
He declined to comment on whether the move was permanent.
The change came into effect on Monday, when page three featured a model wearing a bra, while Tuesday鈥檚 edition showed women in bikinis running on a beach.
Supporters of the 鈥淣o More Page Three鈥 campaign hailed the change as a step forward for gender equality in Britain.
鈥淭he 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,鈥 said opposition Labour MP Stella Creasy.
Page Three was not 鈥渟ome great British institution like James Bond or moaning about the weather鈥, Creasy told BBC Radio 4.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not the world we wanted to live in any more.鈥
The Sun had been in severe decline until Murdoch bought it in 1969, turned it into a tabloid and introduced a brash, irreverent style of popular journalism so successful that circulation rocketed from 800,000 to 4 million in a decade.
In line with a trend affecting most of the British press, its circulation has dropped sharply since the glory days. It slipped to just below 2 million in October last year for the first time since 1971.
The end of Page Three girls is unlikely to hit sales. The Irish edition of the paper stopped publishing the images in 2013, with little impact on circulation.
Introduced a year after Murdoch took the helm, the photos were part of a vein of British popular culture in the 1970s.
From the start, feminists opposed them as sexist.
Murdoch posted a tweet in September last year that suggested his support for Page Three was no longer as resolute as it had been.
鈥淏rit feminists who bang on about page 3 never buy the paper ... I think old fashioned readers disagree,鈥 he wrote.
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