Published: 17 February
Region: UK
By Aidan White & Pedja Urosevic
The debate regarding The Sun’s Page 3 pictures has been going on for 40 years and is suddenly back on the media agenda. The Leveson inquiry into the British press has rekindled an argument over media sexism that is much older than most of the young women who undress for Sun photographers every day.
The editor of the Sun, Dominic Mohan, appearing at the inquiry, justified this form of dinosaur journalism by insisting that “he only used women who had not had plastic surgery and who were not too thin.” We also learned that girls on Page 3 are a ‘British institution’ and ‘good role models’.
It’s a far cry from the fierce battles fought years ago by feminists, womens’ groups, legislators and even some Conservatives to have Page Three banned. Among journalists there were attempts to change the policy proposing either to eliminate the feature or modify it so that the models no longer appeared topless. All to no avail. Not even the sop of the occasional topless man to try to provide some tongue-in-cheek hint of gender equality has been considered.
Indeed, as the years have passed and with more ready access to explicit images across all media platforms the Sun’s daily feature has become something of an old fashioned and eccentric blot on the media landscape.
That may explain the recent soft core media commentary on the issue which surmise that the problem is not anymore about sexism, as for example Zoe Williams suggests in Guardian.
Bearing in mind that the argument is that women there look healthy – they are ‘natural and smiling’ – I remain puzzled why no one suggests having a man posing and smiling, and looking equally ‘healthy’.
Certainly it appears to be the case that women readers tolerate Page 3 these days. Unfortunately, there are no reports on gender division of The Sun readership online (unlike social grades data available on Wikipedia), but I stick with the anecdotal evidence from colleague of mine that both of his parents were reading the Sun, say 15 years ago. So we can take it as read that women are reading the Sun, including the Page 3.
Nevertheless, the evidence remains that it’s not a popular feature. According to a recent poll done by women’s charity ‘Platform 51’ – 41% of women in the UK would support a ban on topless images in newspapers.
Given this it is surprising that Sun managers, struggling as they are with falling circulation do not focus on the business case for diversity which says that by broadening your audience you would make more profit; enhance your credibility; and serve your community better.
While this suggests that my idea of putting a male on Page Three might make business sense, it is no answer to the main question. The continuing resentment, over 40 years and counting, that the feature causes among most women including many Sun readers remains the most potent argument for finally turning the page on the most sexist chapter of the history of British journalism.