Former British tabloid tradition of topless models on the third page
Page 3
, or
Page Three
, was a British newspaper convention of publishing a large image of a
topless
female
glamour model
(known as a
Page 3 girl
) on the third page of mainstream
red top
tabloids.
The Sun
introduced the feature in November 1970, which boosted its readership and prompted competing tabloids?including
The Daily Mirror
,
The
Sunday People
, and
The
Daily Star
?to begin featuring topless models on their own third pages. Well-known Page 3 models included
Linda Lusardi
,
Samantha Fox
,
Debee Ashby
,
Maria Whittaker
,
Katie Price
,
Keeley Hazell
, and
Jakki Degg
.
Although Page 3's defenders portrayed it as a harmless British cultural tradition, the feature was controversial throughout its history, drawing criticism both from conservatives, who tended to view it as
softcore pornography
inappropriate for inclusion in national newspapers, and
feminists
, who argued that Page 3
objectified
women's bodies, negatively affected girls' and women's
body image
, and perpetuated
sexism
. Some politicians, most notably
Clare Short
and
Caroline Lucas
, campaigned to have Page 3 images banned from newspapers, although other politicians, including
Nick Clegg
and
Ed Vaizey
, expressed concern that such a ban would compromise
press freedom
. The British government never enacted legislation against Page 3, although activists in 2012 launched the
No More Page 3
campaign with the goal of persuading newspaper editors and owners to end the feature voluntarily.
In February 2013,
Rupert Murdoch
, owner of
The Sun,
suggested that Page 3 could become a "halfway house", featuring glamour photographs without showing nudity. In August of that year,
The Sun
'
s Republic of Ireland edition replaced topless Page 3 girls with clothed glamour models.
The Sun
's UK print editions followed suit in January 2015, discontinuing Page 3 after more than 44 years.
The Sun'
s official Page 3 website ceased publishing new content in March 2017 and was taken offline the following year. In April 2019,
The
Daily Star
became the last print daily to move to a clothed glamour format, ending the Page 3 convention in Britain's mainstream tabloid press. As of 2023, the only British tabloid still publishing topless models is the niche
Sunday Sport
.
History
[
edit
]
After
Rupert Murdoch
relaunched the loss-making
Sun
newspaper in
tabloid
format on 17 November 1969, editor
Larry Lamb
began to publish photographs of clothed glamour models on its third page to compete with
The Sun
'
s principal rival,
The Daily Mirror
, which was printing photos of models wearing lingerie or bikinis.
[1]
The Sun
'
s first tabloid edition showed that month's Penthouse Pet, Ulla Lindstrom, wearing a suggestively unbuttoned shirt. Page 3 photographs over the following year were often provocative, but did not feature nudity until
The Sun
celebrated the first anniversary of its relaunch on 17 November 1970 by printing model
Stephanie Khan
in her "birthday suit" (i.e. in the nude).
[2]
Sitting in a field, with one of her breasts fully visible from the side, Khan was photographed by
Beverley Goodway
, who became
The Sun
'
s principal Page 3 photographer until he retired in 2003.
[3]
[4]
Alison Webster
took over Goodway's role in 2005 and remained until the feature was phased out.
Page 3 was not a daily feature at the beginning of the 1970s,
[5]
and
The Sun
only gradually began to feature Page 3 models in more overtly topless poses. Believing that Page 3 should feature "nice girls", Lamb sought to avoid the image of top-shelf pornography titles by asking
The Sun
's female reporters to review Page 3 images to ensure women would not regard them as "dirty".
[6]
[7]
Regardless, the feature, and the paper's other sexual content, led to some public libraries banning
The Sun
. A then
Conservative
-controlled council in
Sowerby Bridge
, Yorkshire took the first such decision, but reversed it after a series of local stunts organised by the newspaper and a change in the council's political orientation in 1971.
[8]
[9]
Page 3 is partly credited with boosting
The Sun
'
s circulation.
[10]
In the year after it introduced Page 3, its daily sales doubled to over 2.5 million,
[6]
and it became the UK's bestselling newspaper by 1978.
[11]
Competing tabloids, including
The Daily Mirror
,
The Sunday People
, and
The Daily Star
, also began publishing topless models to increase their own sales, although
The
Daily Mirror
and
The
Sunday People
discontinued the practice in the 1980s, calling the photographs demeaning to women. Page 3 launched the careers of many well-known British glamour models in the 1980s, including
Debee Ashby
,
Donna Ewin
,
Samantha Fox
,
Kirsten Imrie
,
Kathy Lloyd
,
Gail McKenna
,
Suzanne Mizzi
, and
Maria Whittaker
, some of whom were aged 16 or 17 when they started modeling for the feature. Fox, who began appearing on Page 3 as a 16-year-old in 1983, became one of the most-photographed British women of the 1980s, behind only
Princess Diana
and
Margaret Thatcher
.
[12]
In 1986,
David Sullivan
launched
The Sunday Sport
, which featured numerous images of topless models throughout each edition.
[13]
In 1988,
The Sun
launched "Page 7 Fella", which featured images of barechested male models. It did not gain popularity and was dropped in the 1990s.
[14]
In the mid-1990s,
The Sun
began printing Page 3 photographs in colour as standard, rather than mostly in black and white. Captions to Page 3 images, which had previously contained sexually suggestive
double entendre
, were replaced by a listing of models' first names, ages, and hometowns. It later added a "News in Briefs" item that gave the model's thoughts on current affairs.
[15]
After polling readers,
The Sun
in 1997 ceased featuring models who had undergone
breast augmentation
, such as
Katie Price
and
Melinda Messenger
.
[16]
In June 1999, it launched the official
Page3.com
website, which featured additional photos of current Page 3 models, archival images of former Page 3 models, and other related photo and video content.
Beginning in 2002,
The Sun
ran an annual contest called Page 3 Idol. Amateur models could submit photographs to be voted on by readers, with the winner receiving a cash prize and a Page 3 modeling contract. Notable Page 3 Idol winners included
Nicola T
,
Keeley Hazell
, and
Lucy Collett
.
In the UK, the
Sexual Offences Act 2003
raised the minimum age for topless modelling from 16 to 18. This legal change meant that all topless images of 16- and 17-year-old models that had previously been published on Page 3 became potentially illegal content.
[14]
[17]
[18]
In 2020,
Channel 4
produced an hour-long documentary,
Page Three: The Naked Truth
, to mark 50 years since
The Sun
first introduced Page 3.
[19]
Opposition
[
edit
]
Page 3 was controversial and divisive throughout its history. Its defenders often characterised it as an inoffensive British cultural tradition, as when Conservative Party MP
Richard Drax
in 2013 called it a "national institution" that provided "light and harmless entertainment".
[20]
[21]
Its critics generally considered Page 3 images demeaning to women or as
softcore pornography
that should not be published in national newspapers readily available to children. Some politicians?notably
Labour Party
MPs
Clare Short
,
Harriet Harman
, and
Stella Creasy
,
Liberal Democrat
MP
Lynne Featherstone
, and
Green Party
MP
Caroline Lucas
?made efforts to have Page 3 removed from newspapers
.
Meanwhile,
The Sun
vigorously defended the feature, typically representing Page 3's critics as prudes, spoilsports, or ideologues, while sometimes depicting female critics as physically unattractive and jealous. When Clare Short in 1986 tried to introduce a
House of Commons
bill banning topless models from British newspapers,
The Sun
ran a "Stop Crazy Clare" campaign, distributing free car stickers, calling Short a "killjoy", printing unflattering images of her, and polling readers on whether they would prefer to see Short's face or the back of a bus.
[22]
As a co-founder of Women in Journalism,
Rebekah Brooks
was reported to be personally offended by Page 3,
[23]
and was widely expected to terminate it when she became
The Sun
'
s first female editor in 2003. However, upon assuming her editorship, Brooks defended the feature, calling its models "intelligent, vibrant young women who appear in
The Sun
out of choice and because they enjoy the job."
[24]
[25]
[4]
When Clare Short stated in a 2004 interview that she wanted to "take the pornography out of our press", saying "I'd love to ban [Page 3 because it] degrades women and our country",
[26]
Brooks targeted Short with a "Hands Off Page 3" campaign that included printing an image of Short's face superimposed on a topless woman's body, calling Short "fat and jealous", and parking a
double-decker bus
with a delegation of Page 3 models outside Short's home.
[27]
The Sun
also called Harman a "feminist fanatic" and Featherstone a "battleaxe" for their opposition to Page 3.
[28]
Brooks later said that she regretted
The Sun
'
s "cruel and harsh" attacks on Short, listing them among the mistakes she had made as editor.
[29]
In February 2012, the
Leveson Inquiry
heard arguments for and against Page 3. Women's advocacy groups argued that Page 3 demeaned women and promoted sexist attitudes, but
The
Sun's
then-editor
Dominic Mohan
called the feature an "innocuous British institution" that had become "part of British society".
[30]
In his report,
Lord Justice Leveson
called Page 3 "a taste and decency issue" and stated that it thus fell outside his remit of investigating media ethics.
[31]
Clare Short questioned Leveson's finding, stating: "Surely the depiction of half the population in a way that is now illegal on workplace walls and before the watershed in broadcasting, is an issue of media ethics?"
[32]
Lucy-Anne Holmes
, a writer and actress from
Brighton
, began campaigning against Page 3 after noticing during the
2012 Summer Olympics
that the largest photograph of a woman in the nation's best-selling newspaper was not of an Olympic athlete but of "a young woman in her knickers".
[33]
[34]
Arguing that Page 3 perpetuated sexism, portrayed women as sex objects, negatively affected girls' and women's body image, and contributed to a culture of sexual violence, Holmes launched the
No More Page 3
campaign in August of that year.
[35]
The campaign collected over 240,000 signatures on an online petition and gained support from over 140 MPs, as well as a number of trade unions, universities, charities, and women's advocacy groups. It sponsored two
women's soccer
teams,
Nottingham Forest Women F.C.
and
Cheltenham Town L.F.C.
, who played with the "No More Page 3" logo on their shirts.
[36]
Lynne Featherstone called for a ban on Page 3 in September 2012, claiming that it contributed to
domestic violence
against women.
[37]
Then?deputy prime minister
Nick Clegg
expressed concern that banning the images would compromise
freedom of the press
, stating: "If you don't like it, don't buy it ... you don't want to have a moral policeman or woman in Whitehall telling people what they can and cannot see."
[38]
In June 2013, Caroline Lucas defied parliamentary dress code by wearing a "No More Page Three" T-shirt during a House of Commons debate on media sexism. She stated: "If Page 3 still hasn't been removed from
The Sun
by the end of [2013], I think we should be asking the government to step in and legislate." Culture minister
Ed Vaizey
responded that the government did not plan to regulate the content of the press, saying that adults had the right to choose what they read.
[39]
Then?prime minister
David Cameron
also declined to support a ban on Page 3, stating during an interview with
BBC Radio 4
's
Woman's Hour
: "This is an area where we should leave it to consumers to decide, rather than to regulators."
[40]
After becoming
The Sun
's editor in June 2013,
David Dinsmore
confirmed he would continue printing photographs of topless models, calling it "a good way of selling newspapers".
[41]
End of the feature
[
edit
]
In February 2013, Rupert Murdoch suggested on Twitter that
The Sun
could transition to a "halfway house", featuring glamour photographs without showing nudity.
[42]
Six months later, in August 2013,
The Sun
'
s Republic of Ireland editor Paul Clarkson replaced topless Page 3 girls with clothed glamour models in that edition, citing cultural differences between the UK and Ireland.
[43]
[44]
The No More Page 3 campaign thanked Clarkson "for taking the lead in the dismantling of a sexist institution", called the decision "a huge step in the right direction", and asked David Dinsmore to follow suit with
The Sun
's UK editions.
[45]
After publishing Page 3 for over 44 years,
The Sun
on 17 January 2015 began featuring images of women wearing lingerie and bikinis on its third page. On 20 January,
The Times
, another Murdoch title, reported that the tabloid was "quietly dropping one of the most controversial traditions of British journalism."
[16]
[46]
[47]
The decision to discontinue Page 3 received significant media attention. On 22 January,
The Sun
appeared to change course, publishing a Page 3 image of a winking model with her breasts fully exposed and a caption mocking those who had commented on the end of the feature.
[48]
The Sun
did not feature Page 3 thereafter.
Longtime campaigner Clare Short called the decision to terminate the feature "an important public victory for dignity",
[49]
while
Nicky Morgan
, then
Minister for Women and Equalities
, called it "a small but significant step towards improving the media portrayal of women and girls".
[50]
A spokeswoman for the No More Page 3 campaign called it "truly historic news" and "a huge step for challenging media sexism".
[51]
Caroline Lucas criticized the transition to clothed glamour, saying: "So long as
The Sun
reserves its right to print the odd topless shot, and reserves its infamous page for girls clad in bikinis, the conversation isn't over."
[52]
Some former Page 3 models defended the feature and the women who had appeared in it. Model
Nicola McLean
appeared on ITV's
Good Morning Britain
, calling Page 3 models "strong-minded women" who "certainly don't feel like we have been victimised".
[53]
In a televised debate with Harman and
Germaine Greer
, model
Chloe Goodman
challenged the other participants, asking "Why should feminist women tell other women how to live their lives?" Harman responded: "In a hundred years' time, if you look back at the newspapers of this country, and you see women standing in their knickers with their breasts showing, what would you think about women's role in society?"
[54]
Separately,
Debee Ashby
, who had first appeared on Page 3 as a 16-year-old in the 1980s, called its cancellation long overdue.
[55]
Despite abolishing the feature in its print editions,
The Sun
continued publishing topless images on its official Page3.com website until March 2017. No new online content appeared after that point, and the website was taken offline in 2018.
[56]
In April 2019,
The Daily Star
shifted to a clothed glamour format, becoming the last mainstream print daily to discontinue printing topless images.
[57]
[15]
This ended the tradition in the mainstream British press, with only the niche
Sunday Sport
continuing to publish topless images in tabloid format as of 2023.
Publications
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
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Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Perry, John (2005).
Page 3 ? The Complete History Laid Bare
. News International Newspapers The Sun.
ISBN
9781845792299
.
External links
[
edit
]