Turn Your Back On Page Three is a campaign against the daily publication of pornographic images of women on page three of The Sun, a newspaper notorious for its misogyny, racism and bigotry.
Women are more than a commodity to be exploited for commercial gain. A pout, vagina waxed to resemble that of a child, and painfully distended silicon-pumped breasts do not a woman make. Presenting this as an acceptable summation of all that a woman is – nothing more than an object for titillation and ridicule – creates a barrier to any sort of equality because, vacuous and pathetic in her attempts to attract attention, the woman on Page 3 is unlikely to receive any respect. With their massive readership, the attitude of The Sun and other publications like it, such attitudes become the norm, both for men and women and, more dangerously, for children. Girls are shown that sexualised poses and clothing are an acceptable, appropriate, and necessary way in which to get attention and boys are taught to expect and accept it. In their attempts to emulate such behaviour, donning g-strings, push-up bras, lipstick, Playboy insignia-covered clothing, pouts and poses, girls put themselves into situations with which they are not equipped to deal. Though, of course, not all men would take advantage of the girls’ innocent yet sexualised state, many would. Studies have shown that many of the women who work in the porn industry – and I include women posing for Page 3 in that – were subjected to abuse as children and, in a distorted reaction to this abuse, regard sexualised behaviour as the only way in which to gain the attention of men. Whatever other abilities and qualities they may have are seen as irrelevant – both by the women themselves and those who believe they are nothing more than the poses in their pictures. The Page 3 presentation of women and its normalisation through endorsement in the mainstream media promotes abuse and exploitation. She is merely woman as a hole – not the whole woman she should be.
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One Comment
How does a single page/picture “Present this as an acceptable summation of all that a woman is”. Does the newspaper actually claim that this is the summation of what a woman is!?!?!
Why is it the responsibility of a newspaper to teach women how to behave – what about personal responsibility? And how can you say that dressing sexy is NOT an “acceptable, appropriate, and necessary way in which to get attention”. It’s not necessary – I’ll give you that. But it’s perfectly acceptable and appropriate if you’re an adult who is looking to get attention.
I get where you’re going with this but you can’t put all of this on a newspaper. More-so this will never succeed. The viewership of the Sun is such that they want this included. People who don’t like the sunshine girl never read the paper to begin with.
I mean most people literally think of the paper as a tabloid/joke. No one thinks it’s a serious news source. None of the people who buy it will be swayed by your arguments.