Warwick reacts to page 3 going – and then coming back

The Sun hid the nipple and many newspapers claimed this is a victory for the No More Page 3 campaign. 

Anti-smut campaigners congratulated each other in Facebook groups like some kind of Simone De Beauvoir pirate radio shoutout.

But then it came back, and laughed in the face of everyone who thought it had vanished for good.

Addressing the lauders of its apparent disappearance, The Sun said: “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.”

At an All Student Meeting in February over 900 votes were cast in favour of a ban on sales of the paper in Costcutter.

Despite the student body’s votes, MGMT still stopped the ban from going ahead.

Warwick’s students said, overwhelmingly, the response was that not enough action had been taken.

Demelza, who studies English and is 21, criticised those who consider the campaign finished with. She said: “Way too many people have failed to read beyond the headlines and have just assumed that page three has disappeared forever.

“The Sun may no longer print pictures of naked women, but printing images of women in bikinis doesn’t tackle the fundamental ideology behind page 3: that women’s bodies make legitimate news stories”.

Kirsten, 20, who does History, commented on the hiding of nipples. She said: “The fact that they’ve put bras on the boobs doesn’t change the fact that the largest picture of a woman in one of the most widely read, ‘family’ newspapers in the country, is of a sexualised woman (usually white and slim) in her underwear.

“Also, by covering up the nipples and nothing else, it perpetuates the idea that the most offensive part of a woman is her nipples”.

Warwick Anti Sexism Society were very active in the campaign to ban the selling of The Sun on campus last year.

Lily, the president, claimed the changes made by the paper are only a “small step”.

She said: I don’t think it’s a big a victory as it may seem. There is a long, long way to go. The ‘new’ page 3 contained images of women in their bikinis taken without their consent.

“This is not a step in the right direction, it’s arguably worse because at least page 3 models consented to those images being printed.

She added: “Someone posted on my Facebook ‘yes page 3 has gone… now to get rid of the rest of their (sexist, racist, homophobic) pages’. Sums it up really.”

The new Page 3

Mia, a third year History of Art student, says The Sun is a distraction. She said: “It’s the equivalent of throwing glitter in the air and shouting ‘Distraction!'”

Lorayn, who does English, is a politically active mature student who bought No More Page 3 T-Shirts for all her family. She was a big pioneer of the campaign on campus but is not impressed with the results so far. She did however, feel the change was in the right direction. She said: “It’s baby steps, but it’s a step forward at least”.

Maths student Scott, 21, however, balanced the debate. He said: “I love to look at boobs. We all love to look at boobs. I wish the No More Page 3 campaign never happened so we could see some nipple as well.”

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