Oh...Tits!

Ah, the daily papers. Filled with news from around the globe, celebrity gossip, the weather forecasts, important political views and boobs.

Wait, what?!

Ah yes, if you are British, female and a regular reader of the paper then you probably already know what I'm talking about. In fact, you don't even have to be a female, you could be male, cat, dog or mouse and you've probably already picked up on what I'm chatting about. That's right, Page 3.

Now, before I go any further I am just going to state right here and right now that I LIKE BOOBS. No, this isn't me coming out of the closest, I'm just saying that glamour modelling itself isn't something I disagree with. Nor am I against sex, people that have sex, people that watch porn. people that buy lads mags, sexy underwear or newspapers. For crying out loud, I'm 19 years old! Of course I like sex and underwear and my first year flat was famous for our kitchen wall quite loving decorated with Nuts magazine cut outs. I just don't feel it necessary to have boobs in a newspaper. 

Boobs aren't news, they're just not.  They didn't just appear on planet earth, they've been around for awhile now and well, they're just not news!

That is why I was over the moon when a fantastic writer and friend of mine, invited me to be part of the No More Page 3 Campaign, started when during the Olympics she noticed that even though Jessica Ennis had just secured the hopes of the nation in winning gold in her Heptathlon event, the largest image of any female in The Sun was still the day's Page 3 girl. 

I mean, it's almost laughable, a women who has put her heart and soul into 4 years of training for ONE event, who was made the face of the London 2012 games which have, arguably, been the most successful games to date, still isn't worth as much page space as a girl who has her boobs out. Brilliant. The Suffragettes are probably turning in their graves, spitting feathers and thinking to themselves 'Well, what was the bloody point?!'

And it's true, what was the point? I'm not going to start burning my bra or join some strong Feminist rebellion, but let's be honest here, isn't it just a little bit rubbish that women are still being portrayed as items of sexual desire in a FAMILY newspaper? At least Nuts and Zoo and Maxim and Playboy dedicate entire magazines to us. At least with them it really is an industry, a career. Page 3 just seems out dated, sexist and more than anything, silly. We don't need boobs in The Sun. Honestly, we really don't. I can almost promise it won't affect the paper's sales and that it won't affect the way people take in the news. 

Getting rid of Page 3 will help promote women in a far healthier light and at the end of the day it's not like we get the torso of Dave, 21, from South Shields on Page 5 do we? IT'S A SHEER LACK EQUALITY HERE PEOPLE!

So, let's be equal and let's change the papers of tomorrow. Please sign the petition and spread the word because actually, I really believe in this campaign and it's ability to change the tabloids for the better.

Sign here: http://www.change.org/nomorepage3

- Hayley xx

The End is Just The Beginning

Ah! Summer is almost over which means one thing and one thing only...

I'M GOING BACK TO MANCHESTER!!

After what has, undoubtedly, been the longest summer of my entire existence it is finally time for me to gather up all my shit, pop it all in the car and get it all set up in my lovely new house in time for the start of a brand new school year. There is even a new job on the horizon.

Of course, it means returning to lectures and I basically had a miniature heart attack when I saw that sodding Jeffery Chaucer is my mother loving reading list. I appreciate I'm an English student but studying Chaucer is pretty much the same as studying 16th Century Dutch and that's quite clearly NOT what I signed up for. I think this year, I may, maybe, have to actually read all the books. I have a sneaky suspicion Sparknotes won't cut it.

Shit.

Relatively sure my year will be full of the same old boy drama, messy nights out, lack of sleep and hideous mental break downs, but then again, I suppose that's what being young is all about.

Sorry I've been AWOL too. I haven't been able to string a sentence together in weeks, think I'm losing my writing mojo...

- Hayley xx

Valencia Calling

I GO ON HOLIDAY TOMORROW!
YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH.

Sorry, it's just, you know, the prospect of sunshine and the beach and Spanish boys and seeing my Chicas and Spanish boys is getting me all in a tizz.

Natch, the body is in NO WHERE NEAR beach perfect condition and I have seriously under shoppped this year (Only taking the ONE bikini!!) but I think I will manage.

A WEEK OUT OF CHALFONT! YES BITCHES!

Much love xx

The Greatest City For The Greatest Show On Earth!

It has been an emotional and incredible first five days of the London 2012 Olympic Games and I would mostly like to start by saying that I, Hayley Olimba Devlin, was wrong.

The Games have been the greatest, not the worst, thing to happen to our city and I have absolutely never been so proud to say that I am British and that London is my city.

From the remarkable Danny Boyle directed Open Ceremony, to the beautiful Olympic Beacon and the INCREDIBLE transformation of the East End everything about London 2012 shines. I gush every time I see a foreigner post a picture of the games online and feel inspired by the fact that billions of eyes are watching my city in awe as the Olympic and Paralympic games go on. Everyone in the world should experience this feeling.

I have gone from game-hater to game-lover in 0.3 seconds flat, clocked up lots of interesting Sports fact that may or may not come in useful once the pub quiz season restarts and have managed to add at least four new names to my 'He's Fathering My Children List'. Brilliant.

The pride that runs through me every time we win a medal is starting get ridiculous. Helen and Heather's first Team GB gold was phenomenal, then there's Wiggo beating Sir Steve Redgrave's Olympic title and our brilliant Male Gymnastic team who defied all the odds winning our first male gymnastic medal in a century are merely a few of the our Olympic achievements that made my heart swell. Tom Daley's individual isn't for another 10 days and I'm already wetting myself in excitement!*

Plus, it's not even just Team GB I feel proud and captured by though, oh no. It's all the athletes across all the nations, form the sneaky Kazakhstan cyclist who won the road race in the last few seconds, to the AMAZING 15 year old Lithuanian female who won the swimming and to Micheal Phelps and his achievement of officially being the greatest athlete of all time.

I just can't help it, I've caught Olympic Fever and it's raging through me with no signs of stopping!!

COME ON TEAM GB!


*Alright, so I'm not actually wetting myself.