Boobs at Dawn

Being part of a campaign like No More Page 3 was always going to come with it's hurdles because nothing worth having comes easy. Especially being the age I am and living the lifestyle I lead (unfortch, it's a quite drunk student lifestyle and not a particularly glamorous one), I feel I have to fight even harder to be heard and understood than the adults involved with campaign. Maybe it's because people within my age group are the most sexually active, the biggest watchers of porn and the largest readers of lads mags but whatever the case, I feel the need to set the story straight from the word go so that no one can turn around and call me something I'm not.

I am not pretentious or uptight. I am not insecure (Well alright, I am a little bit buy hey, we all have our hang-ups), I am not some nerdy virgin, a strangely religious being or bra burning feminist.
I am a student, a drinker, a fashion magazine obsessed, X Factor loving, boy crazy 19 year old girl. I don't like spiders, can't lift anything that's very heavy and yes, sometimes I am still scared of the dark.

None of that should matter though. I support the No More Page 3 campaign for a few very simple reasons, and not one of them is because I am a self-loathing prude.

I support this campaign because:

• I am bored of being unable to wear a low cut top without the conversation being directed at my chest all night.
• I genuinely do believe it conditions us all to think it's ok to see another human being as a half naked commodity.
• I am a DD and actually, finding underwear in my size is a nightmare. Don't put out the idea that with boobs 'bigger is better' when actually, bigger tends to mean more expensive and harder to find.
• When I have a picture of a topless male as my screensave it makes me look 'sad', 'pathetic' and 'obsessed' but when a guy can oogle over the Page 3 everyday that's alright.
• I am worth more than my chest.
• When David Beckham was poised in his Armani' it was like 'Here you go ladies, have a treat', like it was something special that we don't get very often but blokes get a beautiful half naked lady everyday and it's seen as normal.
• But mostly, because in 15-20 years time, when I have a daughter or a son, I want them to have a grown up in a world where you aren't conditioned to viewing anyone in a certain light. Where there are no pre-judgements of a person because of some way they are 'supposed' to be seen.

I just think that now, enough is enough. Page 3 is uncalled for, no one's lively hood depends on it, Google will kill it off sooner or later but I want us to get there first.

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

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