Page Three (or Page 3) is a feature found in
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
tabloidA tabloid is an industry term for a smaller newspaper format per spread; to a weekly or semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest stories and entertainment, often distributed free of charge ; or to a newspaper that tends to sensationalize and emphasize or exaggerate or...
newspapers
The SunThe Sun may refer to -* The Sun a tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland* Sun, the star at the center of the Solar System...
, (and
The Daily Star) consisting of a topless or even nude photograph of a female glamour model traditionally published on the newspaper's third page. Women who model regularly for the feature are known as
Page Three girls. Although similar features are found in other British tabloids, and in other newspapers around the world, "Page Three" and "Page 3" are registered trademarks of
News International LtdNews International Ltd is a British newspaper publisher owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
, the parent company of
The Sun..
Daily Star Page 3 girls are known as
Star Babes.
History of Page Three
When he relaunched the flagging
SunThe Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland with the second highest circulation of any daily English-language newspaper in the world and the biggest circulation within the UK, standing at an average of 2,986,000 copies a day between January and June 2008 and...
newspaper in
tabloidA tabloid is an industry term for a smaller newspaper format per spread; to a weekly or semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest stories and entertainment, often distributed free of charge ; or to a newspaper that tends to sensationalize and emphasize or exaggerate or...
format on November 17, 1969,
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born American global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation ....
began publishing clothed glamour photographs on its third page. The first edition featured that month's Penthouse Pet,
Ulla LindstromUlla Gunilla Lindström, née Wohlin , was a Swedish journalist, Politician and 1954-1966 minister of family, consumption, assistance and immigration...
, wearing a suggestively unbuttoned shirt. Page Three photographs over the following year were often provocative, but did not feature
nudityNudity is the state of wearing no clothing.It is related to the concept of modesty and is sometimes used to refer to wearing significantly less clothing than expected by the conventions of a particular culture and situation, and in particular exposing the bare skin or intimate...
.
On November 17, 1970, editor
Larry LambSir Albert Lamb, commonly known as Larry Lamb was a British newspaper editor. He was editor of The Sun from 1969 to 1972 and again from 1975 to 1981, and also of the Daily Express from 1983 to 1986...
celebrated the tabloid's first anniversary by publishing a photograph of 20-year-old German model Stephanie Rahn in her "birthday suit." Profiled from the side, sitting nude in a field with one of her
breastThe breast is the upper ventral region of an animal’s torso, particularly that of mammals, including human beings. The breasts of a female primate’s body contain the mammary glands, which secrete milk used to feed infants....
s fully visible, Rahn was photographed by Beverley Goodway, who would work as
The Suns main Page Three photographer until his retirement in 2003.
Gradually, Page Three girls would be featured in more overtly topless poses, with their nippleIn its most general form, a nipple is a structure from which a fluid emanates. More specifically, it is the projection on the breasts of a mammal by which breast milk is delivered to a mother's young.-Anatomy:...
s clearly visible. Although these photographs caused a great deal of controversy at the time, they are credited with the increase in sales that established The Sun
as one of the most popular newspapers in the United Kingdom by the mid-1970s. In an effort to compete with The Sun
, the competing Daily Mirror
and Daily Star tabloids instituted their own Page Three–like features under different names.
Page Three photographs would often be connected to a topical sporting event. A model might pose in a short white skirt with a tennis racquet during the
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is generally considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in the London suburb of Wimbledon since 1877...
tennis championships, for example, or appear holding a football during the
World CupThe FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
. From the 1970s until the mid-1990s, captions to Page Three photographs contained titillating
punA pun, or paronomasia, is a form of word play that deliberately exploits ambiguity between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect...
s and sexually suggestive
double entendreA double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so; often risqué, inappropriate, or ironic....
about the models' lives or interests. Widely considered sexist, these captions were replaced in the late 1990s with a simple listing of models' first names, ages, and hometowns. The Sun
greatly reduced its use of sports-related costumes and props at this time, and also instituted a policy of only featuring models with natural breasts. Models with augmented chests, such as JordanKatrina Amy Alexandria Alexis Infield Price , also known as Jordan, is a former English glamour model, television personality and businesswoman. Her personal life is regularly featured in British tabloids and celebrity-based magazines.-Early life:Katrina Amy Alexandria Alexis Infield was born and...
and Melinda MessengerMelinda Jayne Messenger is an English television presenter and was one of the UK's most successful glamour models.-Biography:...
, were thereafter "banned" from appearing on Page Three.
In 1999, The Sun
launched its Page Three website Page3.com. The site features the tabloid's daily Page Three girl in up to four poses, usually including the photograph published in the printed edition. It also hosts an online archive of previous Page Three photographs, a "Page 3 Gold" section featuring models from earlier eras, and various other features.
Since 2002, The Sun has run an annual contest called "Page 3 Idol." Women age 18 or older can submit their pictures, which are published on the Page Three website and voted on by the public. The winner of the contest receives a Page Three modeling contract. The 2004 winner, 18-year-old
Keeley HazellKeeley Rebecca M. Hazell is an English Page 3 Girl and glamour model.-Early life:Hazell was born in Lewisham, London, England, grew up in Grove Park, and attended the Ravensbourne School in Bromley...
, went on to become one of the United Kingdom's top glamour models. The 2008 winner, 19-year-old university student Jenny Grant, committed suicide in the early hours of September 13, 2008. The 2009 winner is Kelly Hall.
In 2003, Julian Jones made a documentary about Page Three girls, The Curse of Page 3, which examined the negative aspects of some Page Three models' lives, including addiction to drugs and involvement in abusive relationships.
Page Three controversies
Page Three has often been controversial, particularly with conservatives and women's groups. Some critics consider it to be
sexistSexism, a term coined in the mid-20th century, is the belief or attitude that one gender or sex is inferior to, less competent, or less valuable than the other. It can also refer to hatred of, or prejudice towards, either sex as a whole , or the application of stereotypes of masculinity in relation...
, demeaning, and exploitative, while others regard it as softcore pornography that is inappropriate for publication in a national newspaper. In 1986,
Clare ShortClare Short is a British politician, and a member of the Labour Party. She is currently the Independent Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood, having been elected as a Labour Party MP in 1983 but resigning the whip in 2004. She was Secretary of State for International Development in the...
,
MPA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
for Birmingham Ladywood, led an unsuccessful House of Commons campaign to have topless models banned from all newspapers. After her proposed bill failed, Short accused the House's predominantly conservative male MPs of not taking the issue seriously, remarking "If you mention breasts, fifty Tory MPs all giggle and fall over." Short renewed her campaign against Page Three almost two decades later, in 2004, but found herself on the receiving end of an
ad hominemAn ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem is an argument which links the validity of a premise to a characteristic or belief of a person advocating the premise....
attack by The Sun
, which superimposed her face on a Page Three model's body and accused her of being "fat and jealous."
Editors of The Sun have themselves periodically considered eliminating the feature from the newspaper. During her tenure as the newspaper's deputy editor, Rebekah Brooks (neè Wade) had argued (on economic, rather than feminist, grounds) that printing topless photographs on Page Three damaged the newspaper's circulation by offending female readers. When she became the tabloid's first woman editor on January 13, 2003, she was widely expected either to terminate Page Three or to modify it so that the models would no longer appear topless. However, she retained the feature unchanged. Wade later wrote an editorial defending the feature against its critics, calling Page Three models "intelligent, vibrant young women who appear in The Sun
out of choice and because they enjoy the job."
The Sun
and other British tabloids have also provoked controversy by featuring girls as young as 16 as topless models. Samantha FoxSamantha Karen "Sam" Fox is an English former glamour model and dance-pop singer.- Background :As the eldest daughter of the late Patrick John Fox and Carole Ann Wilken, Samantha Karen Fox came from a family of market traders in the East End of London...
, Maria WhittakerMaria Whittaker is a former English glamour model and Page Three girl. She is ranked as Glamour Girl #80 in Glamour Girls: An Illustrated Encyclopedia-Modeling career:...
, Debee AshbyDebee Ashby is a former English adult model and actress. She is also known as Debbie Ashby or Debby Ashby.Ashby became well known at the age of 16 years when she was expelled from King Henry VIII School, Coventry on 16 December 1983 because she had posed topless in her school uniform for the...
, and many others began their topless modelling careers in The Sun
at that age, while the Daily Sport
was even known to count down the days until it could feature a teenage girl topless on her 16th birthday, as it did with Linsey Dawn McKenzieLinsey Dawn McKenzie is an English glamour model, pornographic actress, and minor celebrity who became famous due to her naturally large breasts, which reached a size 36HH prior to her breast reduction surgery in 2005...
in 1994, among others. Although such photographs were legally permissible in the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
under the Protection of Children Act 1978The Protection of Children Act 1978 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The Protection of Children Bill was put before Parliament as a Private Member's Bill by Cyril Townsend in the 1977-1978 session of Parliament....
, critics noted the irony of Murdoch's Sun
and News of the WorldThe News of the World is a British tabloid newspaper published every Sunday. It is published by News Group Newspapers of News International, itself a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, and can be considered the Sunday sister paper of The Sun. The newspaper concentrates on...
newspapers calling for stricter laws on the sexual abuse of minors, including the public identification of released pedophiles, while publishing topless photographs of girls whom many other jurisdictions would legally classify as underage minors. Controversy over these young models ended when the
Sexual Offences Act 2003The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that was passed in 2003 and became law on 1 May 2004.It replaced older sexual offences laws with more specific and explicit wording...
raised the minimum age for topless modelling to 18.
Austria
Especially in the
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
n newspaper
Kronen ZeitungThe Kronen Zeitung, commonly known as the Krone, is Austria's largest newspaper. According to a Österreichische Media-Analyse study, the average daily readership is 2,970,000 , which corresponds to 43,7% of all newspaper readers...
, the counterpart is mostly found on the upper part of page six or seven (sometimes even on page ten), but the feature has no specific name. In the new daily free newspaper Heute
there also appears a Page-Three-Girl, on wednesday there appears a picture of a half-naked man.
Croatia
There is a similar concept on the last page of CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
n daily newspaper 24 sata
.
Denmark
In 1976 the DanishDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
newspaper Ekstra BladetEkstra Bladet is a Danish tabloid newspaper focusing on sensationalist stories. It gets a share of its income from sex ads. Since 1979 it has always had a partly or completely naked woman on page nine which is referred to as Side 9 Pigen , a Danish equivalent of the English Page Three girl...
introduced topless models on page nine, referred to as Side 9 Pigen
(the Page 9 Girl). The models are occasionally fully nude.
Finland
In FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, the daily IltalehtiIltalehti is a daily tabloid newspaper and the third largest newspaper in Finland. Of tabloid newspapers, Iltalehti has a market share of 40% and its biggest rival Ilta-Sanomat has a market share of 60%....
features models known as "Iltatyttö" ("Evening Girls"). "Tähtityttö" ("Star Girl") is also published in the weekly 7 päivää7 päivää is a Finnish entertainment and TV magazine published by Aller Julkaisut Oy in Helsinki. In 2005 it had a circulation of 264,067.It was first published in 1992.-Columns and subjects:...
.
Germany
In some GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
newspapers, such as Bild-ZeitungThe Bild is a German newspaper published by Axel Springer AG. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday, while on Sundays, Bild am Sonntag is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors. Bild is tabloid in style, although actually broadsheet in size...
, the equivalent is found on the lower part of page one (below the fold), and is thus called Seite-eins-Mädchen
(Page One girl).
Italy
One of the main Italian weekly newsmagazines,PanoramaIn its most general sense, a panorama is any wide-angle view of a physical space. It has also come to refer to a wide-angle representation of such a view—whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model...
run female nude models on their cover. However this tendency, strong in the Nineties, is now declining.
Romania
In Romania, the daily LibertateaLibertatea is a Romanian tabloid newspaper published in Bucharest. It features a bikini girl as the "Page Five Girl"...
features topless models at page 5, calling them 'Fata de la pagina 5'. When Averea
was rebranded as tabloid Click
, the owner hired many people from Libertatea
; this new concurrent got a very similar look to the original, including the topless girls, who are featured on page 3.
Canada
Canadian tabloid newspapers in the Sun MediaSun Media Corporation is the owner of several widely read tabloid newspapers in Canada. It is a subsidiary of Quebecor Media. Sun Media also operates Sun TV, a television station in Toronto, Ontario...
chain such as the Toronto SunThe Toronto Sun is an English language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily "Sunshine Girl" feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
, Winnipeg SunThe Winnipeg Sun is a daily tabloid-sized newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.The newspaper shares many characteristics typical of Sun Media tabloids, including an emphasis on local news stories, extensive sports coverage, a conservative editorial stance, and a daily Sunshine Girl...
, Ottawa SunThe Ottawa Sun is a daily "compact" newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is published by Sun Media. It was first published in the early 1980s as the Ottawa Sunday Herald, until it was acquired by Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation in 1988....
, Calgary SunThe Calgary Sun is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a division of Sun Media, a Quebecor company.First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running broadsheet newspaper, The Albertan soon after it was acquired by the publishers of the Toronto...
, and Edmonton SunThe Edmonton Sun is a daily newspaper published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is a division of Sun Media, a Quebecor company.It began publishing in 1978 and shares many characteristics typical of Sun Media tabloids, including an emphasis on local news stories, its conservative editorial stance,...
feature a daily "Sunshine GirlSunshine Girl refers to pinup girls featured in most of the daily newspapers of the Sun chain in Canada.The feature started when the Toronto Sun, which was launched in 1971, and was adapted from British tabloids with similar featured women. The SUNshine girls have become an iconic part of Canadian...
", usually on page three (in fact, the Calgary, Ottawa and Edmonton Suns have permanently moved the Sunshine Girl to the sports section; while the Sunshine Girl is a daily feature, the Sunshine Boy feature only appears sporadically). The half-page, full-colour photo is of a woman in tight, revealing clothing, lingerieLingerie is a term for fashionable and notionally alluring undergarments. It derives from the French word linge, "washables" — as in faire le linge, "do the laundry" — and ultimately from lin for washable linen, the fabric from which European undergarments were made before the general introduction...
, or a swimsuit. In 2000, the Toronto Sun moved the photo off page three and into the last pages of the issue, or into the sports section.
Chile
The popular
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an newspaper "La Cuarta" features every Friday a section named "La Bomba 4", in which a voluptuous girl appears topless.
India
The Indian newspaper "
Mid-DayMiD DAY is an afternoon compact newspaper in India with editions in Mumbai , Bangalore, Delhi and Pune . It was established in 1979 as in a family owned newspaper in Mumbai.-Overview:...
" features pictures of models (mostly in bikinis), known as Mid-Day Mates.
Mexico
The Mexican newspaper "Ovaciones" features a topless model on Page 3. Other newspapers as "La Prensa", "El Metro", "El Universal Grafico" also include photographs of female glamour models, sometimes topless.
New Zealand
Tabloid newspaper
New Zealand TruthThe New Zealand Truth is a tabloid newspaper published weekly in New Zealand. It started as the Auckland Truth in 1887. Described as "scandal mongering" and "scurrilious", it has employed well-known New Zealand authors, eg Robin Hyde in 1928....
regularly features topless or occasionally nude women on page three of their weekly publication.
South Africa
The Afrikaans edition of the tabloid Die SonDie Son is an Afrikaans-language South African tabloid reporting sensational news essentially after the model of British tabloids. It is the South African newspaper with the largest increase in readership in recent years. In the Western Cape province, it appears as a daily; in other provinces, it...
features page-three girls, although not in the English-language edition.
United States
The American supermarket tabloidSupermarket tabloids are national weekly magazines printed on newsprint in tabloid format, specializing in celebrity news, gossip, astrology, and bizarre stories about ordinary people. Supermarket tabloids are particularly notorious for the over-the-top sensationalizing of stories, the facts of...
Weekly World NewsThe Weekly World News was a supermarket tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical...
regularly featured a bikiniA bikini or two piece is a women's swimsuit with two parts, one covering the breasts, the other the groin , leaving an uncovered area between the two . It is often worn in hot weather or while swimming...
-clad "Page 5" girl. Yes! WeeklyYES! Weekly is an alternative weekly newspaper started in Greensboro, NC. A second office was opened in November 2007 in the Arts District of Winston-Salem. In addition to local news and politics, the newspaper provides arts and entertainment news and reviews, nationally syndicated columns, and...
, a local on-line and print publication in
GreensboroGreensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city, by population, in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. As of the 2000 census, Greensboro was home to 223,891 residents...
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
, features Page 3 talent sometimes featuring men as well as women. FOCUS weekly entertainment paper in Hickory, NC, began featuring a Page 3 girl decades ago. Founder John Tucker did this as an homage to the British tabloid, as well as in appreciation for women of all types, sizes and ages.
External links