Fiona McGarry is a freelance journalist and radio producer. Her radio documentaries have been funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) and the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund. She is a regular contributor to The Irish Times and The Irish Daily Mirror and happiest when well caffeinated in front of a good box set.
The Sun is well used to controversy. There, that’s the statement of the obvious out of the way. Now let’s consider the significance of the paper’s apparent decision to stop using topless models and end a row that has raged since German Stephanie Rahn appeared on Page 3 in 1970.
Amid repeated bids to ban Page 3, the paper defended its policy, describing its models as “intelligent, vibrant young women who appear in The Sun out of choice and because they enjoy the job”. But while Lucy from Hull and Gina from Whitby may have made their Page 3 debuts smiling ear-to-ear, there was at least one ‘model’ who didn’t.
When British politician Clare Short accused the paper of degrading women, The Sun hit back with a virulent and personal attack. Edited at the time by Rebekah Brooks, the paper superimposed Short’s face onto a topless model. It compared Short to the back of a bus and described trying to make her into Page 3 material as “mission impossible”.
A decade later in 2014, and under the glare of the phone hacking scandal, Brooks admitted she ‘regretted’ the treatment of Short. The former editor put the paper’s actions down to a passionate desire to tell the objectors to ‘keep your hands off Page 3’.
Strange, then, that a newspaper prepared to defend its tradition of toplessness so ferociously would drop it without fanfare this week. From now on, it would appear that bikinis, bras and pants will be mandatory in the glamour model’s wardrobe, much to the delight of campaigners and thousands across social media. On Twitter, Paloma Faith described the news as ‘a relief’, while TV presenter Dawn O’Porter joined the tens of thousands in congratulating Lucy-Anne Holmes founder of the No More Page 3 campaign. Holmes, for her part, has welcomed the news, but says the campaign is not yet over.
With depressing predictability, a considerable section of the social media world have condemned anti-Page 3 campaigners as ‘munters’, ‘man-haters’, ‘jealous ugly fat trolls’ and wearers of ‘comfortable shoes’ (ouch).
The Sun itself remains uncharacteristically coy. The paper’s PR department would only say that Page 3 will continue to appear ‘in the same place it’s always been – between page 2 and page 4’.
But let’s not forget that media decisions are based on the bottom line. While The Sun took a risk in 1970 by introducing topless models, it weathered the initial backlash to almost double its circulation and secure its place as Britain’s biggest selling newspaper. Then editor, Larry Lamb, admitted that while he’d helped to make Page 3 ‘part of the language’, he wished in many ways that he hadn’t. It’s also worth remembering that a Page 7 Fella did make a brief appearance in The Sun in the ‘80s, but was dropped when the item didn’t catch on.
Always closely in tune with commercial realities, News Corp is still reeling from the phone hacking scandal and working to rehabilitate its image. ‘Cleaning up’ Page 3 won’t hurt in that regard. But the possibility remains that models will once again be ‘dropping their tops’ lingers on. Media commentator Roy Greenslade described The Sun’s move as ‘notable’, but predicted that the impact on sales could be the ultimate arbiter.
For now, let’s hope that another little bit of ‘70s sexism has been chipped way and won’t be returning anytime soon. As comic writer Graham Linehan said on Twitter: 
