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====Romania====
====Romania====
In Romania, the daily ''[[Libertatea]]'' features topless models at page 5, calling them 'Fata de la pagina 5'. When ''Averea'' was rebranded as tabloid Click www.click.ro, 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,but in better photographic contitions than the romanian original, Libertatea.
In Romania, the daily ''[[Libertatea]]'' features topless models at page 5, calling them 'Fata de la pagina 5'. When ''Averea'' was rebranded as tabloid Click [[www.click.ro]], 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,but in better photographic contitions than the romanian original, Libertatea.


===Elsewhere===
===Elsewhere===

Revision as of 21:48, 16 January 2009

Page Three (or Page 3) is a feature found in the British tabloid newspaper The Sun, consisting of a topless or even nude photograph of a female glamour model published on the newspaper's third page. Women who model regularly for the feature are known as Page Three girls. Similar features are found in other British tabloids, and in other newspapers around the world, although "Page Three" and "Page 3" are registered trademarks of News International Ltd, the parent company of The Sun.

History of Page Three

When he relaunched the flagging Sun newspaper as a tabloid in 1969, Rupert Murdoch tried to boost circulation by publishing photographs of scantily clad female models on its third page. The first tabloid edition appeared on November 17, 1969, featuring The Sun's first Page Three girl, Ulla Lindstrom, who was also the Penthouse Pet of the Month for November 1969. Although Lindstrom had posed nude in Penthouse, she appeared in a clothed glamour pose in The Sun, wearing a suggestively unbuttoned shirt. Although Page Three photographs over the following year were often provocative, they did not feature nudity.

On November 17, 1970, editor Larry Lamb celebrated the tabloid's first anniversary by publishing a photograph of German model Stephanie Rahn in her "birthday suit."[1] Photographed by Beverley Goodway, who would work as The Sun's main Page Three photographer until he retired in 2003, the 20-year-old was profiled from the side, sitting nude in a field with one of her breasts fully visible. Over the next several years, The Sun featured Page Three girls in more overtly topless poses. While these photographs caused much controversy, 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.[2] In an effort to boost their own circulation figures, the competing Daily Mirror and Daily Star tabloids instituted their own Page Three–like features under different names.

The Sun's Page Three photography has generally featured models in orthodox glamour poses, although the tabloid would sometimes connect the feature to a topical sporting event: A model might pose in a short white skirt with a tennis racquet during the Wimbledon tennis championships, or appear holding a football during the World Cup. From the 1970s until the mid-1990s, captions to Page Three photographs were often filled with titillating puns and sexually suggestive double entendre about the models' lives or interests. These captions, widely considered sexist, were replaced in the late 1990s with a simple listing of the models' first names, ages, and hometowns. The Sun also 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 breasts, such as Jordan and Melinda Messenger, were thereafter "banned" from The Sun.

In 1999, The Sun launched its online Page Three website Page3.com. The site features the tabloid's daily Page Three girl in up to four poses, 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," in which any British woman over the age of 18 can submit pictures to be considered for a Page Three modeling contract. The entrants' photographs are published on the Page Three website, and the outcome is decided by public vote. In 2004, 18-year-old Keeley Hazell won the contest and went on to become one of the United Kingdom's top glamour models. The 2008 winner, 19-year-old university student Jenny Grant, tragically committed suicide in the early hours of September 13, 2008.[3]

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.[4]

Page Three controversies

Page Three has often been controversial, particularly with conservatives and women's groups. Some feminist critics consider it to be sexist, demeaning, and exploitative, while others regard it as softcore pornography that is inappropriate for publication in a national newspaper. In 1986, Clare Short, MP 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 male MPs of not taking the issue seriously, remarking "If you mention breasts, fifty Tory MPs all giggle and fall over."[5] Short renewed her campaign against Page Three almost two decades later, in 2004, but found herself on the receiving end of a vicious ad hominem attack by The Sun, which superimposed her face on a Page Three model's body and accused her of being "fat and jealous."[6]

While editors of The Sun have always vigorously defended Page Three from external criticism, they have themselves periodically considered eliminating the feature from the newspaper. During her tenure as the newspaper's deputy editor, Rebekah Wade had argued (on economic, rather than feminist, grounds) that printing topless photographs on Page Three harmed the newspaper's circulation by offending women readers. When she became the tabloid's first female 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 decided to retain the feature unchanged.[7] 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."[6]

The Sun and other British tabloids have also provoked controversy by featuring girls as young as 16 as topless models. Samantha Fox, Maria Whittaker, Debee Ashby, and many others began their topless modelling careers in The Sun at the age of 16, 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 McKenzie in 1994, among others. Although such photographs were legally permissible in the United Kingdom under the Protection of Children Act 1978, critics noted the irony of Murdoch's Sun and News of the World 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.[8] Controversy over these young models was effectively resolved when the Sexual Offences Act 2003 extended legal prohibitions on indecent photography to any minor under the age of 18.

Similar features internationally

European newspapers

Austria

Especially in the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung, 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 often also appears a Page-Three-Girl.

Croatia

There is a similar concept on the last page of Croatian daily newspaper 24 sata.

Denmark

In 1976 the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet introduced topless models on page nine, referred to as Side 9 Pigen (the Page 9 Girl). The models are occasionally fully nude.

Finland

In Finland, the daily Iltalehti features models known as "Iltatytöt" ("Evening Girls").[9] "Tähtityttö" ("Star Girl") is also published in the weekly 7 päivää.[10]

Germany

In some German newspapers, such as Bild-Zeitung, 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

The two main Italian weekly newsmagazines, l'Espresso and Panorama sometimes run female nude models on their cover. However this tendency, strong in the Nineties, is now declining.

Romania

In Romania, the daily Libertatea features topless models at page 5, calling them 'Fata de la pagina 5'. When Averea was rebranded as tabloid Click www.click.ro, 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,but in better photographic contitions than the romanian original, Libertatea.

Elsewhere

Canada

Canadian tabloid newspapers in the Sun Media chain such as the Toronto Sun, Winnipeg Sun, Ottawa Sun, Calgary Sun, and Edmonton Sun feature a daily "Sunshine Girl", 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, lingerie, 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 Chilean newspaper "La Cuarta" features every Friday a section named "La Bomba 4", in which a voluptuous girl appears topless.

India

The Indian newspaper "Mid-Day" 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 Truth regularly features topless or occasionally nude women on page three of their weekly publication.

South Africa

The Afrikaans edition of the tabloid Die Son features page-three girls, although not in the English-language edition.

United States

The American supermarket tabloid Weekly World News regularly featured a bikini-clad "Page 5" girl. Yes! Weekly, a local on-line and print publication in Greensboro, North Carolina, 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 THE SUN, as well as in appreciation for women of all types, sizes and ages.

Notable Page Three girls

See also: Category:Page Three girls

References

  1. ^ BBC NEWS | Magazine | Page Three girls - the naked truth
  2. ^ BBC News | UK | Flirty not dirty at 30
  3. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1055864/Page-3-model-commits-suicide-argument-friends.html
  4. ^ The Curse of Page 3 (2003) (TV)
  5. ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | Profile of Clare Short
  6. ^ a b Sun turns on 'killjoy' Short in Page 3 row | Media | MediaGuardian
  7. ^ Sun's first woman editor to keep Page Three Girls - Telegraph
  8. ^ Britain Fights Tide of Anti-Pedophile Attacks - New York Times
  9. ^ Iltatyttö: Liina | Iltatyttö | Iltalehti.fi
  10. ^ Tähtityttö - 7 päivää
  11. ^ a b c d e f g The Sexiest Page 3 Girl Ever!
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i The Sexiest Page 3 Girl Ever!
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j The Sexiest Page 3 Girl Ever!
  14. ^ a b c d e The Sexiest Page 3 Girl Ever!
  15. ^ a b c d e f The Sexiest Page 3 Girl Ever!
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