Page Three girl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Page Three girl is a woman who models for topless photographs published on the third page of the UK tabloid newspaper The Sun. Although the women are sometimes nude, full frontal nudity is never featured.
The Page Three girl was introduced in 1969 when Rupert Murdoch relaunched The Sun. The Page Three girl was topless for the first time on November 17, 1970, when editor Larry Lamb unveiled the change while Murdoch was out of the country. The first topless model was Stephanie Rahn. The change was credited for a subsequent increase in sales, which rose 40% to 2.1 million copies within a year.
Beverley Goodway was for many years the Page Three photographer.
Some consider Page Three to be sexist, demeaning and exploitative. Clare Short, MP for Birmingham Ladywood, led a failed campaign against Page Three girls in 1986. Others, including many Page Three girls, dismiss it as harmless.
The writing that accompanies the Page Three girl picture usually explains the model's name, age, where she comes from, and some brief details of her personality. The models are usually shorter than fashion models, typically under 1.67m (5 ft 6 in) tall and are also usually aged around 20-25.
The Sun eventually instituted a policy where models who obtain breast implants—such as Jordan—are "retired" from Page Three.
Recently, articles accompanying the photos (headed "News in Briefs" by The Sun) attempt to tie in with the news, perhaps for humorous effect, with the models notionally being given a chance to give a comment (which falls into place with the paper's editorial line) on topical items.
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[edit] Models in other newspapers
[edit] Other European newspapers
In the 1970s The Daily Mirror also had topless models, but these were dropped as sexist in the 1980s. In some German newspapers, such as Bild-Zeitung, the equivalent is found on the lower part of page one, and is thus called Seite-eins-Mädchen. In 1976 the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet introduced topless models on page nine, referred to as Side 9 Pigen. The Daily Star, which is often seen as a slavish imitation of The Sun, naturally has its own topless models as well, known as Starbirds. Topless models in tabloids were taken to their logical conclusion by the Sunday Sport, which later added a daily edition and strayed into pornography, owned as it is by a company which publishes top-shelf pornography titles. There is also a similar concept on the last page of Croatian daily newspaper 24 sata. In Romania, the daily Libertatea features topless models at page 5, calling them 'Fata de la pagina 5'.
In Finland, the daily Iltalehti features models known as "Iltatytöt" ("Evening Girls").[1] "Tähtityttö" ("Star Girl") is also published in the weekly 7 päivää.[2]
[edit] 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 has 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 full-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.
[edit] Australia
The Australian niche sports and racing newspaper Sports Truth also runs a Page Three girl, but is often lifted from other publications, and the model given a new name and biography.
The Australian men's magazine Ralph features a bikini-clad "Page 23 Girl".
Australian tabloid newspapers such as The Sun & The Daily Mirror used to run these, but they stopped in the late 1980s for reasons of political correctness.
[edit] United States
The American supermarket tabloid Weekly World News regularly features 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.
[edit] Chile
The popular Chilean newspaper "La Cuarta" features every Thursday a section named "La Bomba 4", in which a voluptuous girl appears topless.
[edit] Well-known Page Three girls
- Debee Ashby
- Cherry Dee
- Marina Baker
- Melanie Jane Boorman
- Vanessa Branch
- Nina Carter
- Belinda Charlton
- Deborah Corrigan
- Lana Cox
- Jakki Degg
- Leilani Dowding
- Katie Downes
- Donna Ewin
- Samantha Fox
- Joanne Guest
- Keeley Hazell
- Sophie Howard
- Kirsten Imrie
- Jilly Johnson
- Jordan
- Kathy Lloyd
- Linda Lusardi
- Kelle Marie
- Gail McKenna
- Michelle Marsh
- Melinda Messenger
- Jayne Middlemiss
- Suzanne Mizzi
- Tracy Neve
- Lisa Phillips
- Lucy Pinder
- Corrinne Russell
- Charmaine Sinclair
- Adele Stephens
- Nikkala Stott
- Nicola Tappenden
- Rebekah Teasdale
- Tula
- Melanie Walsh
- Maria Whittaker
[edit] External links
- The Sun's Page Three website (partial nudity)
- Page Three girls - the naked truth from the BBC website
- Page 3 - Model Propaganda - Details the editorial content in "News in Briefs"
