Britain’s best-selling newspaper, The Sun, has axed topless women from its third page after 44 years.
The paper’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, who once described Page 3 as “an innocuous British institution,” is reportedly responsible for the decision to drop the controversial feature, which has been described as sexist and misogynistic.
While the tabloid will ‘ditch the boobs’ from its printed edition, it is thought that the feature will continue online.
On Monday, The Sun told The Times, also owned by Murdoch: “Page 3 of The Sun is where it’s always been, between pages 2 and 4, and you can find Lucy from Warwick at Page3.com.”
The Sun first began publishing topless women on its third page in November 1970 – and on its official Page 3 website in 1999.
In August 2013, the Republic of Ireland’s edition of The Sun replaced topless Page 3 women with clothed glamour models, and yesterday’s UK edition featured a partially-clad Rosie Huntingdon Whitely, posing in lingerie.
It has been reported that the tabloid wanted to kill off the feature quietly.
The news will no doubt be welcomed by campaign group No More Page 3, which has been lobbying for the removal of topless glamour models from Page 3 since 2012.
The group has since garnered over 43,000 likes on Facebook and 215,000 signatures in support of the campaign, which asked Sun editor David Dinsmore, who has also been accused of “peddling pornography under the guise of ‘news’“, to “drop the bare boobs.”
The Sun currently has a circulation of almost 2 million, after seeing a 13.4% year on year increase in the latest ABCs.
Since publishing the article, a spokesperson for The Sun has said that all reports that the tabloid has dropped Page 3 should be treated as “speculation” until confirmed.
