Not exactly Page Three
If you live in Britain, you’ll need no explanation for the reference to Page Three. However, if you live outside the UK (as many of my readers do), some explanation will be necessary. We have a Right-wing, populist, mass-circulation daily newspaper called “The Sun” which is infamous for featuring each day on its third page a photograph of a topless young woman. I think you get the picture but, if you need further guidance and are not overly sensitive, click here.
Now naturally I don’t buy or read “The Sun” on political grounds, but my wife does purchase each week a magazine called “Country Life”. This magazine bills itself as “the essential weekly read for those who are passionate about the British countryside, fine art, gardening and property”. In this week’s issue – which is, I grant you, a special issue – there are 120 pages of properties for sale worth more than £200 million.
So, what has “Country Life” got to do with “The Sun”? Well, “Country Life” has its own version of the Page Three girls. It comes well into the magazine after all the property advertisements and before the list of contents and editorial. Naturally the girls here are fully clothed, but they are the same sort of age and equally attractive.
So, wha’s the problem? Let me illustrate with this week’s “Country Life pin-up and I quote: “The Honourable India Windsor-Clive. India, who celebrated her19th birthday on Monday, is the daughter of Viscount and Viscountess Windsor of Oakly Park, Ludlow, Shropshire. Educated at Heathfield and Stow, she will spent her gap year travelling and doing a cookery course at Ballymaloe, before reading history of art at university.”
These elitist “Country Life” women rarely have a ‘normal’ name or live in a ‘normal’ home; they never seem to have gone to state schools; and, if they are not doing some arty university course, they are pursuing a career with horses. They are just so unrepresentative of the young women of Britain.
I really wonder which is more offensive: the nudity of”The Sun” or the elitism of “Country Life? Thanks for letting me get that off my chest (so to speak).
September 7th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Is The Sun still right-wing? It’s been a while since I’ve read the paper, but wasn’t populism always more important to it than politics? Hence its switch to supporting the Conservatives in 1979 and then Labour in 1997.
Why would Country Life want to feature pin-ups who are representative of young women in Britain? Surely, like any magazine, they are trying to appeal to a particular, unrepresentative, segment of the population — namely, their readership?! Should every magazine aspire to a readership that is representative of Britain?
September 7th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I suppose the test for what you find more offensive is to consider the Honourable India Windsor-Clive topless in either the Sun or Country Life.
Doing this? Good.
Now, what do you have a bigger problem with?
P!
September 7th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Really, Roger, it’s about time you got a bit more on your chest!
Firstly, what is wrong with The Sun? I would have thought that a socialist like you would have supported a newspaper which itself supported the Labour Party at the last election!
And what is wrong with topless girls in newspapers? It’s slightly flattering when men go out of their way to defend us from “exploitation”, but they very rarely take account of the fact that many of us actually enjoy being looked at!
Finally, if you occasionally looked at The Sun a little more closely, you may find that its editorials are distinctly more thoughtful than some of its rivals.
As for your comments on “Country Life”, I have to say they sound like plain old-fashioned classism. It so happens that my daughter went to state school with a friend called India. She at least lived in a fairly ordinary house – unlike us, who don’t have fancy names but live in a seriously unusual house (The Old Gaol).
You live in a part of London where a very high proportion of perfectly ordinary family homes are now worth in excess of £1m – have you had your own valued recently?
September 8th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
I thought that this posting would provoke some comments – but a blog is a place to vent some irritation.
Starting with Nick: I can’t believe that the young women pictured in “Country Life” are even remotely representative of the readership of the magazine. This is why I see the shots as fundamentally elitist.
Moving on to Philip: I personally find the “Country Life” pictures more offensive than the “Sun” ones, because I am more concerned about the class nature of British society than I am about inappropriate use of pictures in a newspaper.
Finally, Janet:
1) I have no problem at all with topless girls. I just don’t think newspapers are the appropriate place to feature such pictures.
2) I guess I am guilty of a version of “classism”. I believe that we live in a society with massive inequalities of power, wealth and opportunity and, in many respects, those inequalities are actually increasing. I would like to see a less unequal society – more like the Nordic countries and less like the Anglo-Saxon ones.
It’s good to have a debate …
September 11th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Glad you are getting things off your chest. I find this conversation slightly strange as I saw my name in it. I am not some fancy poser as you are making me out to be and you wouldn’t find me on page 3 topless.
Anyway if there were not topless girls on page 3 the Sun would no longer appeal to most of its customers – another ‘elite’ newspaper?
September 12th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Good for you, India, in being willing to respond to this blog posting which mentions you.
I can imagine that it’s a bit strange reading about yourself but, when one choses to go public (as you did in the “Country Life” feature), one has to expect that you have in a sense become part of the media and today that certainly includes the Internet. For my part, I can only wonder how you found this posting on my blog, since I don’t think that you’re a regular visitor (but I hope that changes).
I’m sure that you’re a charming and genuine person and none of us chose our parents or our background or (at least initially) our class. But, if you look at “Country Life” each week, I think that you’ll have to agree that the young women it features in these pictures are drawn from a very narrow social stratum of society that does not reflect even the readership of the magazine, let alone the wider rural population.
Anyway, when my wife returns from a break with family members, she’ll be impressed that someone featured in “Country Life” bothered to post a comment on my blog. Meanwhile I wish you every success in your future studies and life.