Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet

Why I support No More Page 3

As a society, we have legislated against any discrimination or harassment based on someone’s sex. So why is it acceptable for The Sun to print prominent pictures of breasts every day? By David Bunce


There are some things that just don’t fly in public spaces. Going out of my house for the groceries, for example, I can be reasonably sure that I’m not going to see a racial slur printed in giant letters on the side of a bus stop.

No More Page 3Neither am I going to trip over a giant penis on a billboard while trying to buy an ice cream. It would be unthinkable to see Gareth, 24, from Swansea, revealing all while offering ‘his’ opinion on future fiscal policies in a kitschy speech bubble. And yet, somehow, it’s still publicly acceptable for The Sun to print giant pictures of breasts on prominent display in their newspaper.

For these pictures end up in the sticky hands of a male commuter on the train or bus, or in a café, or in the office. I know I find it disturbing as another male sharing the same space. But what sort of messages does it send out to other travellers? To the 14 year old girl already wondering if she should drop maths, because that’s a ‘boy’s subject’ (“don’t bother darlin’ – as long as you look nice for the lads!”). What about the aid worker on her way to a policy meeting (“So what if you have a PhD on the difficulties of delivering effective humanitarian solutions? You’re biggest achievement in life is to have successfully grown a pair of breasts. Well done!”).

Having made the air uncomfortable for everyone and drunk his fill in the café, Mr Page 3 Reader then goes back to his job as a benefits assessor or as a judge or hiring a new industry researcher. How’s it going to affect how he reacts to a vulnerable female in need of emergency support versus a vulnerable male? What about factoring in the well-documented special risks for women in the criminal justice system? How’s he going to assess the female candidate’s ability to predict market trends if he’s just been devouring an objectified shot which says that the main competence she brings is to be sexually available for male desires?

It’s important. The presence of Page 3 in the public sphere exists on the same continuum as street harassment of girls in school uniform, as asking a female manager to see ‘the real manager’, as work places filled with sexual comments and creepy customers, as wage disparity and as groping on public transport. As a society, we need to do better.

As Christians, we know that all human beings are uniquely honoured as sharing God’s image, and so all objectification is morally wrong. And as a society, we have legislated against any discrimination or harassment based on someone’s sex.

The presence of Page 3 undermines this. It represents a sharp undercutting of the abilities and skills of half of our population and reduces them to a two-dimensional cameo pair of boobs, existing in the public sphere only for the satiation of debased male desire. It’s time this bombastic relic of male privilege crawled back into the stinky pond it came from. 
 

David Bunce is in the process of moving to Vienna with his wife, Mairi. They will work as a missionaries and future church planters with the Austrian Baptist Union.


 

Baptist Times, 30/07/2014
    Post     Tweet
The urgency of reconciliation
A reflection by Dr Rula Khoury Mansour, founder of the Nazareth Center for Peace Studies, following her presentation at the recent Lausanne Congress
COP29 - climate loss and damage, and historical injustice
We cannot talk about climate loss and damage without reflecting the damage of the past - and that means acknowledging the impact of slavery, the industrial revolution and colonialism, writes Israel Olofinjana
Prayers and a reflection for COP29
Dave Gregory, convenor of the Baptist Union Environment Network (BUEN), offers a reflection and prayers points for COP29, which runs from 11-21 November in Baku, Azerbaijan
Key themes around church planting
Alex Harris shares observations on church planting nationally in the UK. All speak to a growing flexibility and agility amongst churches, leaders and Christians to reach people, grow disciples and start new churches in the ways they are needed, he writes
Collaboration, and our worship of Jesus
Notes from the two keynote addresses from Dave Ferguson and Alex Harris at the first Everyone Everywhere national conference on 8 October
Israel-Palestine: I can’t keep up
Baptist church member David Nelson has travelled to Israel and the West Bank on three occasions in the past 24 months. He offers this reflection on events in the region
     The Baptist Times 
    Posted: 18/11/2024
    Posted: 14/10/2024
    Posted: 02/10/2024
    Posted: 22/07/2024
    Posted: 07/05/2024
    Posted: 12/02/2024
    Posted: 22/12/2023
    Posted: 16/12/2023