Page three girl

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The Page Three girl ( English for The girl from "Page Three" ) is a female photo model who usually appears either naked or shirtless on the third page of British tabloids . The Sun newspaper introduced the Page Three girl and registered the name. The Daily Star (Starbird) and Daily Mirror followed with the illustration of naked women on the third page, the Mirror made them wear swimsuits again after a few years.

The women take up more than half of "Page Three". The texts placed around them mostly deal with tabloid topics. Sex or crime stories, and especially stories that combine sex and violence, find their place most frequently on “Page Three” in both the Sun and the Daily Star.

Story in the sun

Rupert Murdoch ordered the Sun to change course, which emphasized sexuality, gossip and violence much more. The Page three girl became an important element and trademark for this.

A picture of a Page Three girl, at that time still scantily clad, first appeared in 1969 after the newspaper was taken over by the Australian publisher Rupert Murdoch by its editor-in-chief Larry Lamb . The first topless pictures, not yet on page three, were included in the second Murdoch issue with two photos in the middle of the Uschi Obermaier model . The first topless - photo of an unknown woman on page 3 was printed on 17 November 1970th Stephanie Rahn, then 20 years old from Munich, posed for the recording . The Sun called her a birthday suit girl .

Lamb recalled in the late 1980s that the instantly rising criticism contributed to the site's popularity. By the mid-1970s, the Page Three girl had established itself as a daily column and had become a hallmark of the Sun. At that time, the newspaper itself often advertised with the slogan best for nudes , just as it discovered merchandise opportunities through calendars or card games with women.

The admission was part of a general change of course by the Sun, which was chronically in deficit prior to Murdoch's acquisition. Sexuality and gossip had a much broader place in the reporting, just as political and other reports were often directed from a sexual point of view. The political direction of the Sun, which had previously supported the Labor Party, moved to the right, and in the 1974 election the newspaper supported the Conservatives for the first time. After several years of the Lamb / Murdoch course, the Sun overtook the Daily Mirror for the first time in 1978.

Imitators

Lucy Pinder started her career as a starbabe

Other tabloids tried to respond to the Sun's success. The Daily Mirror began to publish equally revealing photos and to put more emphasis on the sexual side of a story in its reports. However, the course was controversial within the newspaper, and important editors such as Marje Proops are resisting this change of course. The Page Three girl appeared regularly, but the accompanying text had to justify an alleged newsworthiness. Since Mike Molloy became editor-in-chief of the Daily Mirror in 1975, the newspaper has been printing a three-page girl every day, often in suggestive poses with wet t-shirts, etc., but avoided showing nipples.

The success of the Page Three girl attracted other imitators in addition to the Daily Star and Daily Mirror. Pornography publisher David Sullivan founded the Sunday Sport newspaper in 1986 , which stated that every odd page was page 3. Pages 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. show half- or fully naked young women. The even pages initially dealt with political issues, but within a short time sport shifted primarily to reports about gossip, extraterrestrials , esotericism and the like.

Even in German-speaking countries, almost every tabloid newspaper features a picture of a more or less naked woman with a stimulating effect. A subtitle is usually associated with this representation and is intended to reinforce this effect. In the GDR one found a similar type of representation in the Eulenspiegel under the heading “Funzel”. These images are not necessarily placed on the third page.

In Nigeria , the daily newspaper The Punch also published a “Page Three girl” on page 3 every day from the 1970s to 1990s. Most of them were photos of young women from Europe.

Page Three Bill

Clare Short. Initiator of the Page Three Bill

The later Labor Minister Clare Short tried to stop the practice with the so-called Page Three Bill . In doing so, she tried less to forbid the depiction of naked women, but rather defined a newspaper before the law as a product that does not depict naked or half-naked men or women. The law would have separated the British tabloid media from their legally significant status as newspapers. She received 3,000 letters supporting her plan while Sun and other tabloids fought the plan. Ultimately, it failed due to a lack of political support within its own ranks.

Applicants

Linsey Dawn McKenzie

The number of applicants wishing to appear on page 3 far exceeds the number of places available in the UK. The prospective models mostly come from the working class or the unemployed. The expenses for clothing, make-up, etc. that go along with the task place a heavy burden on the budget, so that the whole family often supports the young women. According to those involved, the women are primarily motivated by the hope of a career as a starlet.

Well-known Page Three girls were, for example, Joanne Guest , Leilani Dowding , Samantha Fox , Gail McKenna , Kirsten Imrie , Keeley Hazell , Katie Price , Linsey Dawn McKenzie , Michelle Marsh and Vida Garman .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Andrew Belsey, Ruth F. Chadwick: Ethical issues in journalism and the media Routledge, 1992, ISBN 0-415-06927-0 , pp. 92-93.
  2. ↑ Cynthia Carter et al .: News, gender, and power Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-415-17016-8 , p. 226
  3. ^ A b c Adrian Bingham: Family Newspapers ?: Sex, Private Life, and the British Popular Press 1918–1978. Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 0-19-927958-6 , pp. 221-223.
  4. ↑ Jim McGuigan: Cultural populism Routledge, 1992, ISBN 0-415-06295-0 , p. 177.
  5. ^ Mark Dapin: Sex and Money Allen & Unwin, 2005, ISBN 1-74114-320-9 , p. 33.