Sexism Row over Page 3 of the Sun Newspaper: Campaigners go for the Soft Target

For some months now the page 3 of the Sun Newspaper which usually contains semi naked photos of young British models largely in their late teens and early twenties has been a subject of debate in the British media.  Last week, a sister newspaper announced that the Sun was stopping the publication of this page 3 for good.  Campaigners against the publication were delighted over this news.  However, this jubilation was short lived after the Sun newspaper came out to dismiss the claims of the demise of its page 3.

The number of people against the publication of page 3 of the Sun newspaper is large.  As of last week, it was rumoured that up to 250,000 people have signed up to an online petition asking the Sun newspaper to scrape the page 3.  For these campaigners, having nude photos of young women in one of the leading British newspapers does not only belittles women but also is sexism dating back to 45years ago and should be stopped.  There is no room for this type of misogyny in the 21^st century argued the campaigners.

While it is important for the Sun newspaper to consider this demand from a quarter of a million people it is also important to consider some questions.  Who are these campaigners numbering up to a quarter of a million?  Are they regular readers of the Sun newspaper?   Have they signed up to the petition through dubious means? 

Providing answers to these questions is important considering the problems often associated with online petitions.   Online petitions, for example, can be marred by multiple user sign-ups, in which one user will create multiple identities using pseudo names.   There is also the issue of people soliciting for petition against an issue from friends, colleagues or family members.  Currently, it is difficult to establish the extent to which any of these factors may have influenced the campaigners who had signed the online petition against the Sun newspaper.

In addition to these problems relating to online petitions, the Sun newspaper is unlikely to concede to the demands of the campaigners in view of the fact that the paper has a very large reader database.  It is estimated that about 2 million people across Britain buy the newspaper every day.  It is possible that one of the factors attracting these readers to the newspaper is the page 3.  Therefore, it is unlikely that the Sun will upset these readers by stopping the publication of the page 3 without a fight.   

Aside from the financial consequences that may follow the scraping of page 3, the Sun can also dismiss the demands of the campaigners against page 3 by relying on the defence of freedom of expression and democracy.  Under the freedom of expression, newspapers are entitled to publicise any material providing such a material does not contravene the law.  The page 3 of the Sun newspaper has not been found to violate any applicable British law, so asking for this material to be stopped is tantamount to censoring freedom of expression.  

Regarding democracy, the number of campaigners against the publication of page 3 of the Sun newspaper is far lower than the number of readers of the page 3.  Two hundred and fifty thousand campaigners compared to 2 million readers.  The Sun therefore can rely on this evidence to justify its continuous publication of the page 3 since democracy implies that the wishes of the majority should always triumph over the wishes of the minority.

Even though the Sun were to concede to the demands of the campaigners and scrap its page 3, the availability of nude photos of women will still be readily available online.  Among other sources, nude photos of women will continue to be featured on massage therapy websites, dating websites and pornographic websites.   This raises the question about whether the campaigners against page 3 are going for the soft target, leaving the hard target untouched.