Beyond Boobs

Boobs, bangers, hooters, bristols, funbags, knockers, shirt potatoes, norks. Call them what you will, you can be sure that a lady’s breasts, and who feels they have an innate right to see them are going to be in the news cycle for a good few days yet.

Why? Because unsurprisingly, some peeping tom with a zoom lense has managed to confirm what we all knew anyway: just like 51% of the population, Kate Middleton has them.

The ensuing row will almost certainly go like this
1. Pictures intruding someones privacy become available on the Internet.
2. Debate ensues as to whether press should publish them
3. Someone will blame Kate for having breasts and daring to show them in the privacy of a private place
4. A paper will publish them on the basis that they have a moral right since they are on the Internet anyway.
5. Someone will make it Leveson’s fault.

On a related point, but much, much more interestingly, after numerous attempts over the years, a web-based campaign has been gaining ground for the last couple of weeks to try to bring the concept of ‘Page 3′ to an end.

Claire Short MP tried to do this a few years back and was harangued for daring to challenge them. The bullying worked too, as despite being a clearly contradictory, chauvinistic and objectifying feature of the paper, few have been willing to relaunch the campaign until now. With a press which has, and uses carte blanche to vilify and harass female politicians who speak out on behalf of women’s issues, the culture of fear is quietly but very much alive when it comes to certain topics. Which is kind of ironic really when the same press bangs the free speech drum whenever it wants to invade someone’s privacy and publish unnecessary and immorally obtained pictures of someone.

Ending a culture of entitlement of unfettered access when it comes to women’s bodies is a fairly basic principle for ensuring women are treated as autonomous individuals and not objectified as secondary to men’s libidos. Media practices which knowingly and aggressively undermine this should be a thing of the past.

The new campaign is in the form of a polite but clear petition at:

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/dominic-mohan-take-the-bare-boobs-out-of-the-sun

It takes less than a minute to sign, so please do. Because we’re worth it.

You can also follow the campaign on twitter

Follow @nomorepage3

JT

PS Tits!! How could I forget tits!!

Follow @janey_uk