Page 3 and porn stars

My next blog was going to be about intimacy, and loving myself and my family. I've already written most of it.

But something was brought to my attention that I want to address, albeit in my teeny tiny, miniscule little bit of the interwebs.

And it's this, a new campaign against Page 3 of The Sun newspaper.

I never buy The Sun. If I am ever in the vicinity of one though, curiosity gets the better of me and I always, always, open the front page to read that tiny little box housing the "opinion" of today's topless model.

I am not saying, in any way, that these models do not have the ability to form their own opinions. I'm not saying they're idiots, who couldn't possibly have any insight to the economic instability of Europe, or the Lords Reform.
What I am saying is that those boxes are futile. Whether the models write them or not, the men who read the contents of that box are looking to find out this woman's name and age. They are not looking to find out whether they could have a lively debate with her (not because they are not capable of lively debate, but because that is not the purpose of Page 3).

My sister recently posted a link to this Guardian article to a friend of Facebook. The comments she got for it were quite varied. Instantly, the guy she posted it to referred to feminists as "femo-nazis" (not to be pedantic, but the popularized term is "feminazi", so if you're going to insult us and try to belittle us by comparing us to mass-murdering fascists, please spell it correctly. We would all really appreciate it.)

He also said that women got the vote because they didn't "bitch about it", but instead got on with the "important job of running the country while the men were sent off to war". Apparently, being the men for a bit proved that women were worthy of equality. Well done women!

So at the risk of simplifying what he's saying, and women's war effort, had the opportunity not presented itself for women to physically prove they were equal to men by looking after Britain while they were gone, would women not have proved they were equal? How would they have proved this? Do we need another war to prove it again? 100 years on from the Suffrage movement, if we had real, tangible equality, we wouldn't have to keep bitching* about it, would we?


Another thing we keep bitching about, is street harassment. 
Browsing Jezebel.com today, I read this article written by a porn star about street harassment.
And the first comment said "To turn around and say "don't touch me" is both hypocritical and immature considering your whole career is centered around being "touched". Having said that, it doesn't excuse what those scumbags do, but it does explain it."

This person had essentially missed the entire point of the article. This woman, whilst she did highlight some incidents at porn conventions, she was talking about the comments, the insults, the everyday experience of being a woman on the street. How many of these men targeted her because they knew she was a porn star? It's highly unlikely any of them knew that's what she did for a living. And even if they did, why should she be harassed on the street? Why should choosing a career in adult entertainment mean an open invitation to being harassed?

At times, I've enjoyed the wolf-whistles. I gleefully reported to people that when I wore what I can only describe loosely as a top that looked like this**, builders sang to me. To ME! Little old me! I was always the nerdy girl with frizzy hair at school. But I've always been slim, and suddenly I was being appreciated for that!

But the tame wolf-whistles, and the crappy renditions of "Do-wah-diddy" or whatever they sang, are the nice anecdotes. I've had people comment on my tits, I've had men shout from the car for me to talk to them, and then when I don't, call me a whore or a bitch. These men have, it appears, a feeling of entitlement. They feel like the women of the world owe them. We should be flattered they are talking to us, so we should respond. But why the hell should we? Out of politeness? In response to your oh-so-polite conversation starter of "You have an amazing rack"?
No thank you.

And it's things like Page 3 that perpetuate the availability of women, and the objectification of women, that ensures men (not ALL men) have that sense of entitlement. That sense of entitlement is something that can be found in rapists***, and it is something that desperately needs to be tackled.

Having just looked over the comments again (of which there have been 32), the last one reads: "Feminism is believing men and women are equal. Nothing wrong with that."

Exactly.




*we will only quit our "bitching", when we don't need to bitch about misogynists and inequality anymore. So get used to it, or do something to help us.

**the "top" I owned was nowhere near as modest as this. It was string, held by bits of material at the sides. In fact, the only bit of my upper half that got any modesty was my sides. Don't worry, I'm ashamed of myself too. But it was a learning curve...

***entitlement over a victim, as rape is not about sex, but about power, and feeling entitled to having sex (vaginally, anally or orally) with the victim. I am NOT, in any way at all, saying the men that read Page 3 are rapists. I am not saying all men who objectify women (which is a very high percentage (I'm not going to guess one) of men) become rapists. I am saying that things such as Page 3, and the general objectification of women on TV, in film, and most certainly in advertising, breeds a belief that women are available for mens desire and pleasure almost all of the time, and these women are so up for it, i.e. a sense of entitlement