Turning a Page

Is it time for tabloids to stop printing pictures of topless models on Page Three?  I see the old debate has raised its head again, with a new petition calling for an end to this dubious British 'institution'.  Leaving aside the arguments over whether it demeans or objectifies women, surely the most pertinent question is what purpose does Page Three serve these days?  Back in the early 1970s, when The Sun inaugurated this 'tradition', Page Three represented practically the only way a young man could glimpse an honest-to-goodness set of bare female breasts.  The only alternatives were to go through the social embarrassment and humiliation of buying a porn magazine, going to see a X-rated porn movie at the cinema (also a terrible social stigma back then) or, worst of all, attending a live sex show.  That was the attraction of Page Three, why it boosted the paper's circulation so much - it delivered bared knockers, (and occasionally bums), to your letterbox (papers tended to be delivered in those days), in a semi-respectable, non-porn format. 

Nowadays, of course, you can get far, far more than just naked tits on tap 24 hours a day via your laptop, tablet or smartphone, delivered direct to the privacy of your own home, thanks to the internet.  Every kink and perversion is catered for, even in the world of free internet porn, and nobody need ever know that you are looking at it.  No more furtive trips to the the top-shelf of the newsagents or a specialist 'bookshop'.  That said, many regular magazines these days make the top shelf content look tame - porn has become the norm.  It's the same with TV and films - nudity and sex have gone legit and become mainstream.  Page Three was undoubtedly one of the key catalysts for this gradual legitimisation of what we once called porn.  Once bare boobs were available at breakfast in the pages of a newspaper, it started to become acceptable, part of the fabric of daily life - a 'bit of fun'. So, really, why do we still have Page Three girls?  The 'institution' has surely sowed the seeds of its own destruction, appealing now only to computer illiterate porn fiends who need something to whack off to.  Hell, get rid of it and force them to go online for their sexual stimulus like the rest of us - if push comes to shove, they can always go and use the public internet access  in their local library, (if the Tories haven't already closed it),  to whip their tops to.  It's the Big Society, you know.