Can 200,000 signatures be ignored?

Well - crack out the champaign and raise a glass to No More Page Three. As of today, the campaign that I have been a supporter of for over a year, has reached 200,000 signatures. This is a huge achievement for NMP3 and for British feminism. Despite being nowhere near the Sun's estimated audience, this is a huge amount of people standing up against the paper's most well-known segment.

When I promoted the campaign earlier this week, a Twitter user who is campaigning against the illegalisation of pornography sent me a link to an article about how NMP3, although gaining support, is expanding very slowly and it isn't worth our time. I don't think this is true, after all, every little helps.

In an age where videos of cats get millions of views overnight, it is of course (in theory) very easy to get such a campaign up and moving quickly. But we forget that this is a feminist campaign against the biggest tabloid newspaper in the country. News Corp have been able to get away with brushing away allegations made against them for years. Look at the amount of time it took for the News Of The World scandal to unfold and look how it panned out. At this very moment, Rebekah Brooks is a free woman regardless of her dubious "innocence". Justice does not concern Murdoch or his media empire, they continue to be the biggest in Britain regardless of the Leveson Enquiry and they continue to carry on giving the public news via unethical and corrupt methods. Feminism isn't an easy issue to bring forward to such a corporation either. The media is dominated by male figures and we still live in an age where dominant female figures' efforts are still undermined by how they look. The unruly woman is a huge part of our media and culture. Look at female journalists and broadcasters. Mary Beard, although an accomplished historian and presenter receives huge amounts of hate because of the way she looks. Laurie Penny is demonised  for reclaiming words such as "queer" and "slut" as well as for supporting sex workers rights and standing up against patriarchy through left-wing methods. Charlotte Smith was axed from Countryfile for being "too old" despite being 45 at the time. No matter how loud feminists shout, these issues remain unaddressed and we are just told to deal with it.

Bearing this in mind, NMP3 has been a huge success. A large number of universities around the country that have now boycotted the Sun from their campus after they staged votes on the matter. Although, in some people's opinion, the NMP3 campaign lacks backing, former page 3 models as well as leading feminist figures have shown their support for it and it is now a large voice in the feminist movement. I think the campaign can't be ignored because it has been acknowledged by the Sun newspaper. There is no doubt that the Sun's "Check 'em Tuesday" segment has been influenced by the fall in support for page 3. 200,000 supporters is a huge amount and will continue to grow and become more and more influential. If you haven't yet signed the campaign, I urge you to as it is free and a very good cause.

Sign the petition here: http://chn.ge/1sQ5PjU
Follow me on Twitter: http://bit.ly/1ySxHlH

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"The Sun is an unashamedly positive celebration of Englishness"

Ed Miliband has apologised for any offence caused by a picture released of him with a free copy of the Sun Newspaper. The picture was viewed as controversial because the Sun is #1 a right-leaning newspaper and #2 because many Labour supporters condemn the paper for its involvement in the Hillsborough disaster coverage. As a Labour member, I was slightly disgruntled to see Mr Miliband appearing with my most hated paper (yes, more than the Daily Mail) but I was more annoyed with the statement made by the Sun in response to the event.

The issue in question is the free copy of the Sun released to celebrate England's participation in Brazil's World Cup. The issue was described by the Sun as being:

"An unashamedly positive celebration of Englishness" 

which made me rock my head in a disapproving manner. As a Scottish/British who has lived in England for most of my life, I have a very balanced view (I like to think) on the England vs Scotland rivalry. This is the main reason I support 'Better Together' and condemn the SNP and why I really hate Thatcher and the England football team. To me, the patriotic England issue (which all three of the main parties' leaders were photographed with) was in bad taste considering we are less than 100 days away from the Scottish Referendum. 

Here is why:

When I said I hated the England football team, I didn't mean the likes of the 11 players who kick the ball around and disappoint everyone every four years by being utterly CRAP. These are the men my brother has looked up to since he was 6 years old and, for a time, I did too. What I mean is THE FANS. English "yob" football culture is one of the most exhausting things I have ever witnessed. The drunken bias and bitterness that seeps from football fans every 2 years (counting the Euro) is just not necessary. I was at Soccer Aid on Sunday and the hatred towards Edgar Davids after he fouled Johnny Wilkes was disgusting - it actually ruined the game for me. He was booed every time he touched the ball and, to be honest, that is not what a charity event for Unicef should be about. If it had happened the other way round, most certainly the England fans would have been silent. It isn't just me who is irritated by this, and no doubt many more find it more irritating than I do.

Considering the SNP are such an influence on the Scottish people and it is very plausible that Scotland will say "yes" to independence (which, as far as I know, is something the Government and EU does not want to happen), you would expect for English bias to be turned down a notch until September in the media. 

It is unfortunate that the World Cup and Scottish Referendum are months apart and I understand that the English do want to be patriotic - I know if Scotland were in the World Cup there would be ten times the party but Scotland leaving the U.K seems very likely to me and personally I think more needs to be done to turn people against it. If Scotland votes "no", which it is still probable that they will do, there will be a huge debate sparked about why Scotland is so unhappy within the United Kingdom and I believe that English bias in the media is one of the main problems.

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What percentage of MPs like a bit of tit?

The No More Page 3 campaign released information last night about the number of MPs in certain parties supported their campaign. The results are interesting.

Green Party

Labour Party

Lib Dems

Tories

Hmmmm... most of them were lower than I thought. Isn't it funny how UKIP aren't there? Here is the NMP3 campaign's website: http://nomorepage3.org/

What do you think? Leave a comment!

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