No More Page 3

Page 3 – a fine British institution! Inciting harassment of girls and women since 1970!

“Working in a small restaurant staffed mainly by 16 year old girls, the manager tells everyone to gather in the back room, he holds up page three and declares that this is our new uniform.”

“Sitting on a bus – middle-aged chap sitting next to me is looking at page 3. I notice that he saw me notice, and blush. He says “What do you think of that?” I mumble “I don’t think I’m the target audience.” He openly looks at my chest. “I wouldn’t worry – with tits like yours, they’re not going to ask you to pose.” I was 14, and wearing my school uniform.”

“I once worked in a company where I was the only female on a floor of men. They would look me up and down, laughing. They would bring in The Sun, put it on my desk open at Page 3 and ask if I looked like the topless woman pictured.”

“Currently studying architecture at uni. Went on a site visit as part of my course. Got asked why I was there by one of the construction workers, when the rest of the group were guys. I simply said that I was there because I, like the rest of the group, were training to be architects. The response I got was “with tits like yours?! Nobody will pay any attention to what you’re saying they’ll be looking down your top. Give up now, you’d be more successful as a page 3 model love”.”

From Dear David… An Open Letter to the Editor of the Sun. The No More Page 3 Campaign continues to put pressure on the Sun.

End of the Independent Living Fund?

Yes, I’m afraid this is yet another blog post about the UK Government’s cuts and alterations to services used by disabled people. This time, it’s the Independent Living Fund that’s under threat. The ILF pays for support for those with very high needs, enabling them to live independently in the community, go to work, and do all the things that enabled folks largely take for granted. The fund has so far been the responsibility of central government, but plans are afoot to transfer it to local authorities in June this year. Importantly, the funding will not be ring-fenced, so there is no guarantee that local authorities will use it for its current purpose. Indeed, as local authorities are short of cash, this sort of change often leads to cuts as the money is used to pay for other things instead. (To give just one example, this happened when the ring-fence around Supporting People funding was removed. You can download a parliamentary briefing about this here.)

I understand the government are proposing to stop the fund completely a year later (presumably the money will be completely reabsorbed into a general budget). There is a bit more detail about the proposed changes here. An Early Day Motion has been filed, and you can ask your MP to support it if you feel so inclined.