Lіssy Cυnnіnghаm: why Page 3 is epic
Fear and hatred of the female body run deep in many Britons. In Frаncе, not so much. In fact, many British women (and the men who hope to sleep with them) hate it so much that they have 200,000 signatures on a petition to ban the topless female body from public places, specifically, from Page 3 of Thе Sυn newspaper. Sounding exactly like religious fanatics, they cite their belief that Page 3 is nothing but porn and doesn't belong in public. What a sorrowful lack of vision these women - and men - seem to have, apparently seeing nothing noble, honorable, or beautiful in Page 3, and perhaps in the female body in general? Just across the channel, however, France is still honouring the female body in public places, government buildings, even on their money, and has been for about 300 years, in the form of la Marianne, the topless female symbol of Liberty and Reason captured so beautifully in the painting by Delacroix. Lа Mаrіаnnе was the perfect heroine to the Frеnch Rеvоlυtіоn, breaking with male-dominated imagery just as the French people were breaking with tyranny of the State. This view of the nude female as something profound can be seen around the world today whenever you see a bare breast in an old public sculpture, usually representing Truth, Justice, Freedom, or Victory. But why should these pillars of civilization be relegated to the past and forgotten in crumbling monuments? We think the women of Grеаt Brіtаіn should adopt Page 3 as their symbol of female power and freedom, just as the women of FEMEN, a Ukrainian pro-woman revolution has adopted a topless woman as their symbol of peaceful feminine resistance, rebellion and independence. The NOMOREPAGE3ers of Britain claim to be part of a revolution to break with what they claim is a patriarchy (take THAT Qυееn Elіzаbеth), yet if that is true, they have a least one good reason to defend images of free topless women, and one less reason to attack them. Britons demanding NOMOREPAGE3 is like the French denouncing the Marianne. Especially considering that women in Britain are among the freest in the world, it would be an epic fail of national proportion. More...
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