Could the Page 3 Girl have met her match in the Girl Guide?
Members of Girlguiding UK have thrown their weight behind a popular campaign to drop the topless model feature in The Sun newspaper, following a viral petition started last year by campaigner Lucy Holmes, which has garnered 90,000 signatures.
Girl Guides Sarah, 12, and Rachel, 13, during the Girl Guiding UK's Centenary celebration gathering at Crystal Palace
Recently, News International's Rupert Murdoch, who owns The Sun, signalled he is not immovable on the issue, tweeting to a campaigner that he felt the topless girls in the newspaper may be "last century".
"You maybe right, don't know but considering. Perhaps halfway house with glamorous fashionistas," he tweeted.
More than half a million girls belong to the charity, and the decision to call for a vote on whether to support the campaign for a ban was decided by Girlguiding's advocate panel, 16 girls between the ages of 14 to 26.
Around 2,000 Guides aged between 16 and 25 participated in the poll - with 88% calling for The Sun to drop the page.
An open letter has been sent to The Sun’s editor, Dominic Mohan, which says: “We know that The Sun is a family newspaper. Anyone can pick it up, turn to page 3, and think that it is normal for young women to be treated as objects. We feel this is just wrong and has to stop.
"As a young woman in UK society, it is impossible to nurture your ambitions if you are constantly told that you are not the same as your male equivalent. This is what Page 3 does. It is disrespectful and embarrassing.
"We would like The Sun, as a leading UK newspaper, to promote positive role models to inspire girls and young women and help everyone to understand that women are never for sale.
"We hope that the voice of Girlguiding members, combined with the rest of the signatories on the No More Page 3 petition, will convince you to finally take bare boobs out of The Sun.”
Julie Bentley, chief executive of Girlguiding added: “Giving girls a voice on issues that they care about is one of Girlguiding’s most important values.
"We are very proud that young women in Guiding are choosing to speak out and play a part in building the society they want to live in.”
Still, on the morning the Girlguiding announcement was made, another kind of girl power pushed the Page 3 girl all the way back to page 17 in The Sun, to make way for tributes to Britain's first woman Prime Minister.
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Lucy-Anne Holmes, founder of NoMorePage3, will be taking part in our HuffPost Conversation Starters panel on feminism, which is being held at Wilderness Festival.
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