Dear David,
I am writing to you with an idea for an alternative to page 3. I propose a page that celebrates women's achievements as an attempt to be more in keeping with British society in 2013, rather than the continuous publication of an image that belongs in the 1970s.
The Sun is in a unique position here and a complete turn around on this iconically sexist page could really impact how women are treated in British society as a result. If women are shown respect on this page, the message will reverberate through to people and with any luck other publications will follow suit.
I think it would be wonderful if each day a young woman was featured who was achieving something remarkable in her specific field. Young British artists, scientists, writers, actors, musicians, sports women, etc could be interviewed with the idea being that they are interesting role models for girls to aspire to.
Last year Gemma Gibbons payed a visit to my daughter's school and showed them some Judo moves. The children loved it and were talking about her for weeks afterwards. They were transfixed by her Olympic silver medal and remembered almost every word she said about how she achieved it. I cannot stress how important I think role models are for young boys and girls. If women are presented to them as hardworking, interesting, intelligent and capable then the next generation of young people will grown up believing this to be true.
One of my major issues I have with Page 3 is the passivity of the woman standing there. What is her purpose and what is she waiting for? We live in a very competitive age and in order for young people to achieve success they will need to work hard and be taken seriously. Very few women will be able to form a career purely based on their appearance and for females to perform on a level playing field with their male counterparts they need more positive role models. As it stands there is a huge disparity between the way women and men are portrayed.
Wouldn't you rather know that you have encouraged young girls to pursue careers in medicine, marine biology, cycling, politics, etc than to know that you caused multitudes of young women to feel inadequate, as they feel they do not measure up to the narrow idea of beauty presented on page 3?
Here is your chance to celebrate women, to empower them in the true sense of the word, to inspire and help young females achieve their goals and ambitions.
This is your chance. Please take it.
Yours Sincerely,
Laura Ashton
