Becca Monaghan
Jun 13, 2022
Good Morning Britain
A former glamour model has sparked a debate online after suggesting Page 3 should make a return.
Sam Fox, 56, rose to fame aged 16 when her mum entered her photographs in an amateur modelling contest.
"It was never risqué," Fox explained on Monday's Good Morning Britain. "It was the girl next door with a smile on her face. Every family read the paper."
Launched in the 1970s, Page 3 was a collective of glamour models that posed in tabloid papers. It brought the likes of Sam Fox, Linda Lusardi and Katie Price into the limelight. It was later banned by The Sun in 2015 following the three year 'No More Page 3' campaign led by Lucy-Anne Holmes for its outdated and sexist concept.
Speaking to GMB hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, Fox said: "We all visit the Tate gallery, and we all go to galleries, and most of the most beautiful pictures in those galleries are taken of women, and there weren't any cameras in those days, and I'm sure if there was, there would be plenty of pictures in those galleries."
"So you are effectively saying, what is wrong with the human form?" Madeley asked, to which Fox said we celebrate diversity in this generation and she thinks "women should be proud of their bodies."
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\u201c'I think women should be proud of their bodies.'\n\nFormer Page Three model Sam Fox is calling for the return of topless women in The Sun. In a GMB poll, 40% of respondents said they believed Page 3 was harmful to women.\n\nWere women actually safer in the days of Page 3?\u201d— Good Morning Britain (@Good Morning Britain) 1655105697
In a GMB poll, 40 per cent of voters said they believed Page 3 was harmful to women.
Many viewers turned to Twitter with their takes. Many suggested bringing back Page 3 would defy all the progress made over the years.
\u201cIf you are whining about not being able to get through the day by not being able to see boobs on page 3 of a shitty newspaper you are probably a sex pest.\u201d— Johan Silverman \ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f (@Johan Silverman \ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f) 1655111244
\u201cWe don't need Page 3 back. There's enough big tits in The Sun as it is.\u201d— Hugh Osborne (@Hugh Osborne) 1655110010
\u201cTurned on GMB and there's Sam Fox advocating bringing back Page 3 topless pics in The Sun.\n\nUK's march back to the 70's continues ...\u201d— Grumpy Bob \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc73\udb40\udc63\udb40\udc74\udb40\udc7f\ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddfc (@Grumpy Bob \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc73\udb40\udc63\udb40\udc74\udb40\udc7f\ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddfc) 1655105552
\u201cOne of the worst things about the Sun Page 3 culture was sitting on a train on my way to work with a guy sat next to me staring at the pictures. Horribly uncomfortable #GMB\u201d— Rebecca Dundon (@Rebecca Dundon) 1655105487
\u201c@GMB What a backwards step and narrow minded view by Sam Fox. Page 3 type content is so much more accessible these days for those that want to look at it. A return to mass published page 3 feel like a fist pump to the old boys club and misogyny\u201d— Good Morning Britain (@Good Morning Britain) 1655105697
\u201cIts vile that Sam Fox was only 16 when she debuted on Page 3 in 1983. How was that seen as okay? And no it shouldn't return. There is no need for it at all. #GMB #GoodMorningBritain\u201d— Dana Rose Pouncey \ud83d\udd77 (@Dana Rose Pouncey \ud83d\udd77) 1655105659
\u201cQueen's Jubilee, recession, a Conservative Prime Minister disliked by millions, and now talk of bringing back Page 3 in The Sun. We have returned to the 1970s.\u201d— Bennett Arron \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc77\udb40\udc6c\udb40\udc73\udb40\udc7f (@Bennett Arron \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc77\udb40\udc6c\udb40\udc73\udb40\udc7f) 1655111318
\u201cYou can be proud of your body and not want to show everything you've got to the world. Page 3 was never classy, I grew up with it and do you know how uncomfortable it was being around those kind of images as a child? It's just weird.\u201d— Louise \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Louise \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1655114794
\u201cBringing Page 3 back will make more women body conscious. Also it\u2019s part of a culture that should be left in the past.\u201d— AidenT06 \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83d\udc99\ud83e\udd8a\ud83d\udc06 (@AidenT06 \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83d\udc99\ud83e\udd8a\ud83d\udc06) 1655113771
Others however, called Page 3 "tame" compared to the X-rated content online.
\u201cSam Fox says bring back page 3 i tend to agree actually.\nCompared to the filth on the internet it\u2019s mild in fact totally innocent & only natural.\nTo be fair I\u2019d only agree if there was a topless hunk for all topless hunk appreciative people.\u201d— Harley #BackBoris #BackUkraine (@Harley #BackBoris #BackUkraine) 1655105511
\u201cMad thinking that ppl banned page 3 with all the crap you get on the Internet now...Page 3 was tame\u201d— Nush (@Nush) 1655107602
\u201c@GMB Page 3 is completely harmless. Far worse on TV everyday. Including that rubbish Naked Attraction.\u201d— Good Morning Britain (@Good Morning Britain) 1655105697
Madeley then asked the formed model about age. "If it were to come back, would you pose again?"
Fox replied: "Well, I guess - well, Joan Collins did Playboy at 60. So maybe I might do Playboy at 60."
The GMB host later told viewers he had received a message from Dame Joan Collins, 89. She also corrected Fox with her age, saying she was 49 when she posed naked for Playboy.
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