THIS week topless women have been in the news for not being in the news.

 

The Sun newspaper, which launched Page 3 more than 40 years ago, will no longer feature it.

The tabloid quietly shelved the tradition earlier this week after a growing number of people branded it sexist.

There's no point in pretending that getting rid of Page 3 was a victory for feminism. The newspaper will still have topless pictures online, as well as photos of women wearing a full set of lingerie in their print edition.

But there's no denying that it's a major achievement for a grassroots campaign that's fought hard during the last two and a half years.

The No More Page 3 group are proof that fighting for what you believe in can be effective.

It was back in 2012 that Lucy-Anne Holmes wrote a letter to the newspaper requesting that they reconsider Page 3. She felt the feature was not appropriate for modern times and a newspaper had no need for soft porn.

Ms Holmes did not receive an answer and went on to form a petition that gathered 217,000 signatures - a number that's extraordinary in itself.

No More Page 3 was born, and now, in 2015, the newspaper has finally given in.

I've no doubt the tabloid bosses have their own reasons for changing Page 3, but the negative attention the campaign piled on to them must have helped them make up their mind.

The anti-Page 3 campaign was never far from anyone's mind. The group staged demonstrations, they visited universities, they appeared on TV, they were all over social media and they sold T-shirts humourlessly described as a "feminist fashion statement".

Their arguments made sense: they weren't asking for a lot. They just wanted a better and fair representation of both sexes in the media.

Personally I agreed with them. I thought Page 3 was an odd thing to dream up in the first place and I'm surprised it lasted so long.

The 'news in briefs' section was probably the most patronising thing I've ever read.

That's why No More Page 3's achievement is such a huge one.

The newspaper didn't have to change the way it works, they weren't doing anything illegal. But they did change.

In a world where everyone is upset about everything I think this is a good reminder of the change proper grassroots campaigning can make.

Nearly every day I receive a request to sign a petition. Of course some of the time they are quite rightly rallying against a serious matter...but most of it is a storm in a teacup.

But at least in this case, the storm over a D-cup ended with the correct decision.