Is Page Three Set To Disappear From The Sun?

The Sun has reportedly decided to stop featuring topless women on Page 3.

No bare-chested women have appeared in the familiar inside-cover position since Friday.

Campaigners have been pushing for the feature to be scrapped, labelling it sexist, harmful to children and out-of-date.

The Sun has not yet confirmed the move but - in a rather ambiguous tweet - its head of PR declined to say it would live on.

Dylan Sharpe posted: "Page 3 will be in @TheSunNewspaper tomorrow in the same place it's always been - between page 2 and page 4."

The feature, which began in 1970, is set to continue online, according to the Times.

Unison, the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, Mumsnet, and Girlguiding UK are among those who have backed The No More Page 3 group.

In a Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) message it said it was hopeful of "truly historic news and a great day for people power".

"We don't know the details for sure and there's still lots to be done ... But this could be a huge step for challenging media sexism."

The group’s founder, Lucy-Anne Holmes, told BBC Newsnight she hoped The Sun would not simply replace the feature with women in underwear.

"I'm not going to stand here and say: 'There's going to now be women in underwear on page three and isn't that great…'"

"The Sun hasn't suddenly decided that women say, think and do interesting and incredible things, it's still basically saying women are here for decoration, but it's a step in the right direction."

The Sun’s editor, David Dinsmore, previously said that readers were strongly in favour of keeping Page 3.

But Rupert Murdoch, the paper's owner, last year acknowledged calls for a change of policy, asking his Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) followers: "Aren't beautiful young women more attractive in at least some fashionable clothes?"