Lads Mags
In Britain, women are campaigning against lads mags.
This is because they are misogynistic and pornographic, and sold on clear display in most newsagents and supermarkets.
They are even displayed next to teenage girls’ magazines and children’s comics
Lads Mags contain many pornographic images and adverts, but are not considered nor displayed as pornography. This is because Lads Mags want to remove the stigma from reading pornography from their magazines to boost their sales. This means that they are available to sell to any age and are no restrictions on their display, with them often being displayed prominently to increase sales.
Lads Mags are misogynistic. They characterise women as breasts and ass for men to ogle and grope, as holes for men to fuck and as prey to be caught. They hold features such as virgin competitions, ‘babe’ competitions and offering breast enlargements to women. They make jokes about sexual harrassment and trivialise the harm of the sex industry. They encourage men to take photos of women near-naked without their consent. They promote the aspiration in young women to become glamour models. They do this by promising them fame and fortune, in the exchange of half-naked photos.
Lads Mags are aggressive in promoting their brands:
We are seeing Lads Mags hold events in universities, which means women stripping for male student entertainment.
We are seeing Lads Mags and The Sun holding babe competitions in bars.
Newsagents are given point-of-sale branded merchandise to promote Lads Mags. Also lads mags are often put on prominent display in newsagents, which are spaces paid for by the parent company to push sales.
Soldiers are given Lads Mags T Shirts to boost morale.
For other examples click this.
Lads Mags are at the forefront of a wider move towards the normalisation of pornography- this is by rebranding pornographic images as ‘not porn’ but ’sexy images’ of ‘empowered glamour models’ which serves to proliferate the sexual objectification of women as something postive and aspirational for women. This trend brings porn into the mainstream and denies the exploitation of pornography. The perpetual representation of women as sex objects is dangerous, as this represents women’s bodies as dehuminised, sexualised play-things that men can ogle, grope and invade.
We are campaigning for shops to stop selling lads mags. We say shops shouldn’t sell lads mags if they support women’s rights. Women will never be equal if we are perpetually viewed and portrayed as tits, ass and holes for men.Please get involved in the campaign
Things you can do
Encourage your local newsagents to stop selling them, or at least display them on top shelf. You can send them a letter, and speak to them in person.
Encourage high street shops and supermarkets to stop selling lads mags. You can send them letters and also email them. Please see a list of the offending shops and supermarkets in the complaints section.
You can sticker lads magazines. If you don’t have a printer, write your own
You can hide lads mags in shops.
You can turn them over to the back page, or open them to the porn pages , so people can see them for what they are
You can email the lads mags companies to complain, see contact list below.
You can demonstrate against lads mags out side shops to encourage them to stop selling them. It is very easy to make a leaflet and hand it out to people who walk into the shop. If you need advice then email me.
You can complain to your male friends/family/partners who read lads mags.
You can take photos of lads mags on display in irresponsble places and send them to me!
So please join us in the campaign against lads mags.
I am always interested in hearing if you make complaints or do any actions, so please contact me at charliegrrl@gmail.com
If you would like to complain about lads mags and ‘porn papers’, below are the contact details
Contact Z00:
Head Office: Mappin House, 4 Winsley Street, London, W1W 8HF
Phone: 020 7182 8000Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Noguera 020 7182 8301
Deputy Editor: Ben Knowles 020 7182 8341
Executive Editor: Chris Bell 020 7182 8341
Contact Nuts:
Head Office: 26th Floor, IPC ignite!, King’s Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London, SE1 9LS
Phone: 020 7261 5660Editor: Phil Hilton 020 7261 5660
Contact Loaded:
IPC Media, 26th Floor, Stamford Street, London, SE1 9LS Phone: 020 72611 5562Editor: Martin Daubney (contact through PA)
Editor’s PA/Office Manager: Lisa Wallis 020 7261 5562
Contact Maxim:
30 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JDPhone: 020 7907 6439
Features Editor: David Whitehouse 020 7907 6412
Contact FHM:
Mappin House, 4 Winsley Street, London, W1W 8HF
Phone: 020 7182 8021
Editor:Ross Brown 020 7182 8028
Contact Front
Jordan House, 47 Brunswick Place, London, N1 6EB
Editor johnny.sharp@smdpublishing.co.uk
The Daily Sport:
19 Great Ancoats Street, Manchester, M60 4BT
Phone: 0161 236 4466 or 079011177678
London: 020 7782 4100
Manchester: 0161 2280210
Glasgow: 0141 420 5200
Dublin: (01) 602 8866
The Daily Star
The Northern & Shell Building,
Number 10 Lower Thames Street,
London,EC3R 6EN
08714 341010
Complain to shops who sell lads mags and porn papers
HMV
020 7432 2000
Virgin Megastores
0845 277 7447
Visit Lads Mags Blog to see the front cover of lads mags subverted
May 1, 2007 at 2:46 pm
hurrah! good work!
May 20, 2007 at 10:57 am
i live in australia and thought britain was way ahead but now i feel sorry for you!
May 31, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I have struggled against this abuse of women for so long now, particularly at the train station that i have to go through two times a day during term time. The Daily Sport is displayed in an area that is unavoidable, unavoidable to me, to elderly persons, to children, to babies, to anyone.
I have asked for a complaint form, non was given.
I have asked to speak to the manager, non were available.
I have asked for the managers phone number and was given a fake one.
I have asked for the managers address and was declined.
I have attempted to explain to the (female) shop assistant what i want and she not only verbally abused me but said they would call the police if i didn’t stop turning over the newspapers.
There seems to be nothing left to do.
June 15, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Good work. Hiow can we also challenge the On line versions as well? The extent of objectification and promotion of sexual objectification is unregulated and unsurpassed by anything else consider as mainstream
September 14, 2007 at 1:03 pm
A recent blog post at The F-word reported that FHM have printed a topless photograph of a 14 year old girl without her permission. While her age makes this more appalling, the fact that FHM habitually print photos of naked women sent in by men, not necessarily with the women’s knowledge, never mind consent, is most disturbing. I can’t believe there has not been more uproar over this - I can only guess that women who find that photos of them have been printed are too embarrassed to speak out, or fear further humiliation if they do. I don’t know how the law stands on this. I find it deeply depressing that at a time when society is so (rightly) concerned about abusive images of children, the very idea that images of women *can* be abusive seems to have disappeared.
November 27, 2007 at 8:37 pm
This is a well informed, refreshingly proactive website which doesn’t pull any punches in its brutal honesty. It gives the reader no excuse whatsoever to simply agree with the viewpoint and yet not do any thing practical to try and change this dire societal situation. I’m ‘leaving a reply’ to let any women who read this comments section know that there are men out there (albeit an admitted minority) who also dislike ‘lads mags’/porn, and the commodification of the female body that they represent and promote. Ban the Bunny!
January 9, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I would just like to say well done. Its great to see women attacking this matter. I am a 20 year old girl and my views on lad mags are deemed dated to the rest of my generation, but im sick of being faced with these pornographic images every time i want to buy a carton of milk from the shop. If it was up to me I would have them banned, but secluding them to top shelf seems like a start. I don’t believe lad mags know what effect they have on the young.
January 16, 2008 at 1:13 am
I agree with Stacey. If i have these degrading images thrown in my face everytime i go to the shop what affect is it having on young, inquisitive children? Mens mags and lower-class newspapers like The Sun and The Star make me feel physically sick. Ok i understand sex sells but sex also corrupts. At least give us a choice by hiding these seedy, sordid images inside the cover. Lads mags not only have an affect on the young, but they have an enormous detrimental effect on men too. Its like a huge sausage-fest industry, where men feel they can unite and bond over photos of womens’ naked bodies. I cant think of anything more appalling. Living in a student area most houses that i walk into are covered in topless newspaper clippings. This is one of the main reasons i carry a black marker around with me so i can scrawl CHAUVENIST over them at will. I only wish i could get away with this in shops. Thanks to Lucy for the turning over idea
February 14, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I’ve been mad as hell for a long time!
I am just starting to do the stickering - my fave is “real men buy books” and targeting mags at random. I particularly target Borders . they have 1 year subscription gift packs for mags such as FHM. By damaging those boxes I reckon it’ll have a big impact especially because they are expensive.
Argos - I am stocking up on marker pens and targeting argos catalouges in stalls. In the Playboy section I am subvertising by writing slogans over the merchandise. Also blocking out the order numbers so it makes it that much harder to buy the crap.
March 26, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Please also note that The Times is now advertising a naked lap table dancing club within its business pages. The headline says ”escape” - escape what? Normal women? The first time I saw the ad it was in the middle of the stocks and shares page. Is the message that only men are interested in serious subjects like finance? If you buy The Times then stop.
March 26, 2008 at 9:14 pm
If we want this to be taken seriously we should be aiming for firstly setting up a mass petition online and a covering letter for people to send to out to there local schools, supermarkets, churches etc. There has been so many changes of law lately against discrimination to ethnic minorities, gay people, and religion. Yet when it comes to women, nobody seems to care. This is simply because not enough people are expressing their concern. But if we make it easier for them to do this, ie online petition, im sure this movement will succeed. Whos in?
August 14, 2008 at 9:20 pm
fhm loaded maxim and front are normal on the top shelf