Coppaload of this outdated misogynistic titillation

How The Sun has the audacity to call its #CheckemTuesdays PR stunt a ‘breast cancer awareness campaign’, I really don’t know. Back in March I wondered aloud on Twitter if #CheckemTuesdays was ‘tasteful or appropriate’. Now I’m wondering if it’s not actually indecent, immoral and bordering on abuse – encouraging women to instagram themselves ‘checking’ their boobs in front of the entire internet (who most likely have other things on their mind than looking for the telltale signs of breast cancer), and enlisting the ‘support’ of gurning C list male celebrities to show us how to do it is irresponsible at best, and shamefully insulting to those living with the disease at worst.

I’m not able to write as eloquently or engagingly on the subject as Flora Crake does in her blog here (I encourage you to read her entire site, in one sitting, as she is brilliant) so I’ll just say this. If The Sun’s marketing department thought adding a pithy hashtag once a week to its Page 3 column would change the minds of those who believe Page 3 to be outdated, misogynistic and demeaning to women, it’s seriously misguided. If its actual intention is to raise awareness of breast cancer, it’s SERIOUSLY misguided. The charity Coppafeel (despite its dubious name) has a serious message and was no doubt delighted when the Sun agreed to partner with it to raise awareness. But I doubt it foresaw or intended for the campaign to turn into the degenerate, lewd, innuendo-ridden joke it has become.

I know a few women who have suffered, or are still at the mercy of this debilitating, deadly, depressing disease, and am 100% sure none of them find images of topless models giving their boobs a squeeze helpful, supportive or anything other than a cheap publicity stunt, with no higher purpose than allowing male readers to feel slightly less guilty about perving at a teenager on a Tuesday morning. When The Sun decides to run a similar ‘campaign’ to raise awareness of prostate cancer, let’s see how many women will offer to ‘coppafeel’ in the comments section. No, didn’t think so.