The No More Page 3 campaign has so far attracted thousands of signatures, and now it has inspired some poetry, too.
The project, which has been widely debated on The HuffPost UK, seeks to put an end to the images of topless women on the page three of tabloid newspapers.
It's been readily welcomed by feminists and has led to a greater scrutiny of women's representation in the media, as well as the wider spread of sexism in society.
And its these big issues which have become muses for poets who have posted their pieces online. In the video below, Sabrina Mahfouz discusses female role models and the press. "These pictures are taking liberties, and they're not speaking, except the word pornography", she rhymes in a YouTube clip that has gained nearly 9,000 views:
Mahfouz's poem about Page 3
Hollie McNish has also used spoken word to show her anger about the way women are treated in the public eye. In her poem, she imagines another world, where men take on the roles of women who are sexualised in gameshows, advertising and newspapers to arresting effect:
"For just one day" McNish's poem looks at gender expectations
Chimene Suleyman's poem below, which includes explicit language, is a more general attack on the way society treats women on account of their bodies, looking into the future to a time when sexism is taboo and page 3 doesn't exist:
An ode to breasts? Suleyman's poem
What do you think of using poetry as a form of protest?
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Check out our 'Alternative Page 3' featuring some beauties from the art world...
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<strong><em>Nude</em>, 95-years-old, from Italy</strong> says she think binge-drinking is a problem we should take more seriously as a society. "Amedeo Modigliani, who painted me, died partly due to alcohol addiction when he was only 35. Incidentally my face isn't this elongated and mask-like in real life: that was just Modigliani's style," she said.
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Standing female nude with crossed arms</em>, 102-years-old, from Austria</strong> is used to being the centre of attention - though not always for good reasons. "It may not seem explicit by today's standards but in 1912 my portrait and Schiele's other pieces were considered pornography and got him imprisoned," she explains. "I didn't ask for red arms and cheeks but Egon Schiele said he wanted to paint me like his mentor Klimt. So I'm taking that to mean the blotches represent my inner passion, rather than any kind of skin complaint."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Blue Nude</em>, 112-years-old from Scotland</strong> says her portrait could very easily never have happened. "John Duncan Fergusson trained to be naval surgeon when he was younger, before converting to being a painter. However, he nearly quit that too after finding his art school in Edinburgh to 'rigid'. Luckily for us he decided to carry on and teach himself!"
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Etude de femme nue' (Study of a female nude)</em>, 142-years-old, from France</strong> says she was a departure for Henri Fantin-Latour, who spent most of his time painting flowers. "Henri mingled with famous Parisian Impressionists like Manet but remained fairly conservative himself. I guess you could call my portrait an exception."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong>Femme nue au chien, 151-years-old from France</strong> insists she hasn't been 'Photoshopped' in slightest. "Gustave Courbet was all about Realism, so what you see is what you get. As well as me he painted a lot of nude pictures, including close ups of female genitalia that got him into trouble with the police."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Large Nude</em>, 105-years-old, from France</strong> says she enjoys being a typical example of Impressionism. "Pierre-Auguste Renoir liked to capture his models in intimate or candid poses - often washing themselves or getting dressed - so I feel like I got off lightly here with my portrait," she explains. "He used soft brush strokes and colours to make me seem at one with my surrounding - a convention of Impressionism - meaning I appear very comfortable on the cushions and bedding. Which I was, as it happens."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Large Nude in a Red Armchair</em>, 83-years-old, from Spain</strong> says she was more than just a model to Pablo Picasso. "My real name is Olga Khokhlova, and Pablo and I were married in 1918. This is one of his rather disturbing portraits of me. I was actually a beautiful dancer, not that you can tell from the picture..."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Nude</em>, 102-years-old from France</strong> says Edgar Degas, her painter, was prickly about how you labeled him. "He's known as a founder of Impressionism, but he hated the term. He liked to call himself a realist instead."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Seated nude</em>, 94-years-old from Germany</strong> says she's grateful her Expressionist creator Hermann Max Pechstein painted her when he did. "Later in his career his paintings became more primitive and harsh, full of black lines and weird, angular figures. At least I kept a bit of colour."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Mademoiselle Rose</em>, 192-years-old, from France</strong> says not to take her pose too seriously. "I might look at little anxious and uncomfortable, but believe me that was the style back in the heady days of French Romanticism. I actually rather enjoyed being a muse for Eugène Delacroix - and Richard Parkes Bonington."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Standing Female Nude</em>, 114-years-old from France</strong> says even being a leading figure of the Post-Impressionist period wasn't enough to satisfy her artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. "He drank a lot because people made fun of his short legs (he was disabled from a young age) and in the end it killed him."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Standing Nude</em>, 63-years-old, from France</strong> admits she was just one of many for Expressionist Bernard Buffet. "He create more than 8,000 paintings and many prints as well. Sadly Buffet committed suicide in 1999 after being able to work any longer due to illness."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Standing Nude Woman</em>, 118-years-old, from France</strong> says Paul Gauguin made her a pioneering figure of Post-Impressionism. "Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse were both inspired by the bold colours and synthestist stype Gauguin used to paint me."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
<strong><em>Study from the nude female seated on a bank</em>, 190-years-old from England</strong> says: "William Etty painted a lot of nudes in his time, but most of his paintings were far more colourful than my portrait. I try not to take it personally."
IMAGE: <a href="http://www.ArtFinder.com" target="_hplink">ArtFinder.com</a>
The No More Page 3 campaign has so far attracted thousands of signatures, and now it has inspired some poetry, too.
The project, which has been widely debated on The HuffPost UK, seeks to put an en...
The No More Page 3 campaign has so far attracted thousands of signatures, and now it has inspired some poetry, too.
The project, which has been widely debated on The HuffPost UK, seeks to put an en...
However much you dress it up in ideas of gentility and kindness (and a wimple), at the core of the concept is still the idea that women are weaker, and that we need men to lend us that helping hand.
"Do as you would be done by". As mottos for life go, there are plenty worse. It's a phrase that's echoed in my head since childhood - but more than that, I think it's pretty much shaped my life - and my business: Green & Black's, the UK's first Fairtrade-marked chocolate.
Outright sexism is such a rare sight in an office, it's fascinating to see it depicted as a recent historical curiosity in the fictional world of Sterling Cooper. But lately I've noticed that it parallels pretty well with attitudes that 21st Century women working in comedy, deal with all the time.
I'm lucky enough to have grown up in a world where I have experienced very little sexism. Because of this I can vividly remember my first brush with sexism when I was about eight and I was told I wasn't allowed to go to the school football club - because it was for the boys.
We are constantly bombarded with messages in society that suggest, either directly or indirectly, that 'young' and 'sexy' go hand in hand. The new Kingsmill advert is a good example and it's already stirred up some controversy.
As The Compte De Valmont knew, tactics are everything, whether you are plotting to win the National Poetry Competition or to possess and/or ruin your beloved. You need particular tactics rather than mere instinct or emotionalism.
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The Huffington Post UK | By Alice E. Vincent Posted: 15/10/2012 08:43 BST | Updated: 19/03/2013 10:37 GMT