A tabloid website founded by Cambridge students has caused uproar with a page three ‘Tab Totty’ which shows female students posing in their underwear.
The online student publication The Tab has come under a barrage of criticism for the photos of girls in skimpy attire. It received 80,000 hits in its first week of publication in May which when compared with the 20,000 readership of the Varsity and Cambridge Student shows the extent of public interest.
The similarity of The Tab to Page Three publications led feminists at Cambridge to condemn the tabloid website for using the girls as “sexual objects”.
One photo featured Becky Adams dressed in a pink bikini and high heels whilst punting, with the heading ‘Beautiful Becky’. She has since asked for the removal of the photo after complaining that the furore surrounding the website was embarrassing.
However, Jack Rivlin, one of the three founding members, responded to the removal of the photo by informing one reader on the website: “We were asked to take the images down after the Guardian contacted Becky and frightened her into asking for their removal.
“Frankly, we wish we still had the pictures up on the website, but we respected Becky’s wishes.”
Instead the photo of Becky was replaced with Heidi, 21, a graduate from Downing College who has a Triple First in English. She is pictured posing in a sports bra and tight shorts whilst in various kickboxing positions. Heidi responded to the criticism from some by saying “I’d like to see myself as someone with brainpower and boobs, a pairing which I feel Cambridge culture strives to deny.”
Taymoor Atighetchi, 21, who is a founding member of The Tab, attempted to dismiss this by commenting that “All the Tab editors are feminists and this is a borderline issue. There are some feminists that disagree with this but there are others who say women have a right to be sexy and proud.”
However, the Women’s Officer at Cambridge University, Natalie Szarek, urged the website to remove the photos by arguing that “Tab Totty plays into the idea of women as sexual objects.”
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