Still here, still fighting the objectification of women.

Lose the Lads’ Mags is a campaign calling on high-street shops to stop selling sexist, pornographic lads’ mags like Nuts and Zoo.

Why?

Because lads’ mags are harmful.

Magazines like Nuts and Zoo portray women as dehumanised sex objects. By selling them in everyday spaces, shops like Tesco normalise the idea that it’s acceptable to treat women this way.

Yet extensive evidence shows that portraying women as sex objects fuels sexist behaviours and attitudes that underpin violence against women.

Becauseselling lads’ mags can break the law.

Eighteen top lawyers have signed an open letterto retailers stating that exposing staff and customers to the front covers of lads’ mags can constitute sexual harassment and sex discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

Becauselads’ mags breach the supermarkets’ own ‘no porn’ policies. Supermarkets like Tesco have official policies stating they do not stock so-called ’adult’ or pornographic magazines because they are ‘family-friendly’ retailers.

Yet legal advice provided to this campaign confirms that lads’ mags such as Nuts and Zoo contain pornography.

Lads’ mags are pornographic magazines that portray women as dehumanised sex objects for the purpose of sexually gratifying men. The front covers of lads’ mags feature sexually objectifying images of women. The best selling lads’ mags in the UK include Zoo, Nuts and FHM.

The problem with lads’ mags is that they – including their front cover images – portray women as dehumanised sex objects.

And there is evidence they cause harm.

There is extensive evidence to show that portraying women as sex objects fuels sexist attitudes and behaviours.

Sexual objectification also creates a conducive context for violence against women.

The American Psychological Association (APA) reports that viewing media which portrays women as sex objects leads people to become significantly more accepting of gender stereotyping, sexual harassment, interpersonal violence, and rape myths.

The APAalso revealed that men are more likely to treat women as sex objects and their behaviour towards women is more sexualised after exposure to sexualised media.

The UK government commissioned the Sexualisation of Young People Review which found: “lads’ mags promote an idea of male sexuality as based on power and aggression, depicting women as sex objects and including articles that feature strategies for manipulating women.

“The evidence gathered in the review suggests a clear link between consumption of sexualised images, a tendency to view women as objects and the acceptance of aggressive attitudes and behaviour as the norm.”

The Sexualisation of Young People Reviewalso found: “Exposure to the sexualised female ideal is linked with lower self-esteem, negative moods and depression in young women and girls.”

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has repeatedly identified the links between the portrayal of women as sexual objects with attitudes that underpin violence and discrimination against women and girls.

And at this year’s United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, member states agreed: “to develop and strengthen self-regulatory mechanisms [of the media] to promote balanced and non-stereotypical portrayals of women with a view to eliminating discrimination against and the exploitation of women and girls and refraining from presenting them as inferior beings and exploiting them as sexual objects and commodities and instead present women and girls as creative human beings, key actors and contributors to and beneficiaries of the process of development.”

We are targeting the shops and not the publishers because it is the responsibility of shops to ensure that staff and customers are not subject to a sexist, hostile and degrading environment.

There is no law to say that Tesco or WH Smith have to sell Nuts and Zoo. It is entirely their choice.

We are not calling for these publications to be banned. We are calling on shops to fulfil their ethical and legal obligations by not exposing staff and customers to them.

This campaign isn’t arguing that lads’ mags are the only publications sending out damaging messages about women’s role in society.

Many groups and individuals have criticised the harmful effect that some women’s magazines have on women’s body image and self esteem.

However, lads’ mags are a distinct group of publications that have a very specific consequence.

By portraying women as sexual objects for their mainly male readership, they fuel attitudes that underpin violence against women.

That is why the UK’s leading anti-violence organisations – including Women’s Aid and the End Violence Against Women coalition – support the Lose the Lads’ Mags campaign.

Lose the Lads’ Mags is coordinated by UK Feministaand Object. It is supportedby trade unions, anti-violence organisations, equality groups, lawyers and shareholders and women’s rights groups and blogs.

Help us. Sign the petition.