Only a few days ago, I started writing an article about the recent ending of topless wom-en on page three of the UK’s most widely-bought newspaper, the Sun.

Me, no doubt like many others across the country, took this news on the back of its sister paper, The Times, issuing a statement outlining the end of this 44-year-old institution.

My original article highlighted the positive step that had been made by this change – by prohibiting the printing of young, topless women on a widely-read tabloid we are one measure further to creating a more gender-equal media.

That day, I read many articles congratulating this change and highlighting the positive effects that this would have on the industry as a whole.

With the banning of naked women from the pages of such a famous newspaper, the repercussions throughout all aspects of the media could be huge.

Unfortunately, this development has taken a turn for the worse.

With the Sun’s page three boasting a header entitled ‘Clarifications and Corrections’ and a topless girl winking into the camera, it seems our hopes for change has been dashed.

In a country that is arguably one of the most developed in the world in terms of having equal rights for men and women, this serves to highlight the sustained lack of gender equality still apparent in all aspects of our lives.

If it is still acceptable for men to ogle at topless girls in the Sun, isn’t this then perpetuating the idea that a young girl should be valued more for her figure than for her grades, what her politics are or how funny she is?

The one positive to come out of this is the fact that the age-old debate surrounding the existence of page three models has been brought to the forefront.

Campaigners such as ‘No More Page three’ have been pushed into the limelight and the Sun’s publicity stunt seems to have created mainly criticism rather than praise.

Yet, the Sun’s decision to keep topless women on its pages means that for now the voices of women across the country have become merely a whisper in a far more powerful wind, and page three remains another advertisement of the misogyny existing in our society.

By ELLIE MULLAN