Sunshine Girl refers to
pinup girls featured in most of the daily
newspapers of the Sun chain in
Canada.
History
The feature started with the ''
Toronto Sun
The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Postmedia Place i ...
'', which was launched in 1971, and was adapted from British
tabloids with
similar featured women. While the British tabloids started publishing photos of topless models in 1970, the Sunshine Girls have never been photographed in this manner. The photos usually feature a clothed or swim-suited female model, actress, athlete. Although primarily published in color since the 1990s, prior to this the feature alternated between color and black and white and was exclusively black and white in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Typically featured on page 3 of the Sun in through the 1990s, the Sunshine Girl moved to the back page of the sports section in the early 2000s. In 2011, the Sunshine Girl was restored to page 3 in some, not all, versions of the ''Sun'', and two different photos of the same Sunshine Girl are run each day. Famous former SUNshine girls include:
Amanda Coetzer,
Ann Rohmer
Ann Margaret Rohmer (born March 2, 1958) is a Canadian television personality known for her work on Citytv and CP24 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Early life and career
Rohmer's father is Richard Rohmer, an officer with the Royal Canadian Air Fo ...
,
Trish Stratus ,
Stacy Keibler, and
Krista Erickson
Krista Erickson is a Canadian former broadcast journalist.
From April 2011 until January 2013, she served as the principal daytime anchor for the Sun News Network hosting the program, ''Canada Live'' from the channel's Toronto studios. Prior to j ...
(
Sun News Network anchor, who appeared on the date of that network's 2011 launch).
Additional images of the day's Sunshine Girl are posted each day to the Sun newspapers' websites, along with behind-the-scenes videos of select models.
At least twice a year, the Sun Group produces and sells a calendar featuring a selection of Sunshine Girls. Typically, the Girls who are selected for the calendar are chosen by the public online and by a mail-in vote.
Spinoffs and Knockoffs
* There was a Sunshine Boy feature in the ''Sun'' as well, further on in each daily paper. This feature was discontinued in 2006.
* ''Sunshine Girl Magazine'' is a men's magazine published from
Miami,
Florida. ''Sunshine Girl Magazine'' is sprung out of the ''Sun''s annual Sunshine Girl calendar.
Criticism
The Sunshine Girl series has been criticized by some readers and media commentators for
objectifying women. Critics have also condemned the series as degrading and inappropriate for a newspaper as a medium that purports to publish credible journalism. On November 14, 1985, the
Ontario Press Council The Ontario Press Council was a voluntary media adjudication body which investigates complaints about newspapers in Ontario, Canada. On September 1, 2015, it was amalgamated into the newly formed National Newsmedia Council.
History
The council wa ...
upheld at least one reader complaint saying the feature "portrays women as sex objects",
[Ottawa Citizen. 14 Nov 1985]
Sunshine girl feature portrays women as sex objects: Ontario Press Council
/ref> although there were no penalties attached to this ruling. Margaret Coulter of Toronto made the complaint, saying a newspaper was not an appropriate medium for the suggestive photos, which made her feel "embarrassed and offended." Coulter said she had the same feelings about the Sunshine Boy feature.
See also
*'' Page 3''
References
{{reflist
External links
Official SUNshine Girl Facebook Application
SUNshine Girl of the Canadian SUN news group
Sunshine Girl Magazine
Toronto Sun
1971 establishments in Canada