Sunshine Girl refers to
pinup girls featured in most of the daily
newspapers
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...
of the Sun chain in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
History
The feature started with the ''
Toronto Sun
The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, 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 Pos ...
'', 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
Amanda Coetzer (born 22 October 1971, in Hoopstad) is a South African former professional tennis player. Coetzer finished in the WTA rankings top 20 for ten consecutive seasons (1992–2001), peaking at world No. 3. She reached three Grand Slam ...
,
Ann Rohmer,
Trish Stratus
Patricia Anne Stratigeas (; born December 18, 1975) better known by the ring name Trish Stratus is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress and yoga instructor. She is currently signed to WWE. Often regarded as one of the greatest Women's Pe ...
,
Stacy Keibler
Stacy Ann-Marie Keibler (born October 14, 1979) is an American retired professional wrestler and actress, former cheerleader, dancer, and model. She is specifically known for her work with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling E ...
, and
Krista Erickson (
Sun News Network
Sun News Network (commonly shortened to Sun News) was a Canadian English language Category C news channel owned by Québecor Média through a partnership between two of its subsidiaries, TVA Group (which maintained 51% majority ownership of the ...
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
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. ''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
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic ...
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
Page 3, or Page Three, was a British newspaper convention of publishing a large image of a topless female glamour model (known as a Page 3 girl) on the third page of mainstream red-top tabloids. '' The Sun'' introduced the feature, publishi ...
''
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