Why I support the rights of women

By Steve Legg










If I’m honest, I don’t really understand why anyone wouldn’t support the rights of women. There’s more depth to the debate than that, of course; but on one level, what kind person doesn’t treat everyone with respect?

The thing is, I love women. Let me qualify that: I’m a dad raising five women, a husband partnered by a simply brilliant woman, and I was raised by the first women I ever loved – my mum. Each of these women is amazing in their unique way and I love to watch them reach their potential; to grow and develop and aim high. I don’t like to see them boxed in by other people’s opinions, ignored because they’re ‘just women’ or leered at, because alongside being outstanding they happen to be stunners.

As a Christian I’ve chosen to follow a God who, when he came to earth as a man, went out of his way to honour women, who respected them regardless of their background, marital status or profession, and who empowered women to go out and change the worlds they lived in, even though culturally that was incomprehensible. Jesus loved women too.

I run a men’s magazine, Sorted, and I started it because I wanted my son and his mates to be able to read a magazine that wasn’t full of semi-naked women. I wanted him to understand that reading about footballers is entertaining and that learning about great adventurers is exciting, but that getting kicks out of looking at naked women is offensive.

I wanted to reach more men and boys with that message, but I also wanted the women in my life to know that there are men who want that type of magazine; who aren’t just buying their ‘reading’ material for the pictures. Some great women write for the magazine, and they’re appreciated for their journalism skills and their wit, not for their vital statistics.

From the beginning, I’ve wanted to take on the magazines that objectify women: Loaded and Nuts being two of my particular bugbears. It has been amazing to watch Sorted’s circulation rise as theirs have dropped. We now distribute more magazines than Loaded. 

There have been many campaigns to boycott these magazines, but I think it sends an even louder message to the market when the ‘boobs, babes and bums free’ magazine overtakes the smut through a process of natural selection.

I want to encourage men to be men – to learn how to be good dads, husbands, brothers and friends – and at the heart of that is the lesson of how to live in what I believe is a God-ordained equal partnership with women.

Visit our website to find out more about Sorted magazine and click here to order your copy today.