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Saucy snaps set to make waves again for university rowers

Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:54 pm

Warwick Uni’s rowers are on course for a higher degree in controversy with a new saucy calendar about to go on sale.

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For their many male fans, this exclusive picture would alone be enough to earn the students a first-class pass with honours.

And, as the calendar will feature another 11 photos including a poster-sized centrefold, they would probably award the stapler a commendation for his work.

But the publication will doubtless get a poor mark from critics who waded in over the team’s 2013 nude calendar, accusing them of pandering to the lads-mag brigade.

The rowers who are daring to bare again have shrugged off the criticism by pointing out it’s all for a worthy charity.

Two actually, if you count the welfare of River Avon anglers as a good cause.

Photo shoots for the calendar sent fishermen’s floats bobbing wildly as the cheeky girls flashed by.

And the rowers certainly did their bit for international relations for getting their kit off in Spain during a summer training break.

Spokeswoman Hettie Reed said: “The criticism from last year has not phased us. We are focused on looking ahead and raising as much money as we can for Macmillan.

“We are extremely proud of the work that we have done and are hugely thankful to all those who have supported the calendar throughout the year.

“This year our calendar is even better with brand new naked rowers, exciting new shots and, unlike last year, a centrefold. What’s more we also have exclusive online bonus material that will include behind the scenes photos taken at the shoot and at our training camp in Banyoles, Spain.

“The money raised from 2013 calendar will be going towards supporting Macmillan’s work with cervical cancer. As a disease which is most commonly found in younger women and with a number of girls having friends who have been affected by the disease this was a cause that was very is close to our hearts.

“Our 2014 calendar will also be donating a percentage of its profits to the charity again.”

The calendar will be available in October, with the official release date announced on twitter over the next couple of weeks ( @nakedgirlsrow) or check out the website http://www.warwickrowing.org.

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Re: Saucy snaps set to make waves again for university rowers

Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:30 pm

Naked Warwick University rowers' fury after Facebook take down their charity calendar page

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Warwick University’s female rowers are furious that their nude calendar has been branded as ‘pornography’ by Facebook – which has removed their page.

The 17 women bared all for a charity calendar last year, raising an amazing £3,400 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

But Facebook bosses have taken down their ‘Warwick Rowing’s Women’s Naked Calendar’ page because they said it contravened the website’s policy on explicitly sexual content .

The rowers fear that the lack of a social media presence will hamper their fundraising efforts in future.

The popular calendar featured photographs of the completely naked rowers in picturesque settings by the River Avon, but the girls’ modesty was covered by lifejackets or clever camera angles.

Hettie Reed, 22, who has just graduated from the city university with a degree in History and Politics, believes Facebook has been ‘draconian’.

She said: “We put the page up in 2012, and since then, we have acquired almost 2,000 likes.

“Over the past year, a few individuals have reported the photos to Facebook – but in our view, they’re not inappropriate.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on being tasteful – I mean, these are calendars that people take to work so I’m really surprised.

“It’s quite hurtful that somebody would consider your body to be rude or inappropriate.

“There are many worse things than a bit of nudity on Facebook – there’s some really quite vile content up there.”

Warwick University’s men’s rowing club also shot a similar naked calendar, but their page has not been taken down.

Sophie Bell, who organised this summer’s shoot for the 2015 calendar, said: “I would go as far as to say that we’ve been discriminated against because we’re women.

“After all, the men’s calendar – which is exactly the same – has not been touched at all.

“That can only be because we’re girls, and they’re guys – that’s really unfair.

“We went to such lengths to make sure that the calendars were tasteful, and this is a charity calendar after all.

“As students, we rely on social media to get the word out there about our calendars, and we just don’t have a marketing budget.

“We’ve tried to explain the problem to Facebook in e-mails, but nobody has replied to us.”

When the Telegraph contacted Facebook, they told us that the page was removed in error and has now been restored.

However, the page is not traceable in a search, and the rowing club insists the page still has not been put back.

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