London, Oct 29 (ANI): Cambridge University’s first online tabloid, which includes students posing as ‘Page 3′ girls under the banner ‘Totty,’ is at the centre of a controversy.

The tabloid, called The Tab, was launched this year and got 80,000 hits in its first week.

However, a section in the Tab that features students in their underwear is at the centre of a row.

The student union’s women’s officer, Natalie Szarek, has called for Tab Totty to be taken down for good because they “reproduce and reinforce harmful attitudes towards women”.

“Semi-naked women in provocative positions are being shoved in freshers’ faces. We can do better as a university,” Szarek said.

Taymoor Atighetchi, 21, a third-year student at Trinity College and one of the tabloid’s three co-founders who paid 500 pounds each to launch the website, defended The Tab, insisting it would continue its style of journalism.

“There’s a huge amount of intellectual snobbery around, mainly from those who haven’t read the site,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

“We do not think what we are doing is sexist. It was always the intention to have a debate about these issues. The website is a tongue-in-cheek version of the tabloid newspaper - we are not just emulating it,” he added.

The female photographer who took the “Totty” photos also defended the website and said that six senior women staff are all proud to work for The Tab.

“As a female who works on the Tab editorial team and a feminist, I’m delighted that so much debate has been generated over the Tab Totty section,” she said.

“The main aim of The Tab was always to stimulate debate, and I feel we have truly succeeded when it comes to the issue of Page Three modelling,” she added.

The photographer said that none of the student models had been exploited.

“Surely the fact that they are educated and bright women, and still chose to partake in Tab Totty proves that ‘page three’ and ‘glamour girls’ are not just women who have no other choice but to turn to modelling,” she said. (ANI)