Broadcasting Standards Commission records three complaints about Acting
Natural documentary
The Commission's report issued in February of this year recorded three
complaints about Witness: Acting Natural in which members of SUN
Group took part. The grounds for the complaints were 'depiction of nudity' and
they were classified as 'Sex'. The complaints were not upheld and no statement
was required from the broadcaster. The Commission explains:
"Complaints may not be upheld (sic) because the content was considered
likely to be within the expectations of the audience for the type of programme;
or the programme was appropriately labelled or scheduled; or the content was
deemed acceptable within the context in which it was broadcast."
Interestingly, BBC2's disappointing offering Naked attracted
two complaints about its trailer and a further two about the programme
itself: all of these were likewise not upheld. The Commissions latest bulletin
(No. 22) reveals that Full Frontal in Flip-flops attracted just a
single complaint - about nudity! (It was not upheld.)
The Commission's bulletins make interesting - and at times hilarious -
reading. It is worthwhile getting on their mailing list if only to
counterbalance the hysterical rantings of the popular press.
For example, on February 25th the Daily Mail, self-styled guardian of
Middle England's morality, reported that the BSC had "condemned" a series of
programmes which, the Mail claimed, had "upset viewers". The paper selected
"Seven Scenes that Shocked", and gave brief, lurid descriptions of them before
publishing the BSC's verdict. However, reading the BSC bulletin reveals that in
only one instance did the number of complaints reach double figures: ITV's
Vice -The Sex Trade, broadcast in November 98, which attracted sixteen
complaints - but on two different aspects, and spanning two separate programmes.
The other programmes selected by the Mail, with the number of complaints they
attracted, are as follows:
- Fetishes, C4, 10-9-98, 11pm - 5 complaints
- Cutting Edge - The Rise and Rise of Viagra, C4, 9-9-98 9pm -
3 complaints
- Eurotrash, C4, 9-10-98, 10.30pm - 1 complaint
- This Morning, ITV, 16-10-98, 10.15am - 1 complaint*
- Byker Grove, BBCI , 10/12-11-98 - 6 complaints
- Coronation Street, ITV, 21-8-98 7.30 p.m. - 1 complaint**
*This programme featured a previous streaker, who repeated his strip
(although covering his genitals). According to the BSC, "While the man's actions
had not been sexually explicit, the level of nudity had been unacceptable for
the time of transmission (my italics)".
**According to the Mail, "Viewers were upset about the sexual innuendo at an
underwear party". The BSC upheld the single complaint on the grounds of
scheduling only.
What all of this highlights is the propensity of the press to make mountain
ranges out of very tiny molehills. Unfortunately, not many tabloid readers
bother to get the BSC bulletin, so the tabloid editors are able to foment
irrational and illogical prejudice, a lot of which is directed against us
nudists. But if you consider the size of the audience for the programmes
targeted, the attention paid to these complainants - mostly, I suspect,
professional whingers with puritanical streaks a mile wide - is totally
disproportional and unjustified, as is the weight given to the opinions spouted
by such sanctimonious twats as the soi-disant National Viewers and
Listeners Association. I once read a definition of Puritanism as "the morbid
fear that someone, somewhere is having fun" and that about sums up these
pathetic, dysfunctional creeps.
If you want to receive the BSC's FREE bulletins - they are published at
varying intervals depending, presumably, on the volume of complaints - then
write to:
The Broadcasting Standards Commission, 7 The Sanctuary, London SWIP 3J5
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