Opinion

Classification Board inundated by bodily fluids controversy

The Australian Classification Board is under fire for allegedly refusing classification of adult films featuring female ejaculation.

Is it time the Board reconsiders its criteria for the adult film industry and sexual depictions on film?

The Australian Sex Party’s leader Fiona Patten issued a press release on Thursday, claiming that the Board has decided to censor female ejaculation, because they consider it “abhorrent” and a depiction of urination. The ASP added that there are more than one million sites featuring female ejaculation, and “for Australia to be banning depictions and discussion of this important issue, takes us back into the Victorian era where they didn’t even believe that women could have orgasms.”

A spokesperson for the Board told The Sydney Morning Herald’s National Times that their guidelines do not specify female ejaculation, but they do mention that ‘golden showers’ (considered a fetish, which they define as ‘an object, an action or a non-sexual part of the body which gives sexual gratification’) will be refused classification (RC).

The Board claims that all classification assessments are done on a case-by-case basis, but the classification guidelines can be a little too vague at times. This is part of the criteria for refusing classification for a film (RC)

Gratuitous, exploitative or offensive depictions of:

(i)                 activity accompanied by fetishes or practices which are offensive or abhorrent;

(ii)               incest fantasies or other fantasies which are offensive or abhorrent.

 Perhaps the ASP and Patten are just making waves (no pun intended) to get some publicity for the party, but it is a good opportunity to initiate a debate about the Classification Board’s criteria for depictions of human sexuality and how those can affect a film – pornographic or not – and its classification.

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