But in my time, I have loved the gyrations of Pan?s People, the Top of the Pops dancers whose routines were flirty rather than raunchy. Late Night Line-Up regularly championed what then seemed like avant-garde works showing life in the raw (in all senses) ? films such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and plays such as Nell Dunn?s Up the Junction. Has there been a significant change since then or am I an ageing spoilsport?
In 2001, I made a four-part series for BBC Two called Taboo, which looked back at how censorship had changed over my lifetime. During filming, I broke several taboos of my own: using words that would normally be bleeped out; watching a porn film in production; and being filmed casting an appraising eye over a young male with a sturdy erection. I also had the ''fun?? of pornography explained to me by young men, including Toby Young, today a pillar of Michael Gove?s educational establishment. None of this, I argued, was harming my moral values. Sex I considered a life-enhancing activity, promoting pleasure, well-being and, if you were lucky, a lasting, loving relationship. But, most particularly, it was watched by adults who were able to judge for themselves, certainly not by children. That is what is different today. Children are the new target market.
What has changed is not the fascination with sex; that will always be part of human nature, and people will continue to find ways of gratifying it. Once, such pleasures were exercises in power, with secret indulgences often illegal. Herod served up the head of John the Baptist to have Salome dance for him. Victorian gentlemen had their cabinets of Eastern erotica. In the 1950s, you had to belong to a private club to be allowed to watch strippers at work.
While our curiosity with sex persists, the means of access to sexual material has broadened exponentially. The media explosion brought on by the internet brings performances within the reach of anyone, children included. And today?s smartphone-savvy youth think nothing of forwarding explicit images and video clips to others? handsets. This week, a new set of contestants entered the Celebrity Big Brother house to take part in Channel Five?s fly-on-the-wall show whose audience is mostly millions of young people. Prior to his incarceration, one housemate proudly boasted of his intent to have sex on screen ? ?and none of this under-the-covers ----?.
On New Year?s Day, any family that watched Sherlock, the BBC?s adaptation of the Conan-Doyle stories, may have been surprised by the scene featuring a nude dominatrix. Despite dozens of complaints, mostly about its suitability for a pre-watershed audience, the episode is due to be screened again in full at 7pm tonight. Perhaps inevitably, it is already among the most viewed on iPlayer, the BBC?s online watch-again service.
And then there are pop videos, now available on demand, thanks to digital television and YouTube. At the touch of a button, I can watch a barely clothed Rihanna wiggle and grind her way through a song (her recent UK concerts had one critic complain of ?relentless crotch-level bombardment?); or a Lady Gaga clip in which a drink is forced from a glass down someone?s throat; another where she lies among the black ashes of a burnt-out bed with a skeleton beside her. There is a mix of surreal mockery and exhilarating outrage in such performances. And their production values are outstanding. Money has been spent and creative talents engaged to put these artistes where they are, among the world?s great entertainers.
So what is there to complain about? It is the availability ? indeed, the marketing ? of such raunchy videos to the young and impressionable that disturbs me. Something has shifted in our culture to bring sub-teens within the orbit of suggestive sexual activity. T-shirts with cheeky, even lewd slogans ? jokes that only adults can understand ? are designed and sold to the under-10s. Children can hunt on a multitude of television channels for something that looks vaguely adult and vaguely transgressive. Can it be good for them? I for one would not be prepared to take the risk.
The responsibility of bringing up young children must be harder today than ever. In my day, I had Brownies and choir practice to keep me busy, and each afternoon at 5pm, the safe haven of BBC Radio?s Children?s Hour. Today, the options are almost infinite. Even childhood is changing. Girls are reaching puberty younger than ever. How are we to bring up our daughters to give them a sense of worth and confidence that doesn?t depend on tacky raunchiness?
The Islamic world takes a hard line, protecting its young, and even its adult women, with a series of religious prohibitions that reduce their freedom and spontaneity. We obviously don?t want to go that way. But we can?t be surprised by their shock and distaste for some of the West?s indulgences.
Above all, I don?t want to stifle the sheer joy of self-expression, the delight and pleasure to be had from music, from dancing and singing. These are among the riches of human experience. Every child deserves to know them and love them. But to learn of them from entertainments meant for adult tastes is to risk damaging that treacherous path from innocence into grown-up judgment. There?s just too much raunch being marketed to those who are too young for it.
Carlton Fredericks Fresh Prince Greta Garbo Ava Gardner Judy Garland
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