11/07/2012 - Classification body commissions new research

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has released its annual report that reveals that one of the key focus areas is sexual violence in films. In 2011, the BBFC considered The Human Centipede (Full Sequence) (photo) where a man achieves sexual gratification from the stapling together of victims to form a human centipede and which culminates in him raping a woman with barbed wire; and The Bunny Game in which a truck driver abducts, strips and sexually abuses and tortures a prostitute. It made significant cuts to The Human Centipede 2 and refused to certify The Bunny Game because of the harm risk both works posed and because of their depictions of extreme violence against women.

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The BBFC is commissioning a major new piece of original research into depictions of sadistic, sexual and sexualised violence, mainly against women, to determine what the British public today believes is potentially harmful and therefore unacceptable for classification.

David Cooke, Director of the BBFC said, “In 2011 Reg Bailey highlighted concerns about the sexualisation of children through readily available audio-visual material that is exempt from classification. The BBFC hope that an adjustment to the Video Recordings Act will help prevent children from being exposed to strongly violent or sexual content, whether in music videos, instructional DVDs or documentaries. The issue of sexual violence in films in 2011 will also be considered in more depth in 2012, with new research into the public’s opinion around portrayals of sexual violence due to be published in the autumn.”