From Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines to Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball, sexual content in music videos is increasingly becoming the norm – and also increasingly worrying for parents and members of the general public.
The abundance of sexual content available online – from music videos to pornography – is arguably at an all-time high, and following large-scale public consultation, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has announced that it will be publishing new Classification Guidelines for film and video at the end of next month.
Large-scale public consultation is used to revise the BBFC Classification Guidelines every four to five years and is supplemented with additional in-depth research on specific issues.
Changes to the guidelines include giving greater weight to the theme and tone of a film or video, particularly around the 12A/12 and 15 level; paying more attention to the psychological impact of horror; and restrictions concerning the content of music videos and accessibility of online porn.
Speaking to the Guardian, the organisation’s assistant director, David Austin, said it was responding to pressure from parents who were concerned about the availability of sexual imagery to children online, and that it has already begun reviewing videos by artists such as Metallica, Robbie Williams and Beyoncé.
“Google has said that if we start to age-rate videos, they will carry the BBFC age rating,” Austin said. “They’ve also said they will look at the possibility of parental controls in relation to age rating.”
Parents also expressed concerns about risks to vulnerable and impressionable adolescents including self-harm, suicide, drug misuse and premature access to sexual content – what some have described as the ‘normalisation’ in films and videos of behaviours which parents consider inappropriate.
“Regular public consultation is crucial to continued public trust in what we do,” said David Cooke, director of the BBFC.
“Our new Classification Guidelines reflect explicitly concerns raised by the public during the 2013 consultation and will, I believe, ensure that we continue to be in step with what the public wants and expects in order to make sensible and informed viewing decisions.”
The new guidelines will come into effect on 24 February 2014.
