Thursday, March 04, 2010

'The Vaginas Have Lead to Some Uncomfortable Silences'

Must be sweeps week Down Under. Wait, did I just say Down Under in a story about vaginas?
AN ABC TV segment that showed real vaginas and a woman having hers surgically altered has divided viewers.

Some thought the footage, on last night’s Hungry Beast episode, was inappropriate, while others found it legitimate given the issue it was covering.

Kirsten Drysdale used the segment to explore the porn industry’s airbrushing of female genitalia, which gave an unrealistic image of what was “normal”.
Hungry Beast? Wait a minute. This could get raunchy.
Industry sources claimed they were forced to airbrush pictures due to classification rules which deemed explicit depictions of female genitalia to be inappropriate.

An ABC spokeswoman said it had eight negative comments from viewers overnight and several more this morning, although she did not have the actual number yet.

Hungry Beast’s story on labiaplasty was a valid look at the impact censorship might have on women’s body image,” she said.

“Certainly, it contained strong scenes. However, viewers were given clear warnings about the content – one before the show began, and one before the actual segment – and so had ample opportunity to avoid the segment if they felt it might make them uncomfortable.”

Twitter was abuzz this morning with comments about the show. Some supported it while others were not so sure.

“The vaginas have lead to some uncomfortable silences,” one viewer said.

“Confronting, yes, but very good,” said another.
Only eight complaints? Either this is a very low-rated program or the folks in Australia really dig vaginas. The Prime Minister appears to.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd appears on Hungry Beast’s website jokingly saying his top priority is to watch the show.

“My number one priority officially speaking is to make sure that I’m home on time of a Wednesday night to watch Hungry Beast,” he says.
They have a video link but it's not viewable outside Australia and nobody's posted it to YouTube yet, apparently.

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