Page 22 - The Staunch Test

THE STAUNCH TEST

Parental guidance symbol

The purpose of film and television classification is to protect young people from
seeing content that is unsuitable for their age and to advise what kind of content
viewers might expect. What is considered unsuitable at any age varies from
country to country. In most territories, films and TV shows containing graphic
physical and sexual violence — and any attempt to show them as wanted or
enjoyed — are reserved for 18s and over. As mentioned earlier, a woman is

usually subjected to violence on screen because she’s a woman, but certificate
ratings don’t take that into account. Classification is a blunt instrument, lacking
in nuance and limited in scope.

There are some refinements to the classification toolbox, however, but these

are voluntary. For example, Netflix adopted the BBFC system in 2019, which is
displayed with each programme on its browsing pages. It also flashes up a
content rating alert on the top left corner of the screen once a programme starts
playing. This warning might contain elements such as ‘violence’ ‘sexual violence’
‘drug use’ ‘injury detail’, etc. It appears for only a moment — often not long
enough to read it all.

Netflix’s fleeting top left screen content rating

If we were to examine the Netflix category ‘sexual violence’, it sounds fairly
unspecific. Yet in 99% of instances, it will be male sexual violence to a woman.
If that’s what it actually stated, it would be uncomfortably clear just how often

that’s what’s on offer. You might ask why a rating that’s meant to inform is so
coy about it.