Adult Shop loses R18+ appeal
May 22, 2008 – 8:59 amSome adults are offended by seeing other adults have sex (creating offspring must be such a dreadful task…). But are those same people representative of broad community values and standards? The Federal Court says yes.
Adult Shop has lost a legal battle to have an X18+ rating overturned for the adult film Viva Erotica. The company has argued since 2006 that the OFLC should have classified the film the less restrictive R18+ (of which is permitted for sale in Australian States) because community standards have changed and most reasonable adults are no longer offended by depictions of actual sex as seen in Viva Erotica.
The Federal Court yesterday dismissed their appeal, stating the guidelines were in fact still representative of current community standards.
Adult Shop Managing director Malcolm Day told News Ltd:
“The guidelines are simply a reflection of the conservative, subjective views of the (state and federal) attorney generals.”
He says the OFLC needs to commission new research into community views and update the guidelines.
I’ve gotta give him credit for remaining so polite after two years of appeals.
Read the original OFLC Review Board decision: PDF /HTML and the massive Refused-Classifcation.com recap of the case over the last couple of years.
2 Responses to “Adult Shop loses R18+ appeal”
“the guidelines were in fact still representative of current community standards.”
I would understand bringing up “community standards” (which standards body ratified them, by the way, and more importantly, where can I view the standard?) if Viva Erotica was going to be shown on TV. As far as I can tell, that’s not Adult Shop’s aim. How exactly does the “community” get offended by me viewing in my own home whatever it is that consenting adults get up to in this particular film?
By Ola on May 23, 2008
And surely those standards differ slightly from community to community.
The standards of my community in inner city Brisbane probably has different standards than those of a miscellaneous backwoods town west of QLD. And I bet theirs are more liberal than mine. Afterall, I heard mail order porno DVD sales were pretty high out west.
By Mike on May 23, 2008