According to News.com.au, Linda Fitzsimmons took her nine-year-old daughter Jessica to the debut show on Wednesday and said that she was “shocked and surprised” by it.

“I couldn’t believe it. (Jessica) likes her songs and I’m OK with her listening to them. There’s no swearing in them and she’s too young to understand the hidden meaning,” she said. “But if I tried to take her to an MA 15+ movie someone would stop me at the counter. Why not with concerts?”

Linda is okay with her nine-year-old daughter listening to lyrics about riding disco sticks and she admits the songs have a hidden meaning, so how about also taking the time to research what the video clips are like that accompany each of the songs. Lady Gaga isn’t exactly what I’d call discreet. Getting an idea of the visual elements might have given her an idea of what the concert would be like. Even a browse through the magazines at her local news agent would have shown Gaga in a number of raunchy, revealing costumes. Not exactly a sign the concert will be of a Wiggles nature.

Lady Gaga's Sydney Concert. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mixvio/4443225938/ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Linda aside, Promoter Michael Coppel says rating concerts won’t happen. He doubted that Australian tours would ever carry classifications, because most promoters do not see the show before they book it.

The Classification Board obviously chose not weigh in because it isn’t their area, but get this: Even Steve Fielding refused to throw his two cents into the ring. This is a man who feeds on this nonsense. It’s like water and air to him. Someone please check he is okay.

According to the government, there ‘was a ‘low level’ of community concern about music videos’. They also said they had no power over the Advertising Standards Board, presumably in response to calls for stricter controls on advertising.

News.com.au reports:

Barbara Biggins, of the Australian Council on Children in the Media, said young children’s exposure to sex-charged videos was a serious concern.

“Children are increasingly exposed to a hyper-sexualised media in what has been described as the ‘pornification’ of our culture,” she said.

[...]

Julie Gale, of Kids Free 2B Kids, said the response showed a continued reluctance to respond to concerns about the sexualisation of children.

“It also fails to address many of the concerns of child development professionals and increasing evidence from research,” she said.

Family First senator Steve Fielding said the Government had gone soft on the issue.

“The response is weak,” Senator Fielding said.

“Someone’s got to them.”

Maybe it was common sense, Mr Fielding?

But apparently that’s lacking, as one angry parent explains:

I take my kids to the local 7/11 for slurpies and they are confronted with a prominent display of condoms, right at the front counter, instead of a discreet corner somewhere else, like near the women’s sanitary wear. Common sense?

Imagine if they placed tampons on the counter. Anarchy!

There’s some other great ones as well:

As a caring parent, I have a right and responsibity to ensure that my children are exposed to sexualised content at a rate and to a degree that I decide is appropriate for their age and maturity. Corporate interests are at absolute odds – indeed are in direct conflict with this right. By any sane assessment I should surely win this conflict but weak-kneed politicians espousing ‘industry self-regulation’ as the solution will ensure that I do not. Let me make it clear by example. I should NOT be endlessly forced to explain the issues surrounding erectile dysfunction to an inquisitive 6 year soaking up the world from the safety of a child restraint seat… – John Colville of Sth Yarra

It would be nice if it were as simple as turning the TV off. But what happens when you go to a shopping centre, fast food outlet, bowling etc and videos of half naked teenagers dancing around polls are playing on large screens in front of you. Are we supposed to make sure our kids don’t leave the house so they aren’t subjected to this trash? – Isla Smyth

Even if one considers billboards about erectile dysfunction to be sexual in nature (as opposed to a health issue), the fact an advertisement mentions sex does not mean it sexualises children or inappropriate for public consumption.

Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick
Don’t think too much just bust that kick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

Lyrics like these and sexually-charged visuals is why channel Ten’s in-house censors have rated Lady GaGa’s music video for her song Love Game M. It means the video is too hot to be shown during Video Hits G and PG safe Saturday morning timeslot.

Watch the Lady GaGa clip for Love Game:

According to the Herald Sun, ‘Ten’s censors objected to the lyrics “heavy touching”, “I’m educated in sex” and “I want it bad” as well as GaGa’s “sexual postures” in her dance moves, a near-naked outfit and her male dancer’s “fetish-like costumes”.’

Video Hits producer Ben Fletcher says they aren’t able to edit the video without destroying the intent of the original, but they’d run a clip if they were provided with one suitable for the music video show’s timeslot.

Ten’s playing by the rules, but I wonder if they’ll make the same call on future episodes of Californication? Channel Nine is no stranger to incorrect classifications.

MySpace deemed this promotional photograph for band Oceano suitable, but shots containing simulated violence were promptly removed from the social networking site.

MySpace said this band’s promo shoot (Click to see the photos – Not Safe For Work) was ‘too violent’ and promptly removed the offending photographs from their website. Which isn’t too unreasonable when you take into account that MySpace has strict policies on what can and can’t be published on a user’s profile.

But let’s play a game — The Censor Game. Pretend you’re the Classification Board reviewing the exact same photographs (NSFW) to see whether they make it onto Conroy’s Internet Clean Feed Blacklist. Would a reasonable adult find them offensive? Do you find them offensive?

Would you refuse classification, effectively banning them? Leave your comments.

I wonder if Aussie’s will get to watch the original? The single is out Feb 15, 2008.