SBS’s ‘Obscene Machines’ too robotically obscene for ACMA

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 25 February 2008 12:56

Opinion and Analysis

ACMA’s investigative report notes that two segments in the program are the subject of the complaint:

The doll segment. According to ACMA’s report, “this segment is approximately 7 minutes and 30 seconds in duration. It features an elderly man’s use of a sex doll. The man explains and demonstrates how he uses a life-sized doll, which he calls Emma, to facilitate his sexual needs and erotic fantasies. He indicates that Emma is based on an 18 year-old woman he married when he was aged 53 years”.

ACMA’s report continues on the second segment that: “This segment is approximately 2 minutes and 24 seconds in duration and features a sex scene in which a naked woman is apparently being penetrated by a mechanical dildo. This segment includes several visuals of sexual activity, which are inter-cut with interviews with the creator of the machine and a sexologist, who provide commentary on the nature of the machine and human sexuality, respectively”.

Although SBS Television protested that ‘Obscene Machines’ had aired in the UK on free-to-air television, and in France, Italy and Holland on pay television, while also providing a rationale for why the segments in question did not breach the MA 15+ classification code, ACMA was unconvinced.

ACMA’s detailed explanations as to why they believed Obscene Machines was unsuitable for free-to-air television in Australia are quite detailed, and can be read at length in ACMA’s PDF of their investigative report, with previous ACMA reports on other SBS television programs (including Obscene Machines) able to be found here.