Broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell has said that Mary Whitehouse (the campaigner against declining moral standards on television) was right to fear that sexual liberation in the 1960s would damage society.
Dame Joan was a long time opponent of Mrs Whitehouse but has now changed her mind saying that the freedom granted by the introduction of the Pill had been abused, resulting in the sexualisation of young girls and the prevalence of pornography.
Writing in this week’s Radio Times, Dame Joan says,
‘The liberal mood back in the '60s was that sex was pleasurable and wholesome and shouldn't be seen as dirty and wicked.
‘The Pill allowed women to make choices for themselves. Of course, that meant the risk of making the wrong choice. But we all hoped girls would grow to handle the new freedoms wisely.
‘Then everything came to be about money – so now sex is about money, too. Why else sexualise the clothes of little girls, run TV channels of naked wives, have sex magazines edging out the serious stuff on newsagents’ shelves?
‘It's money that's corrupted us and women are being used and are even collaborating. I never thought I would hear myself say as much, but I’m with Mrs Whitehouse on this one.’
Mrs Whitehouse, a committed Christian, founded the ‘Clean Up Television’ campaign in 1963. She highlighted the desensitising effect of broadcasting violent and sexual material warning that such attitudes would be increasingly reflected in society if allowed to persist.
Among Mrs Whitehouse’s first targets was Sir Hugh Greene, then director-general of the BBC, whom she claimed was more responsible than anyone else for ‘the moral collapse in this country’. Greene ignored her concerns and blocked her from participation in BBC programming. Over 2,000 supporters attended the Clean Up TV Campaign’s first public meeting on 4 May 1964, which was held in Birmingham's Town Hall.
In February 2010, a report commissioned by the Home Office warned that girls in the UK are being increasingly exposed to sexual imagery and their parents have limited opportunities to stop it.
(See the CCFON report)
Meanwhile David Cameron, then leader of the opposition, called for an end to the ‘inappropriate sexualisation’ of children.
Daily Telegraph (Joan Bakewell)