The Naughty Bits - The 'S' Word

Television (Full Length Episode) – 2014

This episode of censorship documentary The Naughty Bits casts its eye over "matters of the flesh" — how New Zealand censors have handled sex and nudity. Narrator Ian Hughes touches on key books and films that were banned or pushed the envelope — from 1926 Kiwi novel The Butcher Shop to 1967 James Joyce adaptation Ulysses (which originally screened to separate audiences of men and women). Past censors Jane Wrightson and Bill Hastings talk about changing trends in what is acceptable on screen. Also mentioned: anti-pornography campaigner Patricia Bartlett, and more open Māori attitudes to sex and nudity.

I often tell people I'm like a sewer grate for all of New Zealand, you know — the stuff goes in, and the worst stuff stays there, and out flows more wholesome stuff, because we've banned the corrosive horrible stuff.
– Former Chief Censor Bill Hastings