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.

In this series we'll ferret through the archives, and talk to those who were there, to find out what was cut, removed, banned, and what that can tell us about how we've changed. In doing so, we'll finally get to understand the naughty bits.
– Narrator Ian Hughes, at the start of this episode