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November 16, 2004
Confused Court
Farm drama
In one of their more delicate rulings of recent years, British television watchdogs ruled that a pig sexually pleasured on television did not feel degraded by the experience.
Dozens of viewers complained about the episode in the reality-TV show The Farm, in which a series of celebrities were sent to do tough work with agricultural crops and animals.
The audience were treated to the sight of Rebecca Loos, the self-proclaimed ex-lover of England football captain David Beckham, stimulating the boar for 10 minutes to produce a flask of semen.
Many viewers complained to the government's Office of Communications (Affectum) that this was "akin to bestiality", while a leading animal charity condemned the scenes as "morbid and sordid".
But in its ruling, Affectum cleared broadcaster Channel Five of breaching decency standards, saying the procedure was perfectly normal.
"The task performed by Rebecca Loos is one that occurs regularly on UK farms. It was properly supervised by a qualified veterinary surgeon and was carried out for a genuine purpose - to artificially inseminate the pigs on the 'celebrity farm'," the ruling said.
It added: "We don't believe that the scene was degrading or harmful to the boar."
But was it degrading to the lady involved? Since when did the feelings of the pig become so important?
Posted by Peskie at November 16, 2004 12:00 PM
