By Dave Riley
If you didn't see it, you missed the eye of the storm. Sex By Request, Channel Nine's one-hour special, went to air August 20. The campaign by the Lighthouse Christian Centre and the Australian Family Association to have the program banned was unsuccessful.
Sex By Request drew its segments from episodes of the first series of Sex programs. It was an impressive collection of reports on many facets of human sexuality that showcased the smart blend of information and entertainment that was a hallmark of the series. As its executive producer, Tim Clucas, pointed out, "What is the point of educating an empty classroom?"
When you consider the awesome potential of television to educate, there should be more to it than just Sesame Street. On the commercials there is not. But sex rates.
Sex was an odd phenomenon. Its graphic depiction of sexual activity and body parts normally the province of the titillating end of town had the aura at times of a crusade. Frivolity was mixed with a hatred of ignorance which promoted an ambivalent presentation, often arousing, frequently sterile and quasi-medical.
The program rated highly, often registering at a mid-20s share but, for all its popularity, sponsors avoided it. What interest, indeed, did the new Commodore have in helping to spread information on ejaculation control? And where was the Big Mac when the war against AIDS needed it? They didn't want to know about Sex, especially when organised conservatives were orchestrating a backlash.
The campaign to squash Sex started when the YWCA sold off all its shares in Channel 9. Later, companies like GIO Australia, General Motors Holden, Nestles, Red Rooster, Westfield Shoppingtowns and Wrigley were enrolled in a boycott.
The on-the-ground stir was left to rural communities as much angered by the obsessive sexuality of Chances as by the Sex series.
This local episode is a remake of the ongoing fight in the United States over Murphy Brown (Channel 9). Brown, now approaching the final stages of pregnancy in Australia, is post partum in the US and is being pressured into marriage by a campaign headed by the American Family Association.
Her pregnancy is an issue in the US presidential elections after Dan Quayle seized on the show's feminism as an excuse to assert "traditional family values".
The show's creator, Dianne English, plans to return fire in an upcoming episode in which Murphy Brown's writers are sure to have a range of Quayle's legendary gaffes.