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Increasing concern about violence in our society often leads to a consideration of violence on television. This is not surprising since the average Canadian adult watches 30 hours of television per week, that’s 4-5 hours per day. The statistics are even worse for children, who watch up to 8 hours a day. Television broadcasters in Canada must provide a rating for most of the programs they broadcast, including American and other foreign programs, that includes consideration of the violent content in the program. The rating system, which has been in effect since 1997, indicates the intended audience age group of the program. Some people think that simply informing people is not enough. They think that programs with gratuitous violence or, worse, violence intended to entertain, should be prohibited from broadcast. Advocates of such a change in policy refer to studies showing that viewers of such violence, especially children, may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, may become more fearful of the world, and may themselves be more likely to behave in a violent way. Furthermore, refuting the catharsis argument, which claims that watching violence defuses a tendency to behave violently, such advocates point to sports events: violence increases, rather than decreases, when major sports events, which often include violence, are broadcast. On the other hand, advocates of the status quo claim that prohibiting the broadcast of programs with excessive violence amounts to censorship. They argue that as long as people are able to make an informed choice -- and the rating system enables such a choice -- such censorship is not justified. Television ratings systems consider not only violence, however. Sweden has recently adopted a new rating system for its televised broadcasts to highlight gender bias: to get an A rating, a movie must pass the Bechdel test (named after a cartoonist), which means it must (1) have at least two named female characters, (2) who talk to each other, (3) about something other than a man. Since its introduction, many people have been surprised to discover just how many programs fail the test. Although Sweden’s new rating system will certainly enable informed choice, it remains to be seen whether it will result in a decrease in gender bias in society at large, which is, presumably, its ultimate goal. Many people would argue that the rating system in Canada with respect to violence has not achieved its ultimate goal.
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