Australian Prime Minister John Howard has called for the reality TV series Big Brother to be axed after two male housemates allegedly sexually assaulted a female contestant.
Howard condemned the Australian version of the series after footage of the incident was shown on the show's live Internet streaming, though not on television. In the program, a group of contestants have to live together and try to survive being voted off by viewers.
One of the men reportedly held the young woman down while the other rubbed his crotch in her face. The alleged victim, 22-year-old Camilla Halliwell, was then forced to relive the experience before millions of viewers when she was questioned about the incident.
The behavior of the two men has outraged campaigners against sexual violence and politicians, who have demanded the independent production company, Southern Star Endemol, and Australia's Channel Ten network dump the program.
A question of taste
Howard said it was a question of taste.
"Here's a great opportunity for Channel Ten to do a bit of self-regulation and get this stupid program off the air," he said.
His views were shared by the opposition communications spokesman, Stephen Conroy, who said the incident was so serious that all the prize money should be donated to groups that help sex assault victims.
"The producers of Big Brother stand condemned today for creating an environment that is fueling behavior that is aggressive and demeaning towards women," he said.
The two male housemates, Michael "Ashley" Cox, 20, and Michael "John" Bric, 21, were ordered to leave the Big Brother house at the weekend. Police questioned them and Halliwell but have not pressed charges.
Di McLeod, manager of the Center Against Sexual Violence on the Gold Coast in Queensland, where the series is filmed, said her main concern was that Channel Ten was playing down the seriousness of the young men's actions.
Pushing boundaries
"They are putting people in situations where the boundaries will be pushed ... and we're expecting young people to know what's right and wrong," she said. "It's clear those boys were not identifying their behavior as being perhaps criminal, and at the very least antisocial and inappropriate."
Clearly uncomfortable, Halliwell told fellow housemates how she had told one of the men that it wasn't "the right thing to do."
"There was no malice intended ... and when I said very specifically to John, `Don't. No,' he didn't do it," she said.
Her reaction had much in common with women who had gone through similar experiences, Karen Willis of the New South Wales Rape Crisis Center said. First she had been distressed and then she had tried to play down the incident.
Broadcasting regulators in Australia have yet to make a decision on the program's future.
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