ABSTRACT
Television portrayals of bodily functions, human sexuality, and sexual identities were the most polarized sites of cultural differences in the interviews. Discussion of these phenomena was almost always initiated by reference to programs produced in The Netherlands and the Nordic countries screened during Prix Jeunesse events. In their comments, interviewees were in agreement that a distinctive characteristic of these programs was their surprisingly open, direct treatment of such issues, irrespective of the age of the target audience. Among the programs and instances cited were: Dancing (The Netherlands), a program directed to an audience of pre-schoolers in which there was full-frontal body nudity of a mature man and woman dancing; a discussion of male puberty, including the experience of first erections and wet dreams in Ready Steady Grow! (Sweden), a program for the 7-11-year-old audience; Invisible Wounds (Sweden) (see Figure 4.1) which dealt with sexual abuse of children in a program intended for 7-11-year-olds; Odd One Out and The Day I Decided to be Nina (The Netherlands) (see Figure 4.2) which followed a child born male who experienced herself as a girl and wished for a gender reassignment operation, as she went through the process of a female identity formation (with a target audience of 7-11-year-olds); the kiss between two gay teenagers in Danny’s Parade (The Netherlands) (see Figure 4.3), intended for 12-15-year-olds. Of particular interest was Girls (The Netherlands) (see Figure 4.4), about the inner worlds of coming-of-age teenage boys, a program to which we will return later for in-depth discussion. Yet, interviewees failed to note that what was also particularly striking, in comparison, was the absolute absence of such issues in other programs screened at all of the events I visited in the course of my research, and concomitantly the silence in dealing with these issues in productions from other global regions.
