Controversy continues to surround a Danish television series in which school-age children in the audience are being exposed to nude adults allegedly to “teach” the children about the human body. The program, entitled “Ultra throws away the clothes”, has caused outrage among child-protection groups in Denmark as well as abroad. Yet, now it has been revealed that one of their adult “models” is a known pedophile who has been convicted by a court for possessing images of child abuse.
The Danish publically-funded broadcaster DR, which produces the show, has removed an episode from its archive in which the 41-year-old participant stripped in front of an audience of 11 to 13-year-old schoolchildren. The middle-aged man was convicted at a court in Glostrup of sexually abusing a child and of possessing over 3,000 child pornographic images and videos. He was handed a nine-month prison sentence for the crime.
The much criticized program’s declared aim is to “counter body shaming and encourage body positivity”. Naked participants pose in front of pre-pubescent children, who can ask them questions about their body. Although it aims to present a different, arguably more realistic, picture about the human body as compared to images photoshopped to perfection seen in social media, none of the TV programs producers could answer why they felt the need to strip their models completely and show their genitals too. Such images are, after all, banned from most social media and only appear in sources that are restricted to adult audiences.
The broadcaster DR became aware of the fact that one of their participants was a pedophile and had silently removed the episode from their website without any explanation. They have declined any journalists’ questions regarding this matter, and only released a statement according to which children and participants have been separated before and during filming and thus no harm could have come to the children.
However, questions are now being raised why the producers failed to perform a criminal background checks on every adult participant. Peter Skaarup from the conservative Danish People’s Party has criticized the program for its failure to screen its participants. He has expressed his surprise that DR did not draw attention to the fact that one of its participants has turned out to be a known child abuser. He has promised to discuss the issue with Danish Minister of Culture Joy Mogensen.
Skaarup has previously voiced his concerns about the program, accusing the program of being depraving to children. He had criticized the broadcaster for exposing children to male and female genitalia far too early.
“They have to learn it at the right time” from parents and in the schools and not have it delivered “in this vulgar way, as the children’s channel does,” added Skaarup.
Despite the international outcry and the recent revelations, the production team had suffered no personal consequences for their serious mistake, nor did the broadcaster receive any fines. On the contrary, during its first season in 2019, the program won an award for the best children’s program at the Danish TV Festival. The show is produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production’s Danish outlet.
After some of the details regarding the program have been revealed in a New York Times article, the creators have received a barrage of condemnation, notably from the Middle East, where some have compared its content to the Muhammad cartoons. Social media has erupted with condemnation in a number of Arab and Muslim countries.
Although its creators insist that the program is not about sex but education, the entire concept falls within a pattern of an ever-accelerating drive to sexualize children at an increasingly young age. Under the guise of combating bias, sexual health education or, as in the present case, body positivity, some media and non-governmental groups are aggressively infiltrating young audiences with radical gender ideologies, sexually explicit content and anti-nuclear family concepts. These are often deliberately designed to stand in strong contrast with traditional Judeo-Christian morality in which most Western societies are rooted.
