A generation has been left to learn about bodies from pornography. Thank goodness for Channel 4’s nudity-adjacent programming
Channel 4’s Naked Education has, with tedious predictability, attracted almost 1,000 Ofcom complaints at the time of writing. The format sees adults with a range of body types disrobing in front of an audience of 14- to 16-year-olds. It’s overseen by the bombastic, boundary-pushing Anna Richardson and set in a school. It’s this latter fact that appears to have inspired the most pearl-clutching, with some even suggesting the show “promotes paedophilia”.
British culture has a messed-up relationship with nudity. For decades, breasts appeared on the third page of one of our bestselling newspapers at the same time as mothers using their breasts for their primary purpose in public (ie to feed babies) were branded offensive. Love Island remains bafflingly popular, yet shows like the one I co-hosted back in 2019 (Naked Beach, in which people who didn’t resemble Barbie and Ken spent most of the programme in swimwear) prompted public outrage. It’s almost as though nakedness is accepted in the mainstream if it’s specifically for titillation, but in any other context we turn into buttoned-up Victorian prudes.
Natasha Devon is an author and campaigner
