School for scandal
Row over Aussie mockumentary
An Australian TV comedy has come under fire for insulting rape victims and the disabled.Campaigners have demanded lines in Summer Heights High, a mockumentary set in a school, be cut before the show airs on the ABC network next month.
One of the offensive lives comes when a teacher says the school playground once had huge bushes, ‘but we had a girl raped behind them, so we had them removed, and the kids have done an anti-rape mural, which is nice.’
In another scene the teacher discusses the appropriate touching of students with an intellectually disabled student who he contrasts with ‘normal kids’.
He hugs the boy and says that is fine, thenputs his hands on the boy's bottom and says: "’That sort of thing - not fine.’
Anti-rape campaigner Judy Flanagan told the Sunday Herald Sun: ‘There's nothing humorous about rape. It's a serious criminal offence and has a profound impact on the victims.’
The ABC defended the scenes, saying said the target of the humour was the teacher, whose ‘bigotry and prejudices are exposed’.
Here’s a trailer for the series:
Published: 12 Aug 2007
