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Swearing has once again become a cultural battleground. It started with Sachsgate, gathered ground with ITV boss Michael Grade's promise to clamp down on "indiscriminate swearing" - as opposed, presumably, to discriminating swearing - and came to a head this week with Channel 4 boss Julian Bellamy's declaration that he would not allow "cultural conservatism" to stop ratings-grabbing star performers such as Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay effing and blinding.
On one side is a group concerned that swearing will affect - and infect - their children's behaviour and contribute to the further dumbing-down and brutalism of our society. On the other are those who think profanity is a vital and effective tool in adult vocabularly, and that the boundaries of what is permissible should be constantly tested. When these two groups come to blows, the language may be decorous but the rancour is everything but.
Actually, it's no great surprise that we should be having this debate again now. Moral outrage tends to flourish in the shadow of bigger crises. It's far easier to make an angry phone call to the BBC than to try to do something about genocide in Congo, or the global financial crisis. Mary Whitehouse, who campaigned from an explicitly Christian point of view against what she saw as filth and moral decline for three decades, was at her most potent and visible amid the shortages, unemployment and terror scares of the late Seventies.
Whitehouse's supporters may claim she slowed the tide of obscenity on our screens, in print and on the airwaves but our culture has nonetheless moved inexorably towards a lessening of taboos and a greater tolerance of swearing. When Kenneth Tynan first used the F-word on TV in 1965 it prompted four motions in the House of Commons; when The Sex Pistols called Bill Grundy a "dirty old f***er" in 1976 it made the front pages; when John Lydon called the audience of I'm a Celebrity "f***ing c***s" in 2004 it made him a national treasure.
There is an argument that swearing enriches rather than debases language. Fans of the F-word (the expletive, not the programme) claim that profanity is a sign of an adult command of idiom, and can be used for passionately angry emphasis (like Jamie Oliver), as hyperactive punctuation (like Ramsay), for humorous or serious or even poetic effect (the line "you're still f***ing peasants" in John Lennon's Working Class Hero is magnificently ambivalent).
Shakespeare, Chaucer and Pepys were all dedicated and elegant swearers. Supposedly obscene works such as Joyce's Ulysses, Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, or NWA's Straight Outta Compton, can be seen in hindsight as watersheds unleashing a stream of liberated creativity. Comedy has always renewed and refreshed itself by pushing the boundaries of acceptable language, from Max Miller to Lenny Bruce to Sarah Silverman. And Lily Allen and Madonna have arguably done more for female equality with their "unladylike" swearing in public than with their singing careers.
None of this, though, will placate the concerned, or erase the offence felt by the offended. The debate on swearing looks set to rage for a good while yet. Let's just hope they keep it clean, eh?
Reader views (7)
I don't have a problem with swearing at all, I probably swear more than the average person, but I do think its sad when people swear just to try to look cool. Gordon Ramsey uses swearing and bad temper as gimmicks, but when someone lost their temper and swore at him on one of his programmes he couldn't take it and looked pathetic. It all looks false and I find him very boring.
- Dylan, London
It not just about swearing is it? It about humiliating people on TV and this trickles down to how people behave towards other people in the workplace and outside. It gives the message that its ok to belittle others, to swear and to humiliate. And TV seems to be the great liberal abritrator for this behaviour. But these millionaires like Ramsey, Cowell etc have their posh camera-monitored homes to retreat to. In the real world you get beaten up on buses because apparently its ok to get angry for no reason. Respect is dead. RIP - RID
- Maria, london
I don't see why mass entertainment should reflect what is worst about modern life. Why not seek to elevate standards instead of bringing us all down to the lowest standards? Something wrong with that? I would not swear in front of my boss, my mother, people I had just met, where there were children (who find swearing frightening and aggressive - which of course it is) It's a question of respect. And when these ignorant people on television swear needlessly and constantly they are just showing their contempt for us.
- Danny, Lodnon UK
It continues to astound me that a cook can make his reputation, build an empire and earn millions, basically by using disgusting words sprinkled liberally throughout his speech, and often directed at specific people.
It is neither clever nor creative, it is base, tasteless, and obscene.
The TV stations have a lot to answer for, allowing this foul-mouthed man a venue for his profane lashings.
- Simon Reewald, London, England
Swearing on TV has it's place as it does in real life. It can be a very good tool to emphasise a point or show anger and can be used to great effect in comedy. However, I wouldn’t want to watch Eastenders or The 10 O’clock news with someone swearing as pointlessly as Gordon Ramsey. I don’t think there is too much swearing on TV as such, it just overused as a lazy way to grab some attention. Like nudity, it has it’s place on TV but only when it’s needed. I don’t want to see Topless Blue F-ing Peter but it doesn’t make me a Mary Whitehouse.
Inserting swearwords in this comment wouldn’t really add anything but it would be easy and I could say I don’t want to be censored. The same pretty much applies to TV.
- Ben, London, W1
Hello London,
Many people swear but do it in surroundings where people and children who are offended and don't like it cannot get out of ear shot.
Swearing on T.V. is NOT clever, it shows a lack of words that could be used and instead fill the gap by swearing.
People and now children think its part of the british way of life to swear even when on mobiles.
ALL swearing does is lower the tone and there's really if we are honest no need for it, so I agree lets clean up our act?.
- John L., Scarborough N.YKS. U.K.
Your 1st paragraph in the article is the one that most right thinking people would agree with. I wonder how Mr. Bellamy would feel if we invited ourselves into his own house and f and blinded in front of his family.
Gordon Ramsey's shows would be far more entertaining if he would only cut out the swearing. They are excruciating to watch - and I nolonger watch them.
Those of us who support moral standards should boycott the programmes with the indiscriminate use of bad language.They would soon take notice i feel if advertisers saw the effect it was having on viewing figures - they have already (C4)announced a cut of £25million in their budget. Also Jamie Olivers mum and wife should have a word with him - he's spoling his shows.
- Pjames, Leicester U.K.
