What is one of the most secretive organizations in the United States? That would be the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board. The Board consist of 18 appointed members of the entertainment industry and 5 "public interest" members. Representatives from Hulu, NBC, CBS, and the Boys and Girls Club of America are some of the group members The group meets in private and the names of the members are kept hidden from the general public. This private group is responsible for creation of ratings and descriptors for the TV shows and movies the general public watches. You will never see this group interviewed on television. The group interacts with the public via a one way communication of survey results that they proudly say always supports the rating system. The rating system they oversee is supposed to serve as a guideline to parents and others who want to be aware of the content of the material they or their children, nephews, nieces, and grandchildren are about to view.
The Board stated that recent survey results indicated that 95% of parents feel it is important to know about sexual situations in the program they are about to watch. One issue that has come up is to understand how the Board defines "sexual situations"? Are scenes featuring two women kissing, or two males kissing in a bed defined as "sexual situations"? Currently such scenes are not labeled as sexual situations and have been pushed out as viewers in TV shows and movies without a warning that the program contains such scenes.
Do you as a viewer want to be forewarned about the presence of scenes that involve homosexual behavior or non binary gender behaviors? "Sexual situations" is a descriptor that needs to be defined by the Board. If sexual situations does not involve homosexual behavior or non binary gender issues, then separate descriptors need to be created for homosexual and non binary gender content. In addition the ratings and descriptors need to remain on the screen for at least a full minute. Please contact the Board via the below methods to express your views on the adequacy of current ratings and descriptors related to homosexual behavior and non binary gender content.
TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board
PO BOX 771
Washington, DC 20044
TVOMB@tvguidelines.org
(202) 570-7776
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