18 (British Board of Film Classification)
The 18 certificate is issued by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), to state that in its opinion, a film, video recording, or game is suitable only for persons aged 18 years and over. It recommends that no one below that age should be admitted to view a film with an 18 certificate in a cinema, and that 18-rated video recordings should not be sold or rented to anyone below that age.
As with other British film certificates, the 18 certificate theoretically only has advisory power for films shown in public cinemas, with the ultimate say being held by local authorities.[1] In practice, the local authorities tend to follow BBFC rulings in all but a few exceptional cases.
For video and game sales, the BBFC rulings have statutory power, as under the terms of the 1984 Video Recordings Act all videos sold or distributed within the UK must be classified by the BBFC, unless they fall into one of a number of exempt categories. Unclassified recordings which are not exempt cannot legally be sold, regardless of content.[2]
The 18 certificate is also issued by the Irish Film Classification Office.
Sex and the 18 certificate[edit]
Until recently, works at 18 could not contain the depiction of actual sex acts, which more recently could only appear in films with an R18 certificate (when created in 1982 only simulated acts could be shown under an R18, but this was relaxed after legal challenges in 2000). Although the BBFC allowed the depiction of simulated sex scenes in 18 certificate films, actual sexual acts were still not allowed to be depicted in 18 certificate films until around 1999.
This precedent appears to have been set when the BBFC granted 18 certificates for films containing short scenes of unsimulated sex, such as Catherine Breillat's Romance (1999) and Patrice Chéreau's Intimacy (2001). In October 2004, a new precedent appeared to be set when the BBFC granted an 18 certificate for Michael Winterbottom's film 9 Songs, which featured a number of lengthy explicit scenes of unsimulated sex.[3] This was followed by certificates for Shortbus and Destricted. In the statement justifying the latter decision, it was stated that there is no limit to the number of images that can be considered to be justified.
In 2004, the board was also challenged by some pornographic video distributors to award 18 certificates to material that would otherwise be classified at R18. This could have greatly diminished the role of the R18 certificate but failed. This means there continues to be a form of artistic merit test requiring the work to be judged non-pornographic and the scenes in question "exceptionally justified by context" for a mainstream release.
In its 2009 report (available on its website), the BBFC updated its standards stating that:
"When it comes to sex in films for adults, the Board's policy is that explicit images of real sex should be confined to the 'R18' category, unless such images can be justified by their context. However, contextual justification is irrelevant if the primary purpose of the work is sexual arousal or stimulation (i.e. a sex work). Under the new Guidelines, the contextual justification for explicit images of real sex at '18' no longer needs to be 'exceptional'."
The main difference between this new policy and previous years' policies is that contextual justification for images of real sex no longer needs to be "exceptional" in an 18 rated work.
In its 2010 report (available on its website), the BBFC updated its standards again stating that:
"As in previous years, the Board's policy remains that explicit images of real sex should be confined to the 'R18' category unless such images can be justified by their context. Contextual justification, however, has less weight if the primary purpose of the work is sexual arousal or stimulation (i.e. a sex work)."
The main difference between this new policy and previous years' policies is that contextual justification for images of real sex is no longer irrelevant if the primary purpose of the work is sexual arousal or stimulation; instead, it merely reduces the amount of justification that context can provide.
In a sex work, any explicit and non-obscured sight of vaginal or anal penetration by any object whatsoever; any contact between the lips or tongue and genital/anal area; and ejaculation usually requires an R18 certificate. Any sight of a liquid resembling semen is also usually restricted to the R18 category, even if the ejaculation is not visible: images of liquid splashing onto faces, breasts or being swallowed have been cut from 18 certificate films. The R18 versions contained these images unaltered. Further reasons for classifying a film at R18, as opposed to 18, include vigorous and/or extensive genital touching (brief genital touching may be passed "18"), implied triple penetration, extreme close-ups of spread female genitals or anuses (erections are now permissible in the 18 category, however), and certain fetish material, especially urination and potentially dangerous sadomasochistic activities. However, under the new 2010 guidelines, explicit images of real sex can be passed at 18 in a sex work provided there is exceptional justifying context.