Following Ken Loach's recent high profile attack on the BBFC's attitude to language, Robert Pattinson has spoken out about what he says is a skewed attitude to sexual activity in films. Why, he asks, is it treated as more damaging than violence?
Pattinson is currently starring in David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis, which the BBFC has rated 15, noting that it contains "strong sex and language". The film features Pattinson's billionaire executive having a threesome, but the star has said that he thinks the scene is tame in comparision to what younger people regularly view on the internet. Surveys suggest that the average age at which people first encounter pornography on the internet is 11. Pattinson has claimed that nothing in Cosmopolis would have shocked him when he was 13, suggesting that the context provided by a film makes it less damaging than porn viewed in isolation.
Last year, Pattinson caused a stir at the MTV awards by using what was considered inappropriate language. His live utterance, which made it past the censors, was seen by some as a deliberate attempt to break free of the wholesome image created by the Twilight films.
