Swearing Increased in Everyday Life, but Parents want Children Protected

Research from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) shows an increase in people using strong swearing in their everyday life.

The body, which gives movies their age rating, says that around a third of people in the UK are more likely to swear compared to five years ago. However, parents do not want any weakening of age restrictions for swearing in films and DVDs. They want to protect their children “for as long as possible”.

The BBFC also says it will treat acronyms such as “WTF” in the same way as the full swear words, because there is such wide recognition of the meaning.

Not in front of the children

The report on swearing habits uses research from 1,000 people. Findings show that around six in ten people see strong swearing, like the F-word, as part of everyday life.

However, the research shows a significant “generational divide”. Younger adults in the 18 to 34 age group are most likely to swear, and be less affected by it.

Older people still viewed strong swear words as taboo. 75% of those aged over 65 years say they would not use strong swearing in public.

Parents also wanted to keep their children away from instances of strong swearing. About two thirds of them say that even though they may swear when with their own friends, they would avoid it if they thought their children, up to the age of 16, were in earshot.

Parents were also anxious over the amount of swearing in online video content available to young people. They thought that too much of it could see swearing “normalised”.

The context in which swear words are used also makes a difference to parents. They worry about swearing being used in an aggressive or violent way, particularly in terms of sexual violence.

Age ratings on screen

The research suggests that while swearing is increasingly used and tolerated in everyday life, parents do not want limits reduced on appearances on screen. For example, a 12A-rated film should not feature any strong language. Strong swear words should only appear infrequently in films rated as 15, and if there is violence, the rating should increase to 18 years.

The media industry needs to help and share responsibility. Children these days have access to lots of content on multiple screens, and their parents want to protect them. They want to shield their children from strong language wherever they can, and for as long as possible.

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