In Denmark, an award-winning television program called “Ultra Strips Down” allows its live audience of participants aged 11 to 13 to ask the grown-up volunteers whatever questions they want as part of a touted message to promote body positivity and combat body-shaming, according to the New York Times.
The series’ creators are cited as insisting their motive is to dispel the idea, often promoted on social media platforms, that there are perfect body types.
A recent episode focused on skin and hair, with students from Copenhagen’s Orestad School facing five adults who threw off their bathrobes and revealed their naked bodies on stage.
The children began asking questions that ranged from “At what age did you grow hair on the lower part of your body?” to “Are you pleased with your private parts?”
Currently in its second season on a channel called DR Ultra, the show, which first aired in 2019 and won an award for best children’s program at the Danish TV Festival, has sparked backlash.
Despite Denmark’s relatively permissive attitude towards nudity, a leading member of the right-wing Danish People’s Party, Peter Skaarup, was quoted as slamming the show as “depraving” children, adding that it was “far too early” to expose youngsters to this sort of approach.
As a clip from the show was posted on DR Ultra’s Facebook page, and reposted to other social media platforms, a barrage of comments from users showed clear opposition to the series’ concept of exposing children to naked adult bodies.
Some, however, voiced their support.
Others believed it was not a bad idea to start with, but the approach could have been different.
In response, the channel reiterated that it was “educational TV for kids and families who can have healthy talk about what bodies look like.”
The 2020 season will have five episodes centering on different topics, casting grown-up volunteers of different shapes, ages, races and genders.
The children require parental consent to appear on the program, with none of the middle schoolers and volunteers shown in a single shot together.