Dateline: May 28

If you’ve read about the Danish show in which naked females are paraded on television to be critiqued by male judges, then you might want to check out Dateline next week.

The show is called Blachman, hosted by Thomas Blachman, and has unsurprisingly attracted widespread criticism. Author Knud Romer called the show “a claustrophobic strip club which only serves to cement classic concepts of male dominance.”

But others see it more artistically, while Blachman maintains that Denmark has become a “penis-less” society and men must reclaim their status.

It’s been called the most sexist and misogynistic program on television. But its creators claim it’s a celebration of women, designed to stimulate thought and debate.

This week, Dateline’s Amos Roberts goes behind the scenes of Denmark’s Blachman – the controversial public broadcast show in which a naked woman stands silently in front of two men while they discuss and analyse her body.

The show’s host, ex-X Factor judge and jazz musician Thomas Blachman describes the program as a mix of avant-garde art and social experiment.

“I just thought, ‘wow, this is crazy, let’s do it and see what happens. Because it’s needed – to provoke.”

Blachman features different naked women each week, ranging from teenagers to the elderly. While the analysis between Blachman and his rotating cast of well-known male guests is undeniably sexualised, the women’s bodies often become a catalyst for broader discussions about the modern Danish man.

Blachman and his guests frequently praise the women’s naked bodies while discussing their own male insecurities, fears and shortcomings. Some commentators, including women who have appeared on the show, say that this is evidence that Blachman is in fact not sexist but a tribute to women.

“The female body is thirsting for words, a man’s words” Blachman says. “So I approach you with the noble ambition of re-positivising the woman’s view of the man’s view of the woman.”

Many critics aren’t convinced though. Lotte Hansen, blogger and commentator at the Berlingske newspaper, has campaigned to have the show pulled before it even went to air.

“Are we really so low in 2013?” Hansen asks. “They should stop this phony intellectualisation about this because that’s not true – they should just call it what it is.”

Tuesday 9.30pm on SBS ONE.