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Constance Mary Whitehouse, CBE (née Hutcheson, 13 June 191023 November 2001) was an English social activist known for her strong opposition to social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permissive society. She was the founder and first president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, through which she led a longstanding campaign against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). A staunch social conservative, she was disparagingly termed a reactionary by her socially liberal opponents. Her motivation derived from her traditional Christian beliefs, her aversion to the rapid social and political changes in British society of the 1960s and her work as a teacher of sex education. Born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Whitehouse became an art teacher, at the same time becoming involved in evangelical Christian groups such as the Student Christian Movement and Moral Re-Armament. She became a public figure via the Clean-Up TV pressure group, established in 1964, in which she was the most prominent figure. The following year she founded the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, using it as a platform to criticise the BBC for what she perceived as a lack of accountability, and excessive use of bad language and portrayals of sex and violence in its programmes. As a result, she became an object of mockery in the media. During the 1970s she broadened her activities, and was a leading figure in the Nationwide Festival of Light, a Christian campaign that gained mass support for a period. She initiated a successful private prosecution against ''Gay News'' on the grounds of blasphemous libel, the first such case for more than 50 years. Another private prosecution was against the director of the play ''The Romans in Britain'', which had been performed at the National Theatre, which she withdrew when it became clear she was about to lose. Whitehouse's campaigns continue to divide opinion. Her critics have accused her of being a highly censorious figure, and her traditional moral convictions brought her into direct conflict with supporters of the sexual revolution, feminists and gay rights campaigners. Others see her more positively and believe she was attempting to halt a decline in what they perceived as Britain's moral standards. According to Ben Thompson, the editor of an anthology of Whitehouse-related letters, in 2012: "From Mumsnet to ... feminist anti-pornography campaigns () the executive naming and shaming strategies of UK Uncut, her ideological and tactical influence has been discernible in all sorts of unexpected places in recent years."〔Ben Thompson ("Ban this filth!" ), ''Financial Times'', 9 November 2012. This article is a reprint of the introduction to Ben Thompson (ed.) ''Ban This Filth!: Letters From the Mary Whitehouse Archive'', London: Faber, 2012 ISBN 978-0571281497〕 ==Early life== Born in Nuneaton in Warwickshire, Whitehouse was the second of four children of a "less than successful businessman" and a "necessarily resourceful mother".〔Obituary, ''The Times'', 24 November 2001〕 She won a scholarship to Chester City Grammar School,〔(Obituary, ) ''The Daily Telegraph'', 24 November 2001〕 where she was keen on hockey and tennis,〔 and after leaving she did two years of unpaid apprentice teaching at St John's School, Chester. At the Cheshire County Teacher Training College in Crewe, specialising in secondary school art teaching she was involved with the Student Christian Movement before qualifying in 1932. She became an art teacher at Lichfield Road School, Wednesfield, Staffordshire, where she stayed for eight years. She joined the Oxford Group, later known as Moral Re-Armament (MRA), in the 1930s. At MRA meetings, she met Ernest Raymond Whitehouse; they married in 1940 and remained married until his death in Colchester, aged 87, in 2000.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=England and Wales Deaths 1984-2006 )〕 The couple had five sons, two of whom (twins) died in infancy.〔Mary Warnock "Whitehouse After raising her sons in their earliest years, Whitehouse returned to teaching in 1953. That year she broadcast on ''Woman's Hour'' on the day before the coronation of Elizabeth II "as a loyal housewife and subject" and wrote an extensive article on homosexuality for ''The Sunday Times''.〔 According to Thompson this concerned how a mother might "best avoid inadvertently pressuring her sons towards that particular orientation", and gained enough attention to be republished as a pamphlet.〔 She taught art at Madeley Modern School in Shropshire from 1960, taking responsibility for sex education. Shocked at the moral beliefs of her pupils, she became concerned about what she and many others perceived as declining moral standards in the British media, especially in the BBC. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mary Whitehouse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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