Editing Victim (1961 film) (section)

===US censor===
In the United States, the [[Motion Picture Association of America]]'s [[Production Code Administration]], the film industry's self-censorship board that enforced the guidelines established by the [[Motion Picture Production Code]], denied ''Victim'' its seal of approval. A spokesperson cited the film's "candid and clinical discussion of homosexuality" and its "overtly expressed pleas for social acceptance of the homosexual, to the extent that he be made socially tolerable". He noted that the subject of homosexuality was acceptable under the recently relaxed Production Code if handled with "care, discretion and restraint".

The head of the US distributor appealed the decision and announced the film would be released in February even if the appeal was denied. He described ''Victim'' as a "tasteful film on a delicate subject".<ref name=denied/> A few years before the release of ''Victim'', the filmmakers of ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959) had persuaded the code censors to allow that film to use homosexuality as a plot device, but only by presenting it through cryptic innuendos, and the film had to illustrate the "horrors of such a lifestyle".<ref>{{cite book|last=Hadleigh |first= B. |date=2001 |title=The Lavender Screen: The Gay and Lesbian Films – Their Stars, Makers, Characters, and Critics|edition=Revised |location= New York City |publisher=Citadel Press |isbn=978-0-8065-2199-2 |page=?}}</ref> ''Victim'', in contrast, was deemed to be too frank in its treatment of homosexuality, and not initially approved by the censorship code.

In 1962, the Hollywood Production Code agreed to lift the ban on films using homosexuality as a plot device. A few years later, the code was replaced by the [[MPAA film rating system]], which introduced an age-appropriate classification system for films. As attitudes became more liberal, the rating classifications for the film were revised, and when ''Victim'' was released on VHS in the US in 1986, it was rated [[PG-13 (Motion Picture Association)|PG-13]].