Where were you? A Challenge to Christians over their Boycotts

Christians, parents, woke folks, where were you in February when J-Lo and Shakira were shaking what their mama's gave them. You act like hyper-sexualization of dance is something new. It's not. But where was the outrage when other pornographic films were released and influencing people, young people, because you can access porn on just about any streaming service without parental controls. 

I am a huge foreign film fan. I love a good foreign film. I love Science Fiction, I love a good comedy or adventure film, I also like classic films.  

The first thing you need to realize is that 1) Cuties is a foreign film. 2) U.S. courts have ruled that the First Amendment protects "indecent" pornography from regulation, but not "obscene" pornography. People convicted of distributing obscene pornography face long prison terms and asset forfeiture. However, in State v. Henry (1987), the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that obscenity was an unconstitutional restriction of free speech under the free speech provision of the Oregon Constitution and abolished the offense of obscenity in that state, although it remains an offense on the federal level. Child pornography is illegal in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that it is not protected by the First Amendment, and even if not obscene, it is not considered protected speech, according to New York v. Ferber.

So I have a couple of questions, where was your outcry against the movie Immoral Tales. Immoral Tales (French: Contes immoraux) is a 1973 French anthology film directed by Walerian Borowczyk. The film was Borowczyk's most sexually explicit at the time. The film is split into four erotic-themed stories that involve the loss of virginity, masturbation, bloodlust, and incest. 

The film is separated into four stories:

• The first story involves André (Fabrice Luchini), who takes his 16-year-old cousin (played by Lise Danvers) to the beach to perform fellatio on him in tune to the waves of the incoming tide.
• The second story is titled Thérése the Philosopher, an adaptation of the novel of the same name. It involves a teenage country girl (Charlotte Alexandra) who intermingles sexual desires in her imagination with her dedication to Christ after being locked in her room.
• The third story features Elizabeth Báthory (Paloma Picasso) as a countess who murders young girls in order to gain eternal youth by bathing in their blood and a girl (Marie Forså) putting pearls inside her vagina.
• The final story involves the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, Lucrezia Borgia (Florence Bellamy), having sex with her male relatives. 

Before that there was a film called Blue is the Warmest Color.  Not realizing this film was a lesbian love story I did watch this one, but as soon as the graphic sex scenes came on, I realized that this was a pornographic film. 

The Plot: 

The film follows Adèle, a French teenager who discovers desire and freedom as an aspiring female painter Emma enters her life. The film charts their relationship from Adèle's high school years to her early adult life and career as a school teacher. The premise of Blue Is the Warmest Colour is based on the 2010 graphic novel of the same name by Julie Maroh. The Sex scenes were extremely graphic and even at the Cannes film festival the film shocked some critics with its long and graphic sex scenes (although fake genitalia were used). 

I literally looked for articles against this film from Christians, who decried the film and it's showing on Netflix. I looked for people who boycotted Netflix and there was nothing available. So where were you? And please don't give me the line, "Oh if you are over 18 it's fine for you to star in a pornographic film, but not in a film like Cuties." 

Now a word about Cuties, and yes, I watched the movie. I know what it's about. The film stars Fathia Youssouf, Médina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou, Ilanah Cami-Goursolas and Maïmouna Gueye. The plot revolves around a French-Senegalese girl with a traditional Muslim upbringing who is caught between traditional values and Internet culture. According to the filmmakers, the film is intended to criticize the hypersexualisation of pre-adolescent girls.

Cuties: The Plot

Eleven-year-old immigrant girl Amy originally from Senegal, lives with her mother Mariam in one of Paris's poorest neighborhoods. In an apartment along with her two younger brothers, she waits for her father to rejoin the family from Senegal. She helplessly witnesses the suffering of her mother, whose polygamous husband is preparing to return from the country with a second wife. She is also bored during prayer and more generally of the religious values ​​that her aunt seeks to transmit to her.

Things turn swiftly, as Amy is fascinated by her disobedient neighbor Angelica's twerking clique called Cuties, an adult-style dance troupe which has contrasting fortunes and characteristics to Mariam's religious customs, values and traditions. The pre-teens practice for a competition and do not hesitate to adopt revealing outfits in the image of their older competitors. Encouraged by success and the quest for recognition on social networks, Amy decides to incorporate into the choreography gestures of sexually suggestive dance moves that she has seen on videos.

Following a humiliation at school, she sends a compromising photo of her vagina on social networks, which causes her to be rejected by her classmates. Following a quarrel with the rest of the Cuties, they ban her from performing with them at the dance contest. While her father's wedding is on the same day as the final competition at Parc de la Villette, she is determined to dance with them. Sneaking out of the house in her dance outfit, she pushes another member of the Cuties, Yasmine, into a lake, so that the Cuties have no choice but to allow her to dance with them. The highly suggestive dance routine shocks the audience. Suddenly thinking about her mother during the routine, Amy bursts into tears and leaves before their performance ends to join her mother. Upon her return, she runs into her aunt who blames her for her outfit and recent attitude. Amy's mother intervenes by telling her to leave her daughter alone and then hugs her to reassure her. Amy implores her mother to allow Amy to not attend the wedding, in order to demonstrate her disapproval. Amy's mother permits her to not go, but states that she herself must go to fulfill her duty as a wife. Amy then abandons both the traditional wedding dress and her sexy dancer's outfit, and, in jeans and a t-shirt, her hair down, she goes out to play jump rope with a group of girls.

I tend to agree with Common Sense Media, that "Maïmouna Doucouré has created an evocative, compassionate portrait of young girls finding their identity and values". But I also see where the dance moves can be considered sexualization. 

Oh, and it's not just Netflix, Fawsome Films often puts "B-side" cheesy soft porn films in their lists. In 2016 they added Housewives from Another World. As I said when I started writing I love films, so when I see a classic movie poster with something stupid like "Housewives from Another World" written on it, I automatically think, "Oh, 1950-60s sci-fi film." Imagine if you can my horror when I realized it wasn't a cheesy sci-fi film, but rather a porn film, the opening scene was a man having an extramarital affair with full on frontal nudity. When I looked at the plot on Fawesome Films, it read: Karen catches her husband, Max, with his neighbor, Rita. The alien, now inhabiting the body of Karen, works to prevent the secret development of space exploration satellites. 

So Christians, where is your outrage when Netflix and other streaming companies show real pornographic films? Why weren't you protesting then? Why is it okay to show a movie with graphic Lesbian sex or even a cheesy B-side movie starting a "Pet of the Year"? Oh, wait I forget, it's okay as long as the people are over 18. Or isn't sin, sin in the eyes of God? 

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 says Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 

Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

James 1:14-15 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

You notice that God doesn't say "Well one of these is less than another." He calls them out as equal, they are all evil. So where were you? Where was your outcry? After all pornography, is pornography and is equally evil.