A Heartening Pushback Against Porn Purveyors

ANALYSIS

Two fast-growing petition drives and a request for a federal investigation indicate that more Americans are waking to the threat posed by pornography and are willing to speak up about it.

A petition to shut down one of the world’s largest pornography websites, Pornhub, has now gone past two million signatures. Meanwhile, Netflix is being hammered from many sides for its new movie “Cuties,” which sexualizes young girls. 

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr asking for a federal investigation “to determine whether Netflix, its executives, or the individuals involved in the filming and production of ‘Cuties’ violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography.”

“The film routinely fetishizes and sexualizes these pre-adolescent girls as they perform dances simulating sexual conduct in revealing clothing, including at least one scene with partial child nudity,” Sen. Cruz wrote. 

Going After Pornhub

The Traffickinghub.com campaign against Pornhub was launched in February by Exodus Cry, a  nonprofit “committed to abolishing sex trafficking and breaking the cycle of commercial sexual exploitation while assisting and empowering its victims.”

The campaign “is supported by a broad spectrum of over 300 child protection, anti-trafficking and women’s rights organizations, as well as experts and trafficking survivors of all backgrounds,” the website states.

Timothy Partners, Ltd., adviser to Timothy Plan funds, is supporting the petition. After some Timothy Plan employees approached the firm’s president, Art Ally, with their concerns over PornHub, Mr. Ally authorized double matching by the company of employees’ contributions to the traffickinghub.com campaign.

Timothy Plan funds was launched in 1994 as an investment product for people who don’t want to profit from activities contrary to a Judeo-Christian ethic, such as harming the innocent. Pornography was one of the earliest filters employed to weed out culpable companies.

Calling Out Netflix

An American Family Association petition to the cable network to remove “Cuties” has quickly gained more than 60,000 signatures, and the network reportedly is seeing many cancellations of its service.

Timothy Plan has long excluded Netflix from its investment portfolios because of its objectionable content.

Titled “Mignonnes” in its native French language – “Cuties” features an 11-year-old Muslim girl who joins a twerking dance team. She deceives her family by lying, stealing, and sneaking out. The film features lascivious dancing and close-ups of the girls’ private areas.

“Netflix knows exactly what it is doing. This is the same production company and streaming service that gave the world the 13 Reasons Why series, which glorified sex, violence, and suicide,” the AFA website states. “Netflix now wants to promote its sickening agenda to exploit little girls.”

May Be Actionable

“Cuties” is not merely offensive but constitutes child pornography, said Jan La Rue, who served as chief legal counsel for Concerned for Women and Family Research Council, and was senior counsel for the National Law Center for Children and Families.

In an article at American Thinker, “Cuties is child pornography, Netflix. Look it up,” she cited numerous federal court rulings.

“Netflix, consult your attorney,” she writes. “Every scene in Cuties showing a "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area" and each girl involved in each scene will qualify as a separate count in an indictment against any person at Netflix and its agents who were knowingly involved in any aspect of its production, distribution, transportation, advertisement, or possession of child pornography, 18 USC 2252.

“The fine and imprisonment are much larger when the girls are under 12 years. Cancelation of subscriptions is the least of your worries.”

Netflix has tried to justify “Cuties” by saying that its real message is to expose sexual exploitation of children.

Mrs. La Rue has a sharp answer for that: “The claim is as indefensible as a scientist who poisons individuals and pleads that he was merely demonstrating that poison is harmful.”

Timothy Plan’s Art Ally also had sharp words for Netflix: 

“Jesus made very clear what He thought of those who corrupt innocent children.  In Matthew 18:6, He said, ‘But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.’

“I’d say that’s a fair warning,” said Mr. Ally.

(Robert Knight is a writer for Timothy Partners, Ltd. He is a regular weekly columnist for The Washington Times, Townhall.com, OneNewsNow and others. His latest book is “Liberty on the Brink: How the Left Plans to Steal Your Vote.”)