mwdegutis Loc: Illinois

'Desire' Director Defends Using Children for Sex Scene on Netflix
Megan Fox July 2, 2018
Diego Kaplan, who directed the film Desire, available on Netflix, is defending his choice to depict a child masturbating in the film. In a statement published at Variety, Kaplan defended the scene, comparing it to a shark attack.

No, really.

"Despair is a film," he said. "When we see a shark eating a woman on film, no one thinks the woman really died or that the shark was real."

Really? The main problem with this is that there are no laws against filming shark attacks or pretending to be attacked by a shark. There are very serious laws, however, about NOT FILMING CHILDREN IN A SEXUAL SITUATION or depicting them as doing so. No one claimed that the children were actually sexually assaulted while making the scene (although I believe it is abusive to portray them in such an exploitive way) or that the child in question was having an actual orgasm. She was, however, depicted as having an orgasm (quite a long, drawn-out one with slow motion and sexualized panting like a porn actor). But the mere depiction of this appears to violate the law. Whether Kaplan's intent was to break the law or not, he is still subject to it. Further, Netflix is responsible for what they stream online. They should have lawyers who tell them not to engage in anything that could even look like child porn.

When I contacted the Department of Justice and asked for clarification on the law, they responded by sending a copy of the statute that, to me, makes it clear that depicting a child masturbating is a crime. As I read the statute, the child does not have to be actually masturbating. Just the idea of it transmitted on film seems to be the legal definition of child porn.

Nicole Navas Oxman, a spokesperson for the DOJ, described child porn:

"As to what constitutes child pornography, that is defined in 18 USC 2256 in relevant part as a visual depiction of an individual under the age of 18 engaged in actual or simulated sexually explicit conduct, which is defined as sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal; bestiality; masturbation; sadistic or masochistic abuse; or the lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person," she said.

Actual OR simulated, Mr. Kaplan! You have admitted that you made a visual depiction of a minor child simulating masturbation. I think that is a crime in the United States, and if there is any justice at all you will be held accountable for it. At times like this we must ask ourselves if our laws mean anything. Here we have a person who has defended his choice to apparently violate our child protection laws. Will he see justice? Or will our law enforcement turn its back because he is a powerful Hollywood director? We've seen that happen for many years and countless women were abused and degraded by the likes of Harvey Weinstein. I thought we were at a #MeToo turning point, where we've had enough of this sexploitation! There was more outrage over grown women on a casting couch than there is about Kaplan using minor children to simulate masturbation for entertainment purposes. What the hell is wrong with us?

If we cannot stand up and say that this is wrong and that it cannot be allowed to go unpunished, then I don’t see how can we prosecute anyone under these child pornography laws. When does the unequal application of the law start applying? If Kaplan and Netflix get away with making and distributing this material, then what is to stop defense attorneys all over the country from defending their clients' right to use children in sexual films under the guise of "simulated" conditions?

Kaplan's defense gets worse.

"Of course, this scene was filmed using a trick, which was that the girls were copying a cowboy scene from a film by John Ford," he said. "The girls never understood what they were doing, they were just copying what they were seeing on the screen. No adult interacted with the girls, other than the child acting coach. Everything was done under the careful surveillance of the girls’ mothers. Because I knew this scene might cause some controversy at some point, there is 'Making Of' footage of the filming of the entire scene."

My problem here, of course, is that I don’t believe there is a trick on earth that can make depicting a child engaging in masturbation legal according to U.S. law. There is no codicil that says, "any depiction of a minor child engaging in sexual activity is a crime and punishable by law unless you are a Hollywood director and the parents say it's okay."

Not only that, but these children have no idea how they were used! How will they feel when they come of age and they understand it and realize that the film is out there forever? What will high school be like for them? Does anyone care that these girls could not consent? Where are the cries of outrage over the way they were used without consent? Are we to accept that parents can consent on behalf of minor children to be used sexually now? What is this fresh hell?

The question of whether the children were harmed physically is not the issue. It's how the director chose to represent them on film, which he admits was sexual in nature. Kaplan doesn't even deny it. Instead of apologizing for the complete inappropriateness of this scene and offering to recut the movie, Kaplan dared to call his critics depraved. "Everything works inside the spectators’ heads, and how you think this scene was filmed will depend on your level of depravity."

Are. You. Kidding. Me? How the scene was filmed is not the issue, but that it exists at all! And if you are offended by the legal definition of child porn, dear reader, you are the one who is depraved according to the guy who made little girls bounce on pillows in slow motion, panting to porn music. Hollywood has been getting away with this kind of degenerate excrement for years. Brooke Shields was exploited back in the '70s and they got away with it, not because it wasn't child exploitation, but because no one was able to stand up to the big money and power of Hollywood perverts.

Have we had enough yet? Let's not allow Hollywood to get away with it again.

Justsss Loc: Wisconsin

[quote=mwdegutis]'Desire' Director Defends Using Children for Sex Scene on Netflix
Megan Fox July 2, 2018
Diego Kaplan, who directed the film Desire, available on Netflix, is defending his choice to depict a child masturbating in the film.

Everything was done under the careful surveillance of the girls’ mothers.

MW, these parents should also be held accountable.

JimMe

Until someone sues a film maker, probably on behalf of the child, for sexual exploitation of a minor, nothing will be done... Even then, the film maker would have to lose the case before anything like this is stopped...

old marine Loc: America home of the brave

[quote=Justsss]

The whole damn bunch including Netflix should be charged and sentenced to the maximum extent permitted by the laws.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

Damn perverts.

Justsss Loc: Wisconsin

Kevyn

Have you seen the film?

Justsss Loc: Wisconsin

kevyn, most people don’t want to watch a “child” porno film. Those who do such as yourself should be jailed along with radical surgery.

Richard Rowland

While I understand the position of the film producer, he is asking the rhetorical question, does it happen in real life? Then the question becomes, at what point do we create laws designed to hide, what some might consider abhorrent, yet harmless behavior, that most know takes place anyway. I also get the point that the children weren't in a position to understand or to judge if they wanted to participate.

Some may be wondering where this is all going to end. I think for the answer to that question, one could look at the types of films being produced in some European countries. To my knowledge, European filmmakers had been, for some time, featuring films that would not have passed the censors here. Of course, American filmmakers are rapidly closing the gap.

Justsss Loc: Wisconsin

[quote=Richard Rowland, American filmmakers have rapidly closed the gap.[/quote]

Richard, in the same vain, moslums sharia law is an accepted practice in their Countrys. Do we want sharia law here ? HELL NO! But it is acceptable practice in their Countrys.
Do children engage in sexual activity? Yes of course some do, but do I want pedophilia promoted? Again HELL NO !
I’d like to see immediate executions for anyone caught with child porno.
As a society how we treat our children, born or unborn is very telling how far down the road to destruction we are.
The same applies to the elderly.
Morals & ethics are too easy to lose and almost impossible to regain.
Just because Europe has decided to go the way of moloch certainly doesn’t mean we need too.

Mike Easterday

The perverts of Hollyweird should be locked up. The parents in this case should locked up as well.

mwdegutis Loc: Illinois

Let's talk about morals Richard...

We hear often these days that society shouldn’t have any absolute moral standards. Imposing standards is oppressive, judgmental and outdated. Like Linus and the Great Pumpkin, it doesn’t matter what we choose to believe, as long as we’re really sincere in believing it. Well, pardon me for pointing it out, but that’s…well, stupid (sorry, Linus!)

There are all sorts of absolute standards to which we adhere. A rock band might be filled with nonconformists, but they can’t each play in whatever key they feel like. You might concede Hannibal Lecter’s sincere belief in cannibalism, but you wouldn’t go to his house for dinner. It seems counter-intuitive, but freedom can’t work unless we all agree to abide by certain basic standards of right and wrong. When we step outside those boundaries, chaos ensues. That can leave a bad taste in your mouth, and I’m not still referring to Hannibal Lecter. I like to illustrate the concept with a story from the days when my own kids were young.

When my son John Mark was only 12, he decided one day to bake a cake. My wife Janet and I returned home and were greeted by our son, proudly offering ol’ dad the first taste. Well, it looked good, and I was already preparing some fatherly praise as I took that first bite. But what came out of my mouth wasn’t words. It was the cake. It was so awful, I had to spit it out. My first thought was that my son was trying to kill me for the insurance.

As soon as my tongue overcame its shock, I asked John Mark if he’d used a recipe. He said he had, and he’d followed it to the letter. Well, except that he didn’t know what a “dash” of salt meant, so he decided a cup of salt should be enough.

Now, my son worked hard on that cake…he had the best of intentions…and he sincerely believed he’d done a good job. But hard work, good intentions and sincere beliefs meant nothing once he decided he could make up his own measurement standards. That’s literally a recipe for disaster.

Freedom can’t exist in a moral vacuum. It makes some people uncomfortable to hear this, but without clear boundaries of right and wrong, the very concept of liberty breaks down. A person might argue that he should be free to look at pictures others find offensive. But if it’s a photo of a child who’s being exploited, then there’s more at stake than just the liberty of the viewer. We’re currently having a big media controversy over whether to separate children from parents who cross the border illegally, but very few people bring up the fact that the parents chose to bring their children along as they knowingly violated federal immigration law.

Self-government can’t mean each of us lives by our own unique set of rules. If that’s how you define liberty, then you’re just going to get less of it. When people live outside the boundaries of a principled and agreed-upon moral code, it always leads to government that’s bigger and more intrusive, just to force people to do the right thing. Not to mention creating an avalanche of lawsuits.

Mike Huckabee

Justsss Loc: Wisconsin

Fit2BTied Loc: Texas

To mwdegutis. A sound logical argument like that may seem wasted here but I thought it was spot on.

Carol Kelly

[quote=Justsss]

What kind of mothers? Former porno stars? It seems that no one can be tried and convicted of any crime in America anymore, Maya’s well throw away all the laws and law books.

Justsss Loc: Wisconsin

Carol, happy and safe 4th.
I watched part of “Three Billboards” last night and think that the language was beyond any acceptable standard in front of child actors. Again ALL of these people need to be jailed for child abuse.