Now that the new Netflix movie “Cuties” is available for viewing, we know that it is far worse than we imagined. Yet there are movie critics and movie stars who are celebrating this trash rather than denouncing it. What has happened to our culture? Have we lost all vestige of a conscience?

In the words of Kyle Hooten on Twitter, “‘Cuties’ just released and it’s WAY worse than anybody expected. Netflix just published soft-core child pornography, and they’ll probably get away with it.”

Jason Howerton’s tweet was even more emphatic: “I’m dead serious, people should go to prison for this. ‘Lawfully defines as pedophilia’ and look at the media ratings. All of you are going to hell. #Cuties.”

As my wife Nancy asked when I sent her some links, “How can this even be legal????” How indeed.

Before the movie came out, but based on initial reports, I asked, “At what point does this stop? At what point does our society say, ‘Enough is enough’ when it comes to the assault on our children? At what point do we stand up as a nation and put a stop to this attack on innocence?”

Now that the movie is out, with a sickening segment posted for viewing on social media (viewer discretion advised), we must say, “Enough!” as loudly and clearly as we can.

A good place to start would be canceling Netflix subscriptions. As Robby Starbuck tweeted, “The 11 year old girls who were sexually exploited filming Cuties shot those scenes in front of a director, a DP, a gaffer, their parents, a choreographer, a MUA, a hair person, a camera assistant, a wardrobe person, extras and more. Not one adult protected them. #CancelNetflix.”

Yes, these are young girls dancing sexually in the presence of adults (no doubt to be viewed online with glee by sexual perverts). Young girls who could be your daughters or granddaughters. Young girls being exploited for profit. And Netflix distributes this without consequences? Enough!

Yet, despite this outrage, one which is uniting social liberals with social conservatives, the movie has its admirers.

In the words of actress Tessa Thompson, “#CUTIES is a beautiful film. It gutted me at @sundancefest.  It introduces a fresh voice at the helm. She’s a French Senegalese Black woman mining her experiences. The film comments on the hyper-sexualization of preadolescent girls. Disappointed to see the current discourse. ”

So Thompson is disappointed to see mothers and fathers and others grieved over “the hyper-sexualization of preadolescent girls,” failing to realize that they are being exploited in this very movie.

In other words, the movie does not simply tell a sad story about young girls being sexually exploited (many would argue it celebrates their sexploitation). The movie itself exploits the children. But rather than being brokenhearted over the contents of the movie, Thompson is “disappointed” to see the negative reaction to the flick. This is turning morality upside down.

Yet Thompson is not alone, and what I am about to report provides a glimpse into the morally confused bubble in which many in the film industry live.

On the Rotten Tomatoes website, viewers gave the movie a rating of 3% an incredibly low (but rightly deserved) score. (As of this writing, there were 1,047 viewer ratings.) But film critics gave it a score of 88%, a very good rating.  (This was based on 32 reviews.) They really loved the film!

This sums up the perversion of much of the film industry – the lack of morality, the lack of conscience, the lack of family awareness.

And what is the critics’ description of the film? “A thoughtful look at the intricacies of girlhood in the modern age, Cuties is a coming-of-age film that confronts its themes with poignancy and nuance.”

Only one word comes to mind to describe my reaction to their words: sick.

No wonder America is so morally lost. These critics are our guides and our prophets.

Yet, the truth be told, I’m not in the least bit surprised. Not when a sexually degrading, vulgar song can be the number one hit in the nation (and in other nations). Not when there is an epidemic of porn sweeping the land, affecting the religious and non-religious alike. Not when our legislators pass laws protecting sexually aggressive adults (who have sex with younger teens). Not when we celebrate 11-year-old drag queens dancing in gay bars.

So, it is not just the film critics who are sick. It is not just those who exploited those young girls in “Cuties” (this includes their parents, who allowed it) who are sick. No, our whole nation is sick, drowning in a sea of depravity.

It is that serious. There is no hyperbole in my words.

And so, while canceling our Netflix subscriptions is a good place to start – in recent weeks, the series “Lucifer” was trending at the top of the charts – it can only be a starting point.

This is a time for deep personal reflection. A time for searching of soul and heart. A time of sweeping repentance.

In short, either we have a massive spiritual and moral awakening, or we perish. What will it be?

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This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.

At what point does this stop? At what point does our society say, “Enough is enough” when it comes to the assault on our children? At what point do we stand up as a nation and put a stop to this attack on innocence?

There was a time when our kids were not bombarded with “pornographic” sex-ed curricula in middle school.

There was a time when condoms were not given out to elementary school students.

There was a time when first graders were not taught LGBTQ terminology.

There was a time when we did not celebrate 8-year-old drag queens (and when drag queens did not twerk for our toddlers in libraries).

There was a time when movies were not made about 11-year-old girls joining sensual dance teams.

But that time is not now, and the assault on our children’s innocence is at an all time high. Should we not be concerned? Should we not be grieved? Should we not be outraged?

Lest you think I’m exaggerating, the California Globe reported on May 9, 2019,

Despite hundreds of parents protesting and testifying, on Wednesday the California State Board of Education approved highly controversial changes to the state’s health and sex education framework including teaching children about bondage, anal sex, pederasty, sex trafficking, sexual orientation and transgender and non-conforming students.

One book, recommended for transitional kindergarten through third grade includes “graphic, close-up illustrations of child/adult genitals and the sex act itself.” This is for kids aged 6-9!

Another book, also recommended for the same age group, teaches “kids they can be a boy, a girl, both, neither, gender queer, or gender fluid, etc. and that adults guess a child’s gender based on body parts.”

As for high school students, one textbook, “Introduces or encourages anal sex for all sexual orientations, BDSM (bondage, domination, sadomasochism), body fluid (urinating on each other) or blood play, fisting, and a long list of other sexual debauchery.”

If you blush while reading these words as an adult (or don’t know what some of the terms mean), can you imagine teaching this to high school kids? Yet it is adults, many of them parents, who approve of trash like this. What an outrage.

Now, Netflix has come under attack for its new documentary called Cuties. Yes, “The streaming giant is facing backlash for its promotional poster for the French film, whose young stars are 11-years-old. The promo image in question shows the children wearing revealing dance attire of shorts and crop tops and striking various dance poses, like kneeling on the floor and squatting.”

Netflix quickly apologized for the poster, removing it from the promotional material. But it did not apologize for the movie itself, stating,

We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/Cuties. It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance. We’ve now updated the pictures and description.

Ah, but of course. The film won an award at Sundance. It must be good and moral. After all, Sundance is kind of like the Bible Belt of movies. Conservative. Almost prudish. Right.

Rather, as Indie Wire noted, “The Sundance Film Festival has been shocking audiences — and launching careers — for years.” An early Sundance winner was the 1989 movie “Sex, Lies, and Videotape.”

As described on IndieWire, “In someways the quintessential movie of Sundance’s early years, Steven Soderbergh’s landmark debut remains one of the best movies ever to come out of the festival — and one of the most sexually frank.”

So much for winning an award at Netflix.

And what, exactly, is “Cuties” about? As reported on Heavy, in the movie, which earned a TV-MA rating, “Amy, an 11-year-old girl, joins a group of dancers named ‘the cuties’ at school, and rapidly grows aware of her burgeoning femininity – upsetting her mother and her values in the process.”

It is also described as a “coming-of-age moving about an 11-year-old,” which really says it all. Girls that young are not “coming of age” to sensual dancing unless someone else teaches them. The thoughts would never enter their minds on their own, especially when they come from traditional religious backgrounds, as does Amy.

A headline in The U.S. Sun reads, “THIS IS GROSS! Netflix’s new ‘Cuties’ show sparks fury with ‘highly sexualised’ drama about 11-year-old girl joining ‘twerking squad.’” This should spark fury among parents. (And what about the little girls who posed for the Netflix poster? Should anyone think about them?)

Someone might say, “But the film simply tells the increasingly common story of a girl raised in a religious home (in this case, a Muslim home) who discovers a whole new world through social media and her school. This is the new reality.”

But that’s the whole problem. The new reality is rotten. The new reality defiles. The new reality destroys. And the new reality gets worse by the day. Almost all innocence has been lost.

Young kids grow up singing the most salacious lyrics, gyrating sexually as they mouth the words, being exposed to filth long before they can even understand it. And kids as young as 8 are regularly encountering porn. How have we let this happen? How have we let our children be emotionally and morally raped?

There is even concern now about pedophile dolls. I am not making this up.

As a nation, we are outraged over the allegations against the late Jeffrey Epstein. And we are mortified when we learn that sex trafficking is taking place in front of our eyes in major cities across America.

But our outrage should go deeper. The very souls of our children are under daily assault, from their cell phones to their classrooms. Shall we not put up a wall of protection around them?

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Dr. Brown is the founder and president of Fire School of Ministry in Concord, North Carolina. He is also a radio and podcast host of The Line of Fire and a prolific author. Jezebel’s War With America: The Plot to Destroy Our Country and What We Can Do to Turn the Tide is his latest book. This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.