Leslie Smith: Child porn is going mainstream

Column by Leslie Smith

Concerned Women for America of North Carolina is calling all citizens to take action to stop the distribution of “Hounddog,” a film depicting child rape. CWA of North Carolina created the “No More Child Porn” campaign in July after learning that the North Carolina Department of Commerce gave $387,000 in taxpayer money to producers to shoot the film in North Carolina. This is not an issue exclusive to North Carolina; this movie will debut in theaters nationwide on Sept. 19.

Donna Miller, a CWA Prayer/Action Chapter Leader for the Fayetteville area and No More Child Porn campaign director, will attend the 2008 Values Voter Summit, a prominent conservative voting rally in Washington, D.C. this weekend, to spread the word about “Hounddog,” in hopes that concerned citizens will halt the distribution of this film in the mainstream media. Donna will distribute a list of actions that citizens can take to fight this graphic movie from being shown in their local theater.

Donna says, “We hope to educate the media and those attending the conference about the CWA of North Carolina ‘No More Child Porn’ campaign. Our goal is to bring awareness of the mainstreaming of child pornography that is being achieved through the release of this movie.”

“Hounddog” features child actress Dakota Fanning, who portrays a nine-year-old that is raped by a man in his late teens, after he tricks her into dancing naked to get Elvis Presley concert tickets. Deborah Kampmeier, writer and director of Hounddog, wrote in the film’s press kit, “… she [Fanning's character] is simply and innocently experiencing and relishing the aliveness of her being, the life force pulsing through her body, celebrating the power and creative force of her sexuality that is her birthright.”

Donna responds, “This movie is about a nine-year-old girl, not an adult woman. She should be outside skipping rope or riding her bike, not ‘celebrating the power and creative force of her sexuality.’”

On the original release date of July 18, 2008, CWA of North Carolina called for an investigation by the North Carolina General Assembly to determine why the North Carolina Film Office approved the making of the film and whether law officials were consulted.

They also requested that the Assembly “provide information from the North Carolina Department of Commerce (which oversees the North Carolina Film office) as to how three movies dealing with the subject of adults having sexual encounters with minors (Hounddog, Bastard Out of Carolina, and Lolita) were filmed in North Carolina. Hounddog was so controversial that it did not receive distributorship until very recently.

The reaction from North Carolina officials has been nothing short of baffling. Though he acknowledged the public outcry surrounding this film, the district attorney of Bolivia, N.C., where most of the film was shot, told WorldNetDaily that the movie was saved by its “artistic value.” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has been silent on the issue and has offered no explanation as to why his state allowed a 12-year-old child to endure simulated pedophilic rape.

North Carolina is one of many states to offer financial incentives, such as tax credits, in hopes of wooing film companies into shooting footage on their land. The production of a film can significantly boost the local economy in a myriad of ways, such as crews lodging in local hotels and hiring local catering services.

Donna says, “Our concern is that this film would say to other children that this behavior is acceptable. As taxpayers here in North Carolina, we’re not happy about this.”