Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

With the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

The Oscar winner for Best Lead Actress this year was Mikey Madison for her role in the film Anora.

After offering the expected thanks in her speech to family friends and the film's production crew,

she then thanked sex

workers for inspiring the film, which told the story of a young exotic dancer and occasional

prostitute who was caught up in a dysfunctional romance with a Russian oligarch. Her words,

quote, I want to again recognize and honor the sex worker community. I will continue to support and be an ally.

All of the incredible people, the women that I've had the privilege of meeting from that community,

has been one of the highlights of this entire incredible experience, end quote.

Now, a full-fledged endorsement of such an immoral and exploitative profession

is especially strange in the post-Me2 era.. As Lila Rose, of live action put it,

in response, quote, sex work isn't work, it's destructive and evil, it preys on vulnerable

young girls and boys, it's not empowering or liberating, it fuels trafficking and abuse, end

quote. In fact, the very same thing could be said of the film itself and the actress herself.

After all, Madison's a real person. Her body was really exposed to the whole world. She was paid for it.

This consent here changed that she's also the victim of an exploitative industry.

Now, at the other end of the cultural spectrum are Andrew and Tristan Tate, famous for espousing a corrupted brand of masculinity.

Openly misogynist, the Tate brothers are Muslims who praise terrorist groups brag about abusing and degrading women and have been credibly accused of sex trafficking minors.

Despite all that, some right-wing podcasters celebrated when the U.S. government pressured Romania

to release them from prison, where, since 2022, they faced charges of sexual assault and trafficking.

In an alternative form of the same twisted logic that celebrates the exploitation of women by calling in empowerment,

...