Netflix has come under fire for allegedly streaming a feature film, Desire, which involves a scene equated to child pornography. Parents have demanded to pull down the erotic thriller from the platform.

Desire is an Argentine film,  facing a lot of backlash since its release for the particular scene. Written by Erika Halvorsen, the film was released in 2017.

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According to Hollywood reporter, Desire, directed by Diego Kaplan, has raked up controversy over its opening scene. It begins with a nine-year-old girl masturbating while imitating a scene from a John Ford cowboy film to the point of orgasm.

Timothy F Winter, President of the Parents Television Council, wrote an open letter to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, saying: “I respectfully, but pointedly, ask you: Does the Netflix brand stand for the distribution of nine-year-old girls masturbating? The answer is yes or no; there is no other choice here.”

The parents’ group has accused Netflix  of “showing a reckless disregard for the millions of families that keep your streaming platform alive and viable, and callously placing profits ahead of any sense of corporate responsibility, to potentially engaging in criminal activity.”

“At such a momentous time in Hollywood as this, where #MeToo is exposing grotesque behaviour and holding those accountable for engaging in it, how can Netflix affirmatively engage in the distribution of such disreputable content?” the letter reads.

In a statement to IndieWire, the director defended the scene, 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. We work in a world of fiction; and, for me, before being a director comes being a father.”

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Kaplan said the scene was filmed using a “trick” where the “girls were copying a cowboy scene from a film by John Ford. 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,” he added.

However, Netflix hasn’t responded to the controversy yet.

-With agency inputs