Breakpoint: The Moral Monsters of a Post-Christian World

By John Stonestreet and Timothy D. Padgett - Posted at Breakpoint:

Published March 21, 2025

Without God, opposing cultural forces look awfully alike.

The Oscar winner for Best Lead Actress this year was Mikey Madison for her role in Anora. After offering the expected thanks to family, friends, and the film’s production crew, she thanked “sex workers” for inspiring the film, which told the story of a young exotic dancer and occasional prostitute caught up in a dysfunctional romance with a Russian oligarch.

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.

A full-fledged endorsement of an immoral and exploitative profession is especially strange in the post-#MeToo era. As Lila Rose of LiveAction put it,

‘Sex work’ isn’t ‘work.’ It’s destructive and evil. It preys on vulnerable young girls and boys. It is not empowering or liberating. It fuels trafficking and abuse.

In fact, the same could be said of the film itself and the actress herself. After all, Madison is a real person whose body was exposed to the world. She was paid for it. Does consent change that she is also the victim of exploitation?

At the other end of the cultural spectrum are Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are 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 this, some right-wing podcasters celebrated when the U.S. government pressured Romania to release them from prison where, since 2022, they’ve faced charges of sexual assault and trafficking of women.

In an alternative form of the same twisted logic that celebrates the exploitation of women by calling it empowerment, the Tates are defended for countering woke, anti-male culture by being awful men. Hopefully, their U.S. publicity tour will be cut short by the Florida Attorney General, who has launched a criminal investigation into the brothers.

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