NC-17 Rating aas Bad as X

As you may know, the Motion Picture Assn. of America recently (adopted the new NC-17 rating for adult films). . . . Don’t be fooled. It is still an X-rated film. It just has a new and misleading rating. By removing the stigma of the X rating, Hollywood is hoping that our local theaters and video stores will begin to book and rent pornographic movies, and unless we fight back, they will win.

According to a USA Today survey, (17 of 22) 11- to 16-year-olds who tried to get in to see an R-rated movie without being accompanied by an adult got in. These same children will also be able to get into an NC-17 movie.

NC-17 movies will be showing, not in an “adult” theater in a seedy part of town, but in “family” theaters where children go to see G, PG and PG-13 films.

On behalf of the children in our community, I urge you to contact your local theaters and video stores requesting that they neither book nor rent NC-17 movies. Impress upon them the seriousness of this issue, and make it clear that you will not patronize any theater or video store that shows or rents NC-17 movies.

JO GRANCH, Huntington Beach