MovieChat Forums > Ma ma (2015) Discussion > The R-rating from the MPAA is SEXIST aga...

The R-rating from the MPAA is SEXIST against women


Its ridiculous that the MPAA/CARA recently gave the film "Ma Ma" an R-rating "for some nudity and sexual references". It only shows female NON-GENITAL NUDITY IN A NON-SEXUAL CONTEXT (breast exams mostly). You can bet if it was MALE non-genital nudity (buttocks) shown just as frequently in a non-sexual context, the film would have been passed with a PG-13 rating. If a man was shown topless instead, it could be given a G-rating, if there was no language or sexual context.

The one sex scene was very discreet and only had implied sexuality and showed nothing. There was no violence in the film. The language was the kind typically passed with a PG-13 rating. So they gave this film an R-rating, the HIGHEST functional rating that the MPAA uses, based merely on female NON-GENITAL nudity in a non-sexual context! That's totally ridiculous and discriminatory! Especially when the same motherfockers at the MPAA passed "Central Intelligence", which shows several scenes of male non-genital nudity (men's buttocks), with a PG-13 rating! Why do they allow male non-genital nudity to be passed with a PG-13 rating, but female non-genital nudity is slapped with an R-rating, even in a non-sexual context?

What about the "free the nipple" campaign?. What about women's push to be topless in public just like men? Its complete sexual oppression of the female body. The film makers should have APPEALED THIS RATING, and if that didn't work, then they should SUE THE MPAA FOR HAVING A SEXIST RATING POLICY. The R-rating limits the film's reach and audience, and will cost the film makers millions of dollars in lost revenue, and its especially offensive when the MPAA passes films that show similar amounts of male non-genital nudity with a PG-13 rating. The producers should SUE THE MPAA FOR DAMAGES based on the lost revenues of the film caused by the unfairly higher R-rating.

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Rated 12 in the UK, I beleive it's universal in France.
What is wrong with the US? This is shocking.

There must be done other agenda. The problem I see if they see any nudity as pornographic or dirty unlike in Europe.

It's going to be a very difficult thing to change, but we will have a go!

ITS TIME FOR THE MERKINS TO COME OFF, ITS TIME TO FREETHEVULVA!!
Please read my Bio.

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There seems to be some confusion about whether there are different international cuts of this film, since if you google search "ma ma nude cruz" (or whatever) with safesearch off, you'll quickly see a fantasy/dream sequence from the film where she approaches 3 full-frontal nude men. The clip also then cuts to a graphic artistic painting of a woman's genitals. (It's very easy to find the video clip of it online).

The thing is, the BBFC themselves make no mention of this in their 12A insight description - they only mention the medical nudity, same as the MPAA.

So I'm wondering whether the original erotic fantasy sequence (with the red curtains in the background) has been completely removed from the international version that the US/UK are seeing.

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There seems to be some confusion about whether there are different international cuts of this film, since if you google search "ma ma nude cruz" (or whatever) with safesearch off, you'll quickly see a fantasy/dream sequence from the film where she approaches 3 full-frontal nude men. The clip also then cuts to a graphic artistic painting of a woman's genitals. (It's very easy to find the video clip of it online).


Wow, I hadn't heard of that before. Are you sure it's not just a deleted scene? I thought I had seen the original cut of the film (the one shown in Spain) and I don't remember a scene like that.

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Just type in "penelope cruz ma nude" into google image search (with safesearch switched off) and it's the second link you'll find. I have no idea which version it's in.

I've seen people elsewhere say it was in the version they saw in Europe, so it all seems a bit odd. Normally, Spanish filmakers don't cut their own films in this way.

Perhaps by cutting it they were hoping for a PG-13 in the US? They succeeded in getting the 12A in the UK.

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Frankly I can't believe the OP is surprised. This is the U.S.--you can do almost any VIOLENT thing to the human body and get a PG-13...you just can't SHOW the human body (naughty bits that is), because that would be "dirty." It's stupid as hell, but it's ingrained in our culture.

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I agree completely. This movie is very life affirming, very positive towards women as the source of life, and giving it that kind of rating just reduces the number of people who will get to see it and enjoy its very warming message.

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[deleted]

I agree with your comments about rating - it's anti-feminist.

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