{"id":3451,"date":"2019-05-30T18:56:54","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T18:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sexinreview.com\/main\/?p=3451"},"modified":"2019-06-05T18:56:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T18:56:52","slug":"unplanned-and-suburban-swingers-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sexinreview.com\/main\/unplanned-and-suburban-swingers-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Unplanned and Suburban Swingers Club"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It has been awhile since we have done any movie or television reviews. Here are a couple of recent productions that we felt were worth commenting on. Both distort reality and are not good movies, but it is useful to understand how both, in their own way, convey dishonest messages about sex, pregnancy and relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unplanned \u2013 in Movie Theaters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is less a movie and more a piece of vicious propaganda. I would compare it to the blood libel that has been used against the Jews. \u201cBlood Libel\u201d refers to a centuries-old false allegation that Jews murder Christians, most commonly Christian children, to use for various rituals. It goes all the way back to the Middle Ages. In Unplanned<\/em>, substitute Jews with Planned Parenthood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jewish connection is quite strong, as there have been many who\nhave called Planned Parenthood part of a Jewish conspiracy, so the\nblood libel comparison is quite dead on. Steve West, who easily won\nthe Missouri primary for the House and is best known for claiming\nthat Hitler was right, has also said that Jewish cabals are\nharvesting baby parts from Planned Parenthood and abusing children.\nHe even has a Youtube channel to promote his anti-semitism. His\nwinning bid in the primary reflects very poorly on Missouri\nRepublicans, as does their recent approval of a so-called heartbeat\nban (check out the Jeff\nBooth Show<\/a> to hear why this is pseudoscience.) My point here is\nthat antisemitism, homophobia and misogyny all seem to go hand in\nhand with being anti-choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main point of this film, supposedly a true story but of doubtful authenticity, is that Planned Parenthood is an evil giant corporation that pressures their workers to keep churning out the abortions, even if it endangers the women’s lives. They are in it strictly for the money. What you won’t learn from the movies is that Planned Parenthood is actually non-profit, and that abortions are a very small part of what they do. Even if the claim that they make most of their money on abortions (a dubious claim at best), they would still be plowing those \u201cprofits\u201d back into their other activities, like STD testing and treatment, birth control, well-woman exams, cancer screening and prevention, abortion, hormone therapy, infertility services, and general health care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The evil and imaginary corporate machinations of Planned Parenthood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The acting, production quality, script writing, and virtually\neverything else about this Pure Flicks production is slipshod at\nbest. It comes from the same people who brought us the truly awful\nGod is not Dead<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another reason to use the blood libel comparison (actually on\nsteroids) is all of the blood. They depict abortions in graphic\nbloody detail. Actually, most abortions are of embryos so tiny you\ncan barely see them. And yes, some are not pretty, but neither is a\nC-section or almost any other form of surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not know how much of this true story is actually true. The\nscience part certainly gets things wrong. I am willing to bet good\nmoney that a leader of Planned Parenthood never told the film’s main\ncharacter Abby that \u201cWe are paying you to be a perfect instrument\nof corporate policy\u201d or that she told her \u201cCongratulations, you\nhave made an enemy of one of the most powerful organizations on the\nplanet\u201d as depicted in the film. Planned Parenthood is not a\ncorporation, and they could only wish they had more power while under\nsuch horrific assault from enemies who repeatedly lie about them.\nAbby says of Planned Parenthood \u201cEverything they told us is a lie.\u201d\nI think she was saying that on opposite day, as this movie has no\nproblem with lying. In fact, without lying, I doubt the anti-choice\nmovement could even exist. It is their lies that get people riled up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with movies like this that are designed to enrage\npeople with false information is the same with Donald Trump and his\nlies about doctors executing babies after they are born. These types\nof allegations have and most likely will incite someone to commit\nhorrible acts in response to those lies, putting the lives of\ndoctors, volunteers, and women in general in danger. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directed and written by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Soloman, Cast:\nAshley Bratcher<\/em>\n(Abby), Brooks Ryan<\/em>\n(Doug), Robia Scott (Cheryl) Jared Lotz (Shawn), Emma\nElle Roberts<\/em> (Marilisa) \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suburban Swingers Club \u2013 Streaming on Lifetime<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the description: \u201cA young married couple makes a huge\nmistake by agreeing to participate in a secret swingers’ party in\ntheir suburban neighborhood, and soon both of them are being targeted\nby a jealous and homicidal neighbor. Dana Davis and Jesse Ruda star.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dana Davis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So we already know, swinging is bad and likely to get you killed,\nin the same way that having an affair can get you killed just like in\nFatal Attraction <\/em>(or at least\nyour bunny), or in the way that having sex can get you killed\nas in hundreds of teen horror films. If you veer out of the\ntraditional sex lane, you will die or worse. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This seems all so retro, but then again, it is the Lifetime\nchannel. I am more of a Hallmark channel person myself. Their stars\nare not such goody-two-shoes. It is a profoundly negative view of\nswinging, but it also gets almost everything about swinging wrong. In\nthat way it has a lot in common with Unplanned<\/em>. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a miscarriage, a young couple, Lori and Grant, moves into a\nnew neighborhood. The miscarriage has caused problems in their\nrelationship, and one of their new neighbors invites them to join the\nneighborhood swing club. In all my years of swinging, I have never\nheard of a neighborhood swing club. I did know someone who wound up\nswinging with a neighbor and that did not end well, but certainly not\nas badly as in this movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can think of one sort of neighborhood swing club, but it is\nlargely a rumor and quite unexpected. It has been said that in the\ntiny community of Celebration, Florida, swinging is very popular. It\nhas been referred to as a very incestuous community, but not the kind\ninvolving relatives. It is a planned pseudo-1950s community with fake\nice and snow at Christmas. It was built by the Disney Corporation as\na planned Utopian community in 1995 that is a blast from the past,\nwhich currently has some 11,000 residents. It reminds some of the\ncommunity in the Jim Carrey film The Truman Show,<\/em>\nand if they treat it like their rides, it has just as many cameras.\nIt is rather large for a suburban neighborhood swing club, but it is\nthe closest I can think of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They decide to try it, although in reality, going into swinging to\nresolve marital or sexual problems is generally a terrible idea. It\ntends to amplify both the good and bad in relationships. They did get\none thing right, though. Afterwards, they get very horny for each\nother and have passionate Lifetime rated sex. Things never get all\nthat steamy to be arousing. I am not even sure if the director has\never had sex or not, but she clearly does not understand lingerie,\nmade sadly obvious in the scene where Lori seduces Noah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noah is a swinger who becomes obsessed with her and begins\nstalking her, and this is where the movie becomes campy and turns\ninto another Lifetime men are evil polemic. To be fair (and here\ncomes a spoiler alert), it is a woman who turns out to be even more\nevil, but she is also a swinger, so, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dana Davis is beautiful but never seems happy in this film. I\nwould not be either if I were her. It is not very good. But I do like\nher as an actor, and I like that this is an interracial couple,\nsomething we need more of in Lifetime and Hallmark movies that tend\nto limit people of color to supporting roles (although that is\ngetting better).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One weird thing when I did a Google search was the many references\nand questions about this being a true story. It is not based on a\ntrue story at all, but this is how swinging is depicted, especially\non crime procedurals like Law and Order Special Victims<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did have a personal experience with murder in the swing\ncommunity. In 2002 there was the murder of a little girl, Danielle\nvan Dam, near San Diego. During the investigation, it was disclosed\nthat her parents were swingers, and the name of the swing club they\nwere members of got in the news. Swinging had nothing to do with it,\nit was a neighbor, but the publicity forced the club to close. I knew\npeople involved with the club at the time and it was a difficult\nsituation, mourning for a couple while worrying about all of the\nattention. The defense vigorously attacked the parents lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another real life case is the story of\nDavid and Joan Shannon. The prosecution claimed that their 15\nyear-old daughter Elizabeth murdered her adoptive father at the\nrequest of her mother, who had fallen in love with a new man at a\nswinger’s club. Joan Shannon was sentenced to life in prison, despite\nthe unbelievable notion that a mother would ask her 15 year-old\ndaughter to hire a hitman, and then demand that she d the shooting.\nThe daughter got over 31 years, and serving her sentence she has\nracked up over 30 offenses while her mother has served quietly. Some\nstill doubt that Joan was behind it, as her daughter had a long\nhistory of acting out and violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a case where a couple that\nmet at a swing club hired a hitman to kill the woman’s husband in\n2009. In 1982 a swing club owner in Bethlehem, PA was brutally\nmurdered by his business partner. In 2014 a home schooled Christian\n24 year-old fireman and his decade older lover in California murdered\nher husband. The couple had been involved in swinging but she met her\nlover at a Costco. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a shooting outside of a\nBaltimore swing club. Three people were injured but all survived. The\nclub had a spotless record for ten years up until then. They are\nstill open to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, there have been a handful of\nmurder cases connected with swingers in real life. Every single one\nof them had a more interesting plot than this movie. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the true stories have been\ncovered on true crime shows, and most fictional depictions of\nswingers in movies and on television tend to make things pretty\nnegative. That is rather unfortunate consider how wonderful swinging\nis for those who can adapt to the concept of non-monogamy, which once\nyou try it, feels very natural and normal. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directed by Jessica Jano. Cast \u2013 Dana\nDavis (Lori) Jessa Rudd (Grant), James William O’Halloran (Noah),\nElizabeth Leiner (Olivia) \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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