ABSTRACT
This chapter examines an incident in the peripheral Dutch municipality of Rucphen that raises questions about the limits of Catholic control over cinema audiences, with specific regard to the regulation of gender relations inside the cinema theater itself. Even though many institutions in the daily life of Dutch Catholics were subject to gender segregation, such as education, sports, club life and religious life, the separation of the sexes in the cinema was not considered a viable option by Dutch Catholic policymakers. Although a wide variety of measures were taken by Catholic authorities to discipline movie going audiences, the separating of the 'sheep and the goats' was evidently considered to be a bridge too far. In summarizing this chapter on Catholics and cinema in the Netherlands, it is important to note that the measures taken by Catholic policymakers focused on centralized censorship regulations, after the failure of Catholic film production, distribution and exhibition on local and national levels.
