“Cuties” isn’t “Cute”

It’s the documentary that has single-handedly caused the stock of Netflix to plummet in a matter of days as people cancel their subscriptions in a boycott against the sexualization of little girls prominently portrayed in the trailer of the movie. People have roared their opposition to the sexualization of the 11 year old girls that are portrayed in the film (myself included) while others secretly lurk in the shadows whetting their appetites to the provocative messages found in this film. “‘Cuties’ is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. “It’s an award-winning film and a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up — and we’d encourage anyone who cares about these important issues to watch the movie.” I do care about the issues that surround young girls and the pressure they endure from social media and society, which is why I made the choice to watch this documentary to make an attempt to view it from the perspective of the people who say that this movie opposes everything it seemingly encourages in the trailer. Unsurprisingly, my opinion of Cuties being a truly demonic (I don’t use that word lightly) portrayal of sexualizing young girls is stronger now than it was before I watched the film. It not only encourages pedophilia through the costuming and dancing that these 11 year old girls imitate (which is similar to that of a Cardi B music video) but it encourages child pornography (sneaking into a boy’s room and attempting to take pictures of him while he uses the restroom), to wrongful accusation of a security guard that he was “groping” one of the girls when he was simply trying to grab her arm to ensure she didn’t run away after sneaking into a place she didn’t pay to get into. And then, in the same scene breaking into sexual “twerking” dance moves in front of the security guard to avoid getting into trouble for trespassing. It was later that the “protagonist” (again loose term) of the story, Amy, attempted to seduce her COUSIN to convince him to give her back the cellphone that she stole from him— only giving it back to him after she locks herself in the bathroom to take a picture of her bare lower region to post it to the internet and leaving it on her cousin’s phone for him to find later. To say this movie is all kinds of messed up is the understatement of the century, and I’ve only mentioned a few things of the countless violence, bullying, not to mention camera angles that very inappropriately enhance features of these young girls that will literally make your skin crawl. There is no empowerment. There is no happy ending. In the last 30 seconds, spoiler alert, she changes out of her provocative dance competition clothes into normal 11 year old girl clothes and jumps double Dutch with a smile on her face, as if she’s magically healed from her pain, anguish, feelings of not being enough, feelings that she’ll only be wanted if she shows off her body. This is not empowerment. This is child endangerment. We have to stand up. We have to speak out. Pedophilia is not a sexual orientation. This is evil, vile and we have to speak up. Children are not for sale. This film showed almost absent parents who communicated that these 11 year old girls were nothing but failures, constantly falling short, left to find attention wherever they could get it. They say it takes a village to raise a child, it does. It’s time to do better. Start with your voice.