‘Cuties’, a new film on Netflix, features hypersexualized 10 & 11year old girls with dance themes that groom youngsters for objectification in childification porn. It also emphasizes racial stereotypes that connect people of color to sexual exploitation. In 2019, Netflix developed the original teen series Sex Education that featured nudity and numerous explicit sex scenes. And its original animated comedy series Big Mouth followed a group of seventh graders who engaged in masturbation and carried “hormone monsters” on their shoulders. If Netflix is concerned about children and is aware of research outcomes(have they asked national experts to review materials that are questionable prior to release?), why did they develop these shows?
‘Cuties’ describes itself as an empowering story of a young girl(Amy) who defies her ‘conservative family’s traditions’ and joins a ‘dancing group’. It features explicit and erotic dance moves, such as twerking and gyrating accompanied by numerous, inappropriate views of little girls’ bodies. One scene shows Amy taking a picture of her crotch to send to her friends. In another scene, her pants are pulled down. The director, Maïmouna Doucouré, says that the film is a commentary on the negative effects of hypersexualization. That doesn’t align with a protective mindset for children. If you have a genuine concern about the hypersexualization of girls in adult costumes, choreography and music, why do you put children of 10 and 11 in a film that does to them what you say you are concerned about?
What are we accepting? ‘Cuties’ is another example of normalizing adult content for children. We see children as mini-adults effectively blurring the lines between childhood and adulthood. Behind the cultural media invasion (of child exposure to adult topics) is the powerful porn industry. For children, porn exposure introduces and then divorces sex from personhood(humanity). It parades children as objects instead of embodied human beings with a dignity that integrates mind, body and spirit. For developing boys and girls, the negative evidence-based outcomes of this kind of exposure are horrific: feelings of shame, appearance anxiety, eating disorders, low self-esteem, depression & anxiety, harmful beliefs about consent, relational dysfunction, and many others.
‘Cuties’ is soft-core porn. As adults, our culture has to decide what is most important: valuing & protecting children or making money at any cost.
