‘Cuties,’ pedophilia and why you should cancel Netflix
The new Netflix movie “Cuties” is not cute. Quite the opposite — it is grossly disturbing. My blood has been boiling ever since the release of “Cuties” and here’s why:
Children are sexually exploited in the filming of this movie, then exploited over and over again every time someone watches it.
It contains CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.
Pedophiles are having a heyday with it — think that’s an exaggeration? “Cuties” is now trending on porn sites.
It promotes normalizing pedophilia and the sexualization of children.
I’m sure at this point most of you have probably heard about the online outrage over Netflix airing “Cuties.” I’m glad there has been an outrage. There should be. High profile politicians like Senator Ted Cruz and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard are hammering Netflix for exploiting young girls and calling for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and determine whether Netflix, its executives or the filmmakers violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography. Rep. Gabbard tweeted: “@netflix child porn “Cuties” will certainly whet the appetite of pedophiles & help fuel the child sex trafficking trade. 1 in 4 victims of trafficking are children. It happened to my friend’s 13 year old daughter. Netflix, you are now complicit. #CancelNetflix”
I hope the DOJ takes the call for an investigation seriously. I heartily agree with Texas House Representative Matt Schaefer who stated in an article from Focus on the Family: “I don’t care what point the filmmaker is trying to make, the video of young girls in ‘Cuties’ is obscene and dangerous,” Rep. Schaefer said. “Someone needs to be in jail.” The article further explains that the graphic and highly sexualized content in “Cuties” appears to meet all six criteria in what is called the “Dost test,” a 6-factor test created by the Fifth Circuit to determine if images and videos are child porn. (Read full article here)
In case you have not read the more detailed reviews, I want to shine a light on how disgustingly horrible this movie is — and give a call to action.
Because we must act.
I get asked all the time “what can I do to help in the fight against trafficking?” Well here’s your chance.
Some might argue that canceling your Netflix subscription will not make any difference, but I disagree. Will Netflix listen and remove the show because enough people cancel their accounts? Who knows. But I don’t think that should be our primary goal here. The more important thing is that we refuse to fuel the demand for such vile content.
The reason child sex trafficking and child pornography exist is because there is a demand for it. People in our world WANT to consume it. And friends, at the accelerated rate our world is going, the demand is only going to get worse. “Cuties” is just the beginning. If Netflix aired this movie, what makes you think they won’t air another one like it, or one even worse??? They will. I GUARANTEE you they will if we don’t send a very loud message that we WILL NOT consume or support platforms that publish such content.
It’s time we put our money (or in this case, withdraw it) where our mouth is. If you are against child sexual exploitation, child sex trafficking and normalizing pedophilia, I want to encourage you to #cancelnetflix.
If you need further convincing, here are some snippets from the IMDb Parents Guide regarding scenes from “Cuties”:
*TRIGGER WARNING* — the following reviews are unfiltered and graphically descriptive.
SEXUALLY EXPLICIT DANCES & MOVEMENTS
Frequent scenes of explicitly sexual dances where 11-year-old girls are filmed licking their fingers, making seductive faces and touching their clothed genitals while the camera pans in and zooms in on the children's buttocks and midsections (both still in skin-tight clothes). Close up shots of children dancing with their leg spread above their head while camera focus on crotch area.
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
One of the girls dancing exposes her bare breast. Entire breast of minor is visible.
One child is doused with water while wearing a tiny tank top and teeny underwear that expose her butt cheeks.... child bounces as camera focuses on breasts and child gets on all fours and grinds pelvis into floor and twerks while camera films from behind with an up angle on child's mostly bare bottom and underwear in crack.
When caught with her cousin's phone, an 11-year-old girl locks herself in the bathroom, pulls down her pants and snaps a picture of her private area before publishing it online. No nudity is actually shown. However, The camera focuses on the child removing her jeans and her underwear and spreading her legs.
In the schoolyard, two little girls physically fight while others cheer and they remove a little girls pants exposing her bottom and tiny underwear - especially troublesome is the camera focuses on her bottom and people take pictures of her bottom.
PEDOPHILIA
In one scene, two grown men watch a child dance suggestively while other children encourage her...men look at her body and don't tell her to stop.
OTHER SEXUAL CONTENT
Four 11-year-old girls use one's laptop to access a cam site. The male on the other side is unaware but is disgusted as soon as he realizes it.
Children watch pornography on a cell phone. Nothing is shown, little girls are huddled around a phone and talking about what is going on.
Little girl does laundry with black leather pants on and teeny shirt as she dances suggestively, flips her hair, and is filmed from behind while the camera has a field day with the child's bottom.
An 11 year old girl finds a condom on the ground outside and blows it up. The girl then puts it under her shirt to pretend it's a breast. The other girls scream and yell at her about how gross it is to touch the condom. The girl at fault says that she didn't know.
To wrap it up, Kaeley Triller Harms states so well in her review of “Cuties”:
“The movie makers claim the film is a statement condemning the hyper sexualization of young girls, but that’s not at all the message I received from watching this movie. What I saw was hyper sexualization as a vehicle to freedom rather than a vehicle to further oppression. The ends of the exploitation justified the means. In short, it was worth it for the girl to degrade herself. Degradation is the price of freedom, so pay up already.
I saw little girls be sexually exploited in order to make a very weak statement supposedly condemning the sexual exploitation of kids. That doesn’t work for me.”
It doesn’t work for me either. Sure, I’ll miss my favorite Netflix shows. But it’s a very small sacrifice to make in order to ensure I don’t fuel the demand for the exploitation of children.
How can you fight against the exploitation of children?
Cancel your Netflix subscription and in the feedback “other” option put something like “The exploitation and sexualization of children in the movie Cuties".
Sign the petition to remove “Cuties” from Netflix here.
Donate to help us rescue and protect children from exploitation here.
Committed to the fight for our children,
Caitlin Crane
CEO
Letter from Senator Ted Cruz to the Attorney General regarding “Cuties.”