Creator and critics of ‘Cuties’ want end to sexualizing children

The point of the French film “Cuties” — released on Netflix earlier this month — was to start a conversation on the sexualization of children, specifically young girls. The director wanted to tell a story, partly her own story, of a Senegalese family that moves to Paris, and the juggling of two very different cultures.

In the film, the lead character, 11-year-old Amy, is trying to balance the expectations of her family and her Muslim faith, with the desire to both fit in and stand out in what she sees as a new, exciting culture. What Amy finds is a group of girls her age who have formed a dance group (the Cuties) and are entering a competition where they hope to beat out older teen girls by copying the sexual dance moves, attire and attitudes they see on social media. In the end, the audience is appalled by the girls’ skimpy costumes and overtly sexual dance moves, and Amy realizes that she isn’t ready to express herself in that way.

“Some people have found certain scenes in my film uncomfortable to watch. But if one really listens to 11-year-old girls, their lives are uncomfortable. We, as adults, have not given children the tools to grow up healthy in our society,” the film’s director and screenwriter, Maïmouna Doucouré, said in The Washington Post.

Doucoré has been the subject of death threats, as well as calls for banning the film, canceling Netflix subscriptions and a Department of Justice investigation.

“I wanted to open people’s eyes to what’s truly happening in schools and on social media, forcing them to confront images of young girls made up, dressed up and dancing suggestively to imitate their favorite pop icon.”

Tiffany G. Townsend, an associate professor of psychological sciences at Augusta University, is a clinical psychologist and scholar whose recent work has focused on gender, gender identity, and gender-based vulnerabilities among African-american girls and women. She shared her insights on the film, the criticisms of it, and how young girls explore and understand their own sexuality. (This email interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

Q:

The controversy that has engulfed the film is focused on accusing it of engaging in child pornography and promoting pedophilia. While some scenes were very uncomfortable to watch, which I think was the point, I also didn’t recognize any of this in the movie. Was that your impression of “Cuties,” that it was engaging in child pornography and promoting pedophilia? What did you see in the film?

A:

I saw the movie as a poignant commentary on and depiction of the consequences that result from the sexualization of girls in today’s society. In 2007, the American Psychological Association released a report that detailed the objectification of girls and the impact of that sexualization on their mental health and functioning. For me, this movie was a vivid dramatization of the research and empirical evidence provided in that report.

Q:

Personally, a lot of the behavior the young girls displayed in the film felt familiar — the desire to be, look and feel older by mimicking what they saw older girls and women doing, particularly as it related to sexuality. How does what we see in the film compare to what you’ve found in your research over the years, as it relates to girls of a similar age and their sense of self, identity and sexuality? Have you found the behaviors in the film to be a common or uncommon depiction of what occurs in real life for girls this age?

A:

Research has shown appearance plays more of a central role in the evaluation of girls and women than their male counterparts. In other words, girls and women are more often judged based on their looks, which is thought to foster self-objectification in which girls may begin to believe that their self-worth is a function of their appearance and sex appeal. Given the strong connection between physical appearance and sexual desire in many media depictions of women, it is not surprising that young girls begin to associate media images that include strong sexual connotations with femininity and womanhood. I believe the adolescent girls in “Cuties” began to believe that their appeal and ultimately their power rested exclusively in their sexuality. Unfortunately, that is not uncommon among girls who have been exposed to these sexualized media images, but who have not been given sufficient guidance to help them analyze and appropriately filter those messages.

Q:

I also don’t want to ignore that “Cuties” features a young Black girl in the lead role, and we are experiencing the film from her point of view. Can you talk a bit about the role that race plays, if any, in the ways that girls experience and understand their own sexuality? And also whether race factors in to how people are discussing this film, its themes, and how people see the sexuality of Black girls, compared to the response to other similar coming-ofage films (i.e. “Thirteen,” “Kids,” or “The Basketball Diaries”)? A:

Certainly, girls and women of every race/ethnicity are sexualized and objectified through media images and have experienced sexual victimization. However, the legacy of slavery and the unique experiences of Black girls and women have produced distinct stereotypes and images that negatively impact the way in which Black girls and women are viewed and valued by others. In an effort to justify their victimization during slavery, Black women were often depicted as promiscuous. Remnants of this stereotype has mutated with time and can be seen in contemporary images of women, particularly Black women, which have very strong sexual connotations. Because Black girls are often perceived as more adultlike, many of the highly sexual images of Black women become associated with Black girls. Therefore, adult intentions are often ascribed to Black girls when they are simply engaging in normal developmental exploration.