by Mike James

A recent movie playing on Netflix called Cuties has caused some controversy. Politicians expressed outrage, newspaper, radio and internet sites all commented. The director of the film, Maimouna Doucoure, said she was inspired to make the movie after she was shocked at a dance recital for young girls that seemed to sexualize them. This incident led her to begin researching social media and the pressures on young girls today.

Doucoure said, “I believe that cinema, and art in general, can change the world. We are able to see the oppression of women in other cultures. But my question is, isn’t the objectification of a woman’s body that we see in our Western culture not another kind of oppression?”

The movie focuses on an 11-year-old girl named Amy trying to figure out what it means to her to be a woman in an era of TikTok celebrities and viral fame. Like the director, Amy is the daughter of Sengalese immigrants living in Paris. Amy is frustrated by her mother’s failure to take control of her own life. Amy meets a neighbor girl named Angelica who is involved in a dance troupe called “Cuties” and they dream of winning a dance competition with some other girls. The girls design increasingly risqué routines by copying what they’ve seen on their phones. The girls don’t have the maturity to know what their moves look like to the audience they dance for. 

The director of the movie goes on to say, “The stories that the girls I spoke to shared with me were remarkably similar. They saw that the sexier a woman is on Instagram or TikTok, the more likes she gets. They tried to imitate that sexuality in the belief that it would make them more popular. Spend an hour on social media and you’ll see preteens—often in makeup—pouting their lips and strutting their stuff as if they were grown women. The problem, of course, is that they are not women, and they don’t realize what they are doing. They construct their self-esteem based on social media likes and the number of followers they have.”

“We, as adults, have not given children the tools to grow up healthy in our society. 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. I wanted adults to spend 96 minutes seeing the world through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl, as she lives 24 hours a day…. People often ask me about the oppression of women in more traditional societies. And I always ask: But isn’t the objectification of women’s bodies in Western Europe and the United States another kind of oppression? When girls feel so judged at such a young age, how much freedom will they ever truly have in life? And that’s why I made ‘Cuties’: to start a debate about the sexualization of children in society today so that maybe—just maybe—politicians, artists, parents and educators could work together to make a change that will benefit children for generations to come.”

I have a daughter who is 12 years old right now. Believe me, I’m no expert on 12-year-old girls, but with my limited experience some of what the director is expressing here is very profound. 

I have heard my daughter begin to make comments about her appearance in the last couple years. It is not a big deal for her yet, but it is interesting that this is the age range 11-13 when girls begin to change physically. As parents we need to make sure we are communicating with our kids on a regular basis. If you hear your young daughter having a concern about her body image you need to make sure she understands it is not something to worry or fret over. As parents we also need to be thinking about what our young girls are using to form their opinions around.  

When I was growing up there were no cell phones or internet. Today’s kids are growing up with the ability for images, videos and opinions of others to overwhelm them. My daughter still does not have a cell phone, but she does have access to a computer. As parents we need to have an awareness of what our kids are seeing, reading, and hearing in order to filter things they may not be able to understand in a proper context.

Proverbs 22:6 teaches us as parents to stay connected and be a teacher to our children. With so many more influences today this job is so much more important and difficult. Ephesians 6:4 also advises fathers not to provoke their children. So how we approach and communicate with our kids matters too. 

I have not seen this movie nor do I plan to, but I believe the director is on to something. We focus a lot in the West on how women and girls in Islamic nations are repressed and mistreated, but the freedoms provided in the West can also be negative influences on our young girls and women. Let us make sure as parents we stay focused on our kids and continually communicate biblical principles to them. 

Sources: “Netflix Cuties Controversy Explained,” by Isabela Birdie deLeo, Yahoo Live, September 15, 2020, https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/netflix-cuties-controversy-explained-180030677.html.

“I Directed ‘Cuties.’ It’s a Story About Real Modern Girlhood.” by Maimouna Doucoure, The Washington Post, September 16, 2020.

“’Cuties’ Is Hard to Watch, but It Deserves To Be Seen,” by Monica Hesse, The Washington Post, September 18, 2020.