I Watched “Cuties” On Netflix and We Need to Talk About Sexualization
By: Shannon Ashley
Tags: Culture, Entertainment, Women, Equality, Sexuality

The first time I watched Cuties, I documented some of my initial thoughts on Twitter. What really surprised me was how few truly questionable scenes there were.

Me, on Twitter

It’s hard to say what I even expected from Cuties given all of the controversy. In a way, I suppose I expected to be appalled. At least a little bit. When people keep shouting about “sexualization,” I expect there to actually be a problem.

But the only problem I found was that the people opposing this film clearly don’t know what sexualization means. And they hadn’t even watched the film.

According to the American Psychological Association, sexualization occurs “when a person’s value comes only from her/his sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics, and when a person is sexually objectified, e.g., made into a thing for another’s sexual use.”

Why is sexualization such a problem? The APA says there’s been more than enough research evidence that shows “the sexualization of girls negatively affects girls and young women across a variety of health domains.” Those domains include cognitive and emotional consequences, mental and physical health, and sexual development.

When I watch Cuties (and I’ve seen it four times now), I don’t catch any sexualization. I understand this is hard for many other adults to grasp. But what I see are girls imitating the behavior they think makes them more grown-up.

People think that Cuties sexualizes the actresses because, Netflix bombed on the initial marketing, the kids often bare their midriffs and wear tight pants or short shorts, and they twerk or dance suggestively. It’s a problem when we decide that children’s bodies are inherently — and inappropriately — sexual. But that’s what’s happening among critics of Cuties.

You have to understand, and try to remember what it’s like to be eleven years old. You might need to imagine what it’s like to be an eleven-year-old girl. Young girls repeating the dance moves they see grown women perform isn’t sexual. A child’s stomach or butt isn’t suddenly sexualized just because she’s twerking. And children asking questions about sex is not sexual either. All of these things are just normal kid stuff. Does it make adults uncomfortable? Of course, because we know that their behavior could be misinterpreted.

Children rely upon the adults in their world and the culture(s) they live in to help make sense of themselves and the society around them. It’s our job to put sex and adulthood into context for them so they can move on and be kids. Part of our job is to be honest and move on too, rather than making them feel dirty or frightened.

VeryWellMind has a helpful primer for those who aren’t sure what sexualization means or why it’s so problematic. But to be fair, the sexualization of girls is a woman’s issue — something more than one man has tried to fight me about in all of this Cuties drama.

Furthermore, when we talk about the sexualization of girls and women, we need to be honest about what it is that we find offensive. When it comes to Cuties, it looks like folks are more riled up about the Blackness that’s front and center — whether they realize it or not.

After all, in every single conversation when I try to explain why I didn’t find sexualization in the film, somebody (often a white man) brings up twerking. Should we really be so offended by that?

It’s easy — and lazy — to decide that twerking is the sign of sexualization of kids. Yet the origins of twerking are decidedly Black and not sexual at all.

So, sure. While the eleven-year-olds here do some twerking and try to act more “grown-up,” the film never actually portrays these girls as sexual beings. It never sends the message that the girls’ value comes from their appearance or supposed sex appeal.

Just like rape is not sex, none of what’s happening in this movie is sexualization.

Also, as much as people have complained about the camera zooming in on the girls' butts (which, in my opinion, is both minimal and short), the viewer is never encouraged to see these girls sexually. If anything, we are constantly reminded that these are kids and we are not supposed to see them in any sexual light.