{"id":269709,"date":"2020-09-24T03:01:34","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T07:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=269709"},"modified":"2020-09-24T08:36:23","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T12:36:23","slug":"netflixs-cuties-ignites-the-wrong-debate-on-young-girls-sexuality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/09\/24\/netflixs-cuties-ignites-the-wrong-debate-on-young-girls-sexuality\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix’s ‘Cuties’ ignites the wrong debate on young girls’ sexuality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: Filmmaker Ma\u00efmouna Doucour\u00e9 (Photo: maimounadoucoure\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The outrage over Cuties<\/em>, the feature-length debut by Franco-Senegalese filmmaker Ma\u00efmouna Doucour\u00e9<\/a>, says a lot about how poorly we discuss youth sexuality. The film, originally called Mignonnes<\/em> in French, is meant as an indictment of the sexualization of girls by entertainment and social media.<\/p>\n

Instead, the film has become a target of vitriol by social conservatives, fuelled by violent QAnon conspiracies<\/a> of rampant child sex trafficking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The film follows Amy (Fathia Youssouf), an 11-year-old Senegalese immigrant to the impoverished banlieues<\/em> (suburbs) of Paris. Surrounded by purity-obsessed female Muslim elders and angry over her father\u2019s impending polygamous marriage, she befriends Angelica (M\u00e9dina El Aidi-Azouni) and joins her dance crew. Her new friends\u2019 sexual attitudes confound her much as do the conservative community to which her mother devotes herself.In the face of such unfounded hysteria, the impulse among many is to pooh-pooh the naysayers and praise the film. That\u2019s no better because the film has a lot of problems<\/a> that should be scrutinized. However, screaming \u201csexualization\u201d does not help get us to a place where, in Doucour\u00e9\u2019s words<\/a>, \u201cpoliticians, artists, parents and educators could work together to make a change that will benefit children for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tellement heureuse de partager cette belle nouvelle avec vous ✨💛 Mon long-m\u00e9trage Mignonnes fera sa premi\u00e8re mondiale au festival de Sundance 2020 🎉 Merci \u00e0 @bienoubienprod, merci \u00e0 toute mon \u00e9quipe, mes actrices, tous nos partenaires et tous ceux qui me soutiennent 🙏💕 @sundanceorg @bacfilms @francetelevisions @canalplus @mycineplus @le_cnc @iledefrance @nouvelle_aquitaine @unifrance @_.fathia._ @ilanahcg @miss_kfc_ @myriamhgt @medina_elaidi #maimounagueye #dembadiaw #mamadousamake #bassdhem @bilel.chegrani #Mignonnes_lefilm #cuties #worldcinemadramaticcompetition #sundance #sundancefilmfestival #robertredford #film #cinema #worldpremiere #realisatrice #womeninfilm #blackgirlmagic #yeswecan💪<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Maimouna Doucour\u00e9<\/a> (@maimounadoucoure) on

Last month, Netflix rolled out an advertising campaign for the film that many \u2014 including Doucour\u00e9 \u2014 rightly found objectionable. The ad featured four pre-pubescent girls in spandex hot pants and crop tops doing explicit dance poses. Some politicians, religious leaders and children\u2019s media advocacy agencies demanded the U.S. Department of Justice<\/a> investigate the production of the film. #CancelNetflix began trending.<\/p>\n

A legacy of the male gaze<\/h2>\n

Core to Cuties<\/em>\u2019 problems are the dance sequences. And there are reasons to be concerned. To help understand why, the work of feminist film scholar, Laura Mulvey<\/a>, and her concept of the male gaze<\/a> can help.<\/p>\n