“All Hell Let Loose”  it’s an expression we use sometimes in describing something shocking, awful, instilling fear or danger, beyond one’s wildest imagination.  It could be an event which has passed down from one generation to the next and occasionally is a happening which enters the history books of some place/s at some point in time.   For me this describes what I read recently in the “Irish Catholic” 1^st October, 2020  issue by Jason Osborne.  The heading reads “Netflix’s ‘misunderstood’ film Cuties ‘misunderstands child abuse’  I maintain that Netflix (Internet Service Provider) as the platform hosts knew exactly what was contained in the movie – they were Not blind to one of the worst forms of pedophilic material.

Fr Shay Cullen, of the Preda Foundation in the Phillippines, describes it as “playing into the whole pedophilia-sex industry”  The film follows a group of 11 year old girls as they take to ‘twerking’ – a dance form generally associated with being sexually provocative.  The film also sees the minors discuss pornography and one taking pictures of their genitalia.  Netflix has come under criticism on other occasions for their movies but all pale into oblivion when they recently released ’CUTIES’    Cullen also warns that child abuse images are devastating children also.  An example he gives from the Philippines also received a case of three young boys aged 10 and 11 years old, sexually abusing a 6 year old girl.  They had been viewing these child abuse images.  Netflix are a distribution company – how did they not consider the surge of people asking for its cancellation?

The Senegalese-French director Maimouna Doucoure’s debut film describes it as ‘coming-of-age, comedy-drama’, which follows 11-year-old Amy as she experiences the tension between her family’s religious, traditional values and her contemporary enjoyment of the world and its seemingly unlimited freedoms.  The story sees Amy disillusioned with the Islamic faith her family professes, only to be tempted by her rebellious neighbor’s ‘twerking’ group called ‘Cuties’  Leaving old ways behind in favor of the new, she casts off the constraints of her family and takes to the sexually-provocative dance scene.

The Initial Controversy

While the initial controversy was over the poster which Netflix used in promotion of the movie; 11 year old girls scantily-dressed in sexualized poses, the latest controversy surrounds the content of the movie itself.  A clip which has circulated widely on Twitter since the movie’s release has shown one of the dance routines the girls perform and has been roundly condemned as “sexually exploitive” and “hypersexualized”.  The director of ‘Cuties’ insists that she is on the same side as her film detractors.  The critics claim that the film sexualizes children – she does too!!   Writing in the Washington Post, Ms Doucoure said:  “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 icons”  She claims that she made ‘Cuties’ in order to start a debate about the sexualisation  of children in society so that change might be made for the better!!  Is this issue best served by such an explicit visual presentation?  I don’t think so.

Such Graphic Content

A number of experts have had harsh words about the movie’s graphic content; Fr Shay Cullen through his organization in the Philippines (Preda Foundation) said “I think it’s another step of mass media sexualizing a form of child abuse and playing into the pedophilic-sex industry.   These are young children and it definitely promotes pedophilia and child sex tourism”   Is this not what we already see happening in Kenya?  Walk along any beach of the white sands of our Coastal towns and cities, it is there before your eyes – an ‘Mzungu’ (white person) tourist walking with a child/children, mostly girls but boys also.  Other countries who previously had a reputation as high sex tourist destinations like Thailand or Brazil have now put stringent regulations in place against child sex tourism so, pedophiles have turned to Kenya to abuse our children here.  This is not acceptable or have we turned a blind eye and say ‘Oh, yes but tourism is good as it brings in some badly needed cash to our economy’

As Kenyan society becomes increasingly progressive and heedless of former norms, things which were considered taboo in the past will increasingly come before the public eye.  Already many of these are rapidly finding their way especially to our youth on smart phones and use of cyber outlets.   We have definitely moved closer to the cliff edge, now we know that movies can be made of children who are coerced to bow down to the adults who lead, maybe force them into such a lowered level of their dignity.  At this young age they cannot give their permission for a dental procedure and the 11 – mid teenage girl is naturally reluctant to expose their genitalia but in ‘Cuties’ they are tricked into an exposure of their private parts which no doubt they will deeply regret in later life.  Sadly, wherever they go in life, this movie will follow them.   It may also accompany them to a much reduced sense of self-esteem and could potentially pull them along the route of self-harm or suicide.   This is a clear case of Human Trafficking – these girls have been lured – with what promises we do not know.  As children they cannot give informed consent and at the end of it all they are deeply, perhaps irreparably exploited.