discussion about it is so poisoned that i'm not going to keep wasting my breath here, but it really can't be overstated how explicitly cuties condemns the exact culture of child sexualisation it's being accused of promoting, a culture that actually exists and should be called out

every inch of the film frames its sexualisation as a deeply negative result of a child's desire to fit in with the world around her. it's a culture that alienates her from her loved ones and makes her the prey of pedophiles, and her only hope comes from abandoning it entirely

the cynical campaign against it is no different from the shallow moral panic about joker a year ago, advocating state censorship as a response to being shown a world you know exists but would rather not hear about. it sucks, and it sucks to see people fall for it.

now go watch little miss sunshine because it makes a similar point and is slightly better

(I also need to point out the incredibly irony in people condemning this movie by sharing clips of it specifically edited to decontextualise the sexualisation from any critical framing, i.e. doing the exact thing netflix's terrible marketing team did)

sorry to keep adding, just want to respond to this point because I think it's worth addressing. the fact remains that what's shown in the film *is* what we see in competitive dance/cheer around the globe. it is the ordinary, and once again worth exposing https://twitter.com/theUSpopulation/status/1304820334873501703

I guess what ultimately frustrates me is that, of all of the massive multi-million dollar institutions set up to push young girls into these cultures, all of the condemnation is now being levied at the one thing specifically designed to present that as a negative thing