The "Cuties" Thread

[ceecee]

I am a bit saddened people just kind of want to bicker and make this solely about pizzagate and not at the overarching issue at hand just because "redpillers" grab it. There's no real discourse we're having anymore, just needless bickering that adds nothing to the discussion.

I would like it if all the people screaming about child abuse actually gave a shit about children being abused and not some fashionable documentary to be outraged at.

 

[Riva]

Since the discussion in this is ongoing between multiple people & idk who to quote, I’ll just make this a general post not directed at any one specific participant of the discussion:


I haven’t watched Cuties yet. I read some bits of the plot & thought, didn’t Little Miss Sunshine try to depict the creepy hypersexualization of children in a somewhat similar fashion? The pageant scene made me cringe a lot, but the stark contrast between the pageant kids & Olive really drives home how creepy that whole ‘industry’ is, & how early on girls are encouraged to act in a sexual manner.

As a survivor of sexual abuse [from age 9 to 11] (& only speaking for myself, not other survivors) —around the same ages the girls in Cuties are— the *portrayal* of the exploitation of kids doesn’t offend me, particularly when it’s making a point. Is it uncomfortable? Sure. It makes my skin fucking crawl. Will it upset people? I hope so. It should upset people. It should make them recoil & feel something.



There is a difference between portrayal & approval/support of something terrible like this, I think.



We ardently consume media where adults are violently raped on shows like Law & Order: SVU (one of the longest running series on TV, mind you), sometimes even sexual situations with minors are described in unpleasant detail— by child actors. We gorge ourselves on all manner of violence in the arts— domestic/foreign terrorists, gangs, & assholes all sorts batter, shoot, & blow themselves & bystanders to bits in movies. We relish in superhero vigilante justice. We’ve got Family Size Buckets of torture porn like Hostel & Saw you can feast your eyes upon for days at a time. We devour scene after scene of mindless violence for sheer entertainment— not always even remotely for any educational or social value, or for the betterment of society. Just for fun. Hell, I love horror novels & films. I’m not knocking it.


...But a potentially accurate depiction of sexualizing children is hard to swallow?
Think about that.



Again, I haven’t seen Cuties yet (I will try to tomorrow), & if there is toplessness of minors involved, yeah, that crosses into demonstrating vs portraying, & I’m not comfortable with that, since it does inherently expose minors in a way they aren’t old enough to consent to being exposed (however, some cultures don’t consider breasts sexual— wasn’t that what the Free The Nipple Movement was about, in part, at least?). But then again— don’t we have prepubescent topless female babies in diaper commercials? No one bats an eye. If you think pedophiles don’t pleasure themselves & fuel their sexual fantasies with those, you’re in serious denial.


Ultimately, I guess I’ll need to see this sort of thing in context first. But this is my general opinion when the masses are offended by such things ( another example: The Professional sparked some outrage when a young Natalie Portman played a guessing game with an adult— At one point, after doing several celeb impressions, she donned a giant set of panties & bra [over her clothes] to imitate Madonna. A lot of folks freaking lost it). Little girls do this stuff & don’t always see things the way adults do. I think it’s important to be aware of this, & not pretend it doesn’t exist.



I’m no authority on any of this by any means— just sharing my own perspective on the topic as a whole. If my wording sounds absolute, it’s just the shade of my own subjective emotional experience & not necessarily an assertion of fact or judgment on others who may not agree. Take it or leave it.

Most countries have banned rape porn movie production - which had been a thing.

I doubt the shows you mention show any rape scenes. Bits and pieces to indicate the violence maybe. Even still they show those scenes in an extremely negative light and with the indication of pain and suffering they go through.

Rape porn though would indicate the pleasure of the abuse.

This seems like temptation and the show you mentioned show the ugly unpleasantness of it.

With regards to the other violence you mentioned - people know the repercussions of those; they also know the repercussions of child abuse, but child abuse is much easier to get away with that the other crimes you've mentioned. Children don't often say when they are abused.

 

[Red Memories]

I would like it if all the people screaming about child abuse actually gave a shit about children being abused and not some fashionable documentary to be outraged at.

This now can be a fair additive of how "outrage culture" etc. does not actually fix the overarching issue. Rather than actually doing something about the real issue they get upset about a media representation of a growing problem. I do recall making asking for commentary about the MAP community in general previous to this, but the topic of Cuties happens to be the one that offered me a chance to open a greater discussion on the growing issue of young children and growing vulnerability online. I do not see this solely as a discussion on a movie, I tried to branch the questions out to create more of a discussion about growing issues represented by this movie. I would prefer to see people get less angry at artistic depictions and more angry that an artistic depiction is created because we allow that sort of thing or culture to exist and somehow find it okay but don't find this okay. But as asked: what is a solution?

Sadly the ICE camps make me think of those Stanford Prison Experiments, as does many things, you give someone heavier authority over people and they often grow hungry of power and abuse it. That is really why less authoritative means would be a better end to reaching goals. Of course this sort of thing won't matter for a murderer, because you know, a sociopath doesn't care, but most normal people need intervention not suffering. And no child should face trauma or abuse but sadly so many suffer in silence, afraid to ever say what happened. It saddens me when people take things like the Me Too movement as well and turn it into revenge on exes or destroying people rather than making truthful accusations because they deeply injure a cause that is so important. A raped/assaulted individual takes a stand to be questioned torn apart and halfway incriminated themselves when they're already in immense pain and blaming themselves. I don't blame people for not wanting to testify or go through with cases.

There is, indeed, a greater larger issue here.