Thread by @solomonsucceeds

One thing I want to say to skeptics of #Cuties who are basing their judgement off how exhibitionist the dance moves are in it, especially in the final competition performance scene, is that while it can be okay to draw boundaries for kids wrt exhibitionism, 1/12

there will be instances where girls cross lines adults don't want them to cross, and there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to rebuke them; it is inappropriate to let boys/men feel entitled to exhibitionist girls'/women's bodies which, like all girls'/women's bodies, 2/12

boys/men do not have dominion over! Dance and sexual relationships have features in common, but not all of the body language that can be seen in both should be seen as explicitly sexual in all instances. While I believe that explicit sexual exhibitionism can occur in dance, 3/12

such as in Cuties, I also believe that it is entirely unacceptable to put the onus on girls and women to avoid becoming victims of boys and men who think perceiving a performance as sexually exhibitionist entitles them to sexual encounters with the performers. 4/12

I believe the girl actresses who made Cuties are willing and able messengers telling society that women and girls are going to keep moving their bodies and dressing in ways that men and boys think entitles them to sexual services, but that gives boys and men no right to 5/12

continue thinking like that. And that is a societal problem Cuties challenges us to address. There is another message in Cuties that Western culture, social media especially, gives girls ideas about gaining freedom, popularity, and status through sexualizing themselves, that 6/12

aren't healthy or safe. Within this message is the assumption that Western culture values girls and women too much for their bodies and too little for their skills, talents, intellect, ethics, personalities, or tastes. By making Cuties, Doucouré challenges us to think 7/12

about how we can teach boys & men to value girls & women as whole beings. It challenges us to think about how we can teach boys & men that they don't have dominion over girls' & women's bodies. I believe the girls who made Cuties know that they are sending these positive 8/12

messages into the world and as they grow older, I believe they will come to understand these messages more. I also believe that if you interview them in 10 or 15 years, they will not look back on making Cuties as an abusive experience. I am less confident they will not be 9/12

traumatized by all the slander of Maïmouna Doucouré, however. "Your director and parents forced you to make child porn to send the message that sexualization of children is bad, but you only succeeded in making porn for pedophiles and every adult who made this film 10/12

possible, including your parents, should be locked up and Emmanuel Macron should throw away the key" is a seriously hostile message to send to kids over participating in sexually exhibitionist dancing for a movie with a message. One has to draw a distinction 11/12

between controlling girls' bodies for their safety and controlling girls' bodies in order to oppress them or in a way that perpetuates rape culture and misogyny. I make no exception for girl actresses' bodies! 12/12

#misogyny #Feminism #sexism #Dance #CancelCulture #girls #women