It’s beginning to get really boring by now. Yet another film. Yes, another film that depicts a poor young Muslim girl that finds her liberation through taking off her Hijab. Netflix’s upcoming release “Cuties” is anything but cute. Directed by Maimouna Doucouré (Dookooekh), the film tells the story of an 11-year-old girl raised in a traditional Senegalese family in France. She befriends a group of wayward pre-teen dancers and begins to explore her sexuality as she unshackles herself from the chains of her Islamic values.  Despite the heavily overused Islamophobic storyline, the trailer promoting the film, which has now reached over a million dislikes, showcases all kinds of sexualised imagery of pre-teen girls in skimpy clothing and suggestive poses. The original poster used by Netflix to promote the film was also just as shocking. Thankfully, the film was swiftly met with public outrage and hefty criticism for its outrageous exploitation of vulnerable children. A petition calling for the film’s cancellation has also worked up almost 600,000 signatures. In response, the raunchy poster promoting the film has since been pulled down and Netflix has apologised for using “inappropriate artwork”, stating “It was not OK”. You don’t think? But nevertheless the billion dollar enterprise went on to praise the film for winning a sundance award, as though that somehow makes everything better, while expressing no intention of halting the film’s release. Which pretty much renders their entire apology meaningless, considering the full film which features “close-up crotch shots of pouting pre-teens” is really no better than the poster itself. Maybe, just maybe the poster was nothing more than a marketing ploy in and of itself? Astoundingly, the Producers of the film, have also tried to justify the film by reassuring us that ‘Cuties intended audience was actually for adults. I’m sorry…what kind of an adult enjoys gazing at children twerking in skimpy clothes? I’ll tell you… probably ones that are found in prison.  Colouring child-pornography with phrases such as ‘11 year old trying to explore her feminity.’ with pre-teens running through the streets waving lingerie; does not make this liberating at all, rather something that would have been featured on Jeffrey Epstein’s playlist.  The entire ordeal has left most of us wondering, where do we draw the line between freedom of art and child exploitation? It’s no secret that despite the intended messages of the film, the imagery contained within the film should not be in the public domain accessible to all kinds of perverted individuals. The imagery is borderline child-pornographic and by all means should be censored. Imagery which would have otherwise only been found on the dark web and subjected its viewer to a hefty prison sentence, should not be freely available on Netflix. Not only is such content putting the lives of vulnerable children at risk, but it’s also ramping up the sexualisation of our children today. Not allowing children to be who they are, children. But in all honesty, in today’s liberal society with principles and values that fluctuate sporadically by the day, we are only going to see things worsen. In fact, this isn’t the first time Netflix has been called out for streaming child-pornography and I sure don’t think it’ll be the last. The movement to normalise child-pornography and the sexualisation of minors is well underway, and pedofilia is already being labelled as an alternative sexual orientation. As Muslims and even for those concerned non-Muslims, we should stay aware and vigilant of the dangers that surround us. We should nurture environments in our homes that protect our loved ones from potential harm and dangers. We should review all content that comes onto our screens before allowing our children access. As for me, and my children, we’ve decided to unsubscribe from Netflix and I highly encourage you to do the same. May Allah protect us all.