WASHINGTON — Congressman Vern Buchanan today denounced the Netflix film “Cuties“ that sexualizes and exploits young girls.
Buchanan’s criticism of the French film comes on the same day he is introducing legislation in Congress to ban the sale of lifelike child sex dolls used by pedophiles. Buchanan’s bill, called the CREEPER Act 2.0, is modeled after a Florida law.
“We need to stop catering to predators and start paying more attention to protecting children,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan said his bill was in the works before he learned of the Netflix film’s release last week.
“A film that shows girls as young as 11 engaging in highly sexualized dance routines is inappropriate,” the congressman said. “I support artistic expression in film but this is exploitative, dangerous and borders on child pornography.”
Although the film’s creators claim it is a social commentary, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation also criticized the film as exploitative.
Buchanan said the film could have made it’s point without placing these minors in sexually suggestive poses and situations. “You can’t say you’re making a movie that explores the topic of sexual exploitation of children by then sexually exploiting children.”
Buchanan has a long record in Congress in support of child protection. He has introduced and cosponsored bills to combat human trafficking, a crime in which half the victims are children and he passed a sweeping foster care reform bill endorsed by the Children’s Defense Fund.
His newest bill, the CREEPER 2.0 (Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots) Act would ban the sale, possession, importation and transportation of sex dolls resembling children. The original CREEPER Act introduced in Congress in 2017 banned the transportation and importation of child sex dolls but languished in the U.S. Senate. Buchanan's updated version adds language from the Florida law that also makes it illegal to sell or possess the dolls. Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky are the only states that currently ban the dolls.
Peter Fagan, a researcher from John Hopkins School of Medicine stated that child sex dolls have a “reinforcing effect” on pedophilic ideation and “in many instances, cause it to be acted upon with greater urgency.”
Last week, Democratic State Sen. Lauren Book, D-Hollywood, who authored Florida's law banning child sex dolls endorsed Congressman Vern Buchanan's bill. She spoke with Buchanan about the issue and expressed strong support for taking the ban nationwide. Buchanan's bill, the CREEPER Act 2.0, would do just that.
Book said, "What happens when the doll is no longer enough? I support Congressman Buchanan's CREEPER Act 2.0 to expand the ban on the sale and possession of childlike sex dolls throughout all 50 states -- these dolls have no place in our communities."
Buchanan said he will work to get his bill passed before Congress adjourns for the year, but if that doesn’t happen he will re-introduce it in January.
