"I was utterly shocked to see young girls just a bit older than my daughter in sexually suggestive poses," said Pecknold.
"But my moral revulsion at what can only be the normalization of pedophilia only increased when I realized the producers claim to be criticizing the sexualization of children by, in fact, sexualizing children," he added.
The director of the film, Maimouna Doucouré, said that she was inspired to make Cuties after noticing that some "very young girls" had hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
"There were no particular reasons [for the number of followers], besides the fact that they had posted sexy or at least revealing pictures: that is what had brought them this 'fame,'" she said in an interview in August with CineEuropa.
"Today, the sexier and the more objectified a woman is, the more value she has in the eyes of social media. And when you're 11, you don't really understand all these mechanisms, but you tend to mimic, to do the same thing as others in order to get a similar result," she said.
She told CineEuropa that it is "urgent" that this matter be discussed, and that she thinks "a debate be had on the subject."
Pecknold disagrees that "Cuties" is the proper way to conduct a discussion on anything.
"This is a rationale that only Jeffrey Epstein could love," he told CNA.
Christine Rousselle is a former DC Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. Prior to working at CNA, she was the managing web editor of Townhall.com; she has a BA in political science from Providence College.