Sexy Baby

2012

1 hr. 23 min.

Documentary

List

70%

10 Reviews

Tomatometer

66%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Filmmakers Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus investigate a cultural shift in the sexual landscape caused by adult entertainment.

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Audience Member

Jill Bauer's and Ronna Gradus' debut documentary 'Sexy Baby' aims to show the effect readily accessible internet porn has on the elder, middle, and younger generations. The elder, retired porn actress Nikita Kash, is trying to start a family. The middle, assistant school teacher Laura, is in the beginning stages of getting a labiaplasty. The younger, privileged middle schooler Winnifred, is trying to keep her head on straight while dealing with sexualized culture and media. There's certainly no lack of interesting material here. Porn stars will always be fascinating, whether from an entertainment or psychological standpoint, and Kash is no different. It's particularly intriguing when her boyfriend (who works in the porn industry) is around and difficult subjects arise like their future if they can't have kids or their perspective on easily accessible porn as it relates to their own potential child. Laura's story is the saddest, yet oddly the least covered. Intimidated by guys talk about the unattractiveness of some girls' genitals, she decides to have a procedure called a labiaplasty. If you don't know what that is, you don't want to know, but it is also important that you do so you can get an idea of the kind of pressure women are under in their constant battle against image expectations--in this case due in large part to porn. Winnifred's story gets the most air time, which doesn't make much sense in regard to interest or perspective. Winnifred is a young, naïve (granted, not as naïve as most) mind dealing with a bombardment of sexual images and expectations, but she is also dealing with tons of other issues related to adolescence. So while you get to see some of her daily struggles and triumphs relating to the issue at hand, the amount of coverage she gets winds up showing a good bit of general teen angst as well. This results in the overall film taking on this kind of coming of age teen docudrama feel. It also makes the film feel unnecessarily long and muddled, but hang in there. It's worth it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Although I believe the filmmakers had good intentions, the problems I have with this documentary are not small. First of all, they're trying to smash deeply rooted cultural issues into an easily consumable hour and a half study sesh. If you're going to do that, maybe make your scope a bit smaller. Not only that, but they continue to put the pressure to be respected and taken seriously in society on the women--in how they dress and conduct themselves. Which ultimately caters to the reality that we're all still living in a man's world, and we're just a game piece. This is the exact opposite of female empowerment, which I genuinely think the film was trying to fight for.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One of the most hypocritical documentaries ive ever seen, Women portraying themselves as victims like always, Especially blaming the porn industry for their way of dressing and acting in public when in reality its just the new world we live in where women are out of control because theirs no one to tell them how to dress or act, its the times of freedom to express themselves the way they want and no man can tell them how to dress blah blah blah, this is your own undoing ladies!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Reasons to never have children...

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

Moms of young women should watch this and worry about media influences. It's changed so much since mine were 13!?!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This shows of how cultures is going to diverts people's lives to the worst mistakes of their lives!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

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Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

This raises more issues than it can possibly consider in depth, but the filmmakers' ambition is admirable, as is their refusal to draw simple conclusions about any of the subjects.

Jan 22, 2013

Full Review

Ronnie Scheib

Variety

Unevenly structured, the segments differ greatly in length and relevance.

Oct 22, 2012

Full Review

Sheri Linden

Los Angeles Times

The reality-cable-style approach tends to overstay its welcome and lessen the impact of each portrait, especially when it comes to New Yorker Winnifred's teen dramatics.

Rated: 2.5/5

Oct 19, 2012

Full Review

Brent Simon

Shockya.com

An inquisitive and engaging documentary that attempts to sift through shifting mores and the sexual saturation of mass media, to determine the toll this seeming increase in titillation is taking on America.

Rated: B-

Dec 12, 2012

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Betsy Bozdech

Common Sense Media

Provocative docu questions media's impact on girls' image.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 7, 2012

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Jennifer Merin

About.com

Hopefully those who see the film will find it one that stimulates serious discussion about women and the pressures they face regarding sexuality, and that it doesn't wind up as yet another source of titillation for voyeuristic viewers.

Oct 24, 2012

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Synopsis

Filmmakers Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus investigate a cultural shift in the sexual landscape caused by adult entertainment.

Director: Jill Bauer, Ronna Gradus
Executive Producer: Abigail Disney
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 18, 2016