Courtney Stodden criticises Euphoria’s sexualisation of child images with dummy snap as she says ‘this doesn’t happen by accident’

Courtney Stodden criticized Euphoria’s sexualization of images of children, citing an image of Sydney Sweeney’s character Cassie posing with a diaper and a dummy in her mouth.

The 31-year-old media star said of HBO’s widely criticized third season: ‘This is no coincidence; ‘written, approved, edited, filmed and published by adults’.

He said: ‘I’ve said almost nothing about it because it’s easier to stay silent and pretend it’s just television. But we grew. We know exactly what we’re looking at.

‘This doesn’t happen by chance. It is written and approved, shaped, filmed and published by adults. A grown man wrote it, and every step of the way other adults accepted it.

‘And we still call it art.’

Euphoria fans said some ‘disturbing’ and ‘misogynistic’ scenes in the third series, which aired on Monday, ‘went too far this time’ and made them uncomfortable.

‘We know exactly what we’re looking at,’ Courtney said on Instagram on Monday. This doesn’t happen by chance. It is written and approved, shaped, filmed and published by adults. A grown man wrote this, and every step of the way other adults accepted it.’

Euphoria fans have criticized ‘misogynistic’ storylines in the latest series, including scenes where Cassie, played by Sydney Sweeney, dresses up as a dog to film OnlyFans content.

There has been increasing criticism of creator Sam Levinson, as almost all of the show’s leading women now engage in some form of sex work or have been ‘abused and humiliated’ by male characters in the series.

In the third series, Rue (Zendaya) becomes a drug mule and gets involved in the management of a strip club, Cassie (Sweeney) makes money as an OnlyFans model and Jules (played by Hunter Schafer) works as a high-end sugar baby.

Courtney, who married 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchinson in 2011 at a Vegas wedding chapel when she was 16, said we needed to stop normalizing it as art or entertainment.

He said: ‘This isn’t about shock value. It’s about being honest, because it’s no coincidence that you repeatedly frame the innocence and fragility of youth through a sexualized lens.

‘This is perspective. And perspective really matters.

‘And the people who choose to participate in it also have a huge responsibility because what you agree to be a part of becomes what becomes normal.

‘And calling it art doesn’t take away the damage. It makes people feel more comfortable to just ignore it and think it’s okay.

‘And I have so much respect for someone like Zendaya. Someone who is conscious about what he aligns himself with and where he draws his line, because that’s important.

‘Because the things we normalize in entertainment don’t stay there.’

He continued: ‘It shapes how people think, what they tolerate, what they stop questioning, and I’m not interested in pretending it’s harmless because it’s not.

‘We grew up. We know the difference.”

Courtney said she was taken into care by her ex-husband Doug, whom she divorced in 2020.

Announcing her divorce, she said on Instagram: ‘During my almost 10-year marriage I was afraid to even talk about feeling groomed or being verbally abused because I was a child and he was 50 when we got married.

‘But I’m a woman now and it’s time for me to put on my big girl pants and talk about it. I felt completely trapped, manipulated, and sometimes abandoned by adults // I grew up in such an environment; ‘This has become a lonely and dark place.’

Courtney said that she was taken into care by her ex-husband Doug, whom she divorced in 2020, and that they married when she was 16 and he was 51 (taken in 2013)

Courtney is not alone in her criticism of the latest series of Euphoria.

Many people took issue with the ‘misogynistic’ stories, with one viewer summarizing her feelings about X: ‘Does Sam Levinson know there are other career paths for women other than sex work or…?’

They especially reacted harshly to the image of Sydney holding her pacifier in her mouth with her legs spread.

In one part of the teaser, the star could be seen wearing a sheer pink top and white bottoms.

Her curly tresses were styled into two ponytails, while a pink pacifier was placed in her mouth as she struck a suggestive pose on a yellow couch.

Social media users hopped on Reddit and

Another wrote: “Sydney girl, you can say no to scenes,” and one fan asked: “What’s the baby scene?” he wrote.

A fan on X wrote: ‘CASSIE COME HOME, what did they do to you???’ he commented. and another said: ‘What did they do to Cassie… she’s not even the same person.’

‘Why do they always do Cassie wrong?’ one shared and another added: ‘THEY MADE CASSIE DIRTY.’

One user X wrote: ‘WTF SYDNEY DRESSED LIKE A BABY??!!??!! I’M DISGUSTED DDDDD – EVERYONE IS IN PRISON.’

One also questioned ‘why was he sitting like that and why was he dressed like that…’ while another wrote on a typewriter: ‘I want to go back 10 seconds ago when I unfortunately didn’t see this.’

‘Dressing like a baby is crazy, this is so gross,’ one fan said of the trailer, and one fan wrote: ‘Cassie is about to cause chaos for 8 episodes.’

Sweeney’s character, Cassie, is introduced in the episode where she lives with her fiancé, Nate (Elordi), in a large suburban house.

She could be seen wearing a brown corset and tight bottoms as she posed for photos taken by a cleaner.

The star also wore dog ears on top of her head, as well as a collar and leash, as she posed for the racy photos. At one point, he pretended to be a dog, licking water from a bowl and biting a shoe.