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I wonder how much the Internet giving everybody access to instant and free porn of every variety imaginable has influenced our era of “no sex in movies please, we’re Hollywood.” Perhaps sex scenes in big movies were more marketable in the days when there was a far more restricted smut supply?

In other words, maybe US movie goers are more willing to tolerate or overlook sexless movies (thus making them easier to sell in China and other nations), since they can now see porn with basically zero friction

The other fascinating aspect of this is that romantasy BOOKS full of explicit sex are also selling like gangbusters to women at the same time as big movies have become largely sexless

I am fascinated by the claim that another reason big movies don’t really have sex in them anymore is because people find it more awkward than they used to to see sex scenes on the big screen in a theater or watching a movie with family. Idk if there’s any data on that though

And I mean I personally AM someone who doesn’t enjoy sex scenes in movies much but I do think they have a real place in art

maybe there’s also more expectation now that an actual movie you see in a theater (an increasingly rare outing) should be a Family Event, which necessarily precludes explicit sex…but not serious gore, for some reason

meanwhile TV (which people tend to consume via streaming in more private settings) still has quite a lot of sex, so man idk

I don't like either but I'm generally more willing to see gore in a movie in public because I know my honest reactions to gore will be socially acceptable

If i see something sexual I find attractive or repulsive or I've got to calibrate my response carefully for a number of things if I want to be honest, and also I start immediately going on internally about gender analysis, gaze, etc. I've got to think. And if it's not sexy or disgusting I'm bored.

I do think a lot of sex scenes in older movies are basically porn that’s pretending it’s not porn. And so a combination of regular porn being more available and changing morés around how women should be treated have eliminated those scenes, and nothing has yet replaced them

Like a lot of movies from say the 70s are barely disguised wank material for the director. And because men are what they are, it was possible to receive studio backing to make such things. Or have you seen Leon: The Professional lately? I genuinely think it’s CSAM.

So while it’s true there are prudish corporate and political interests that need to be defeated, it’s also true that there needed to be a purge. And the work needed to prevent another Weinstein might also temporarily and inadvertently prevent another Bound.