What Happened to Sex in Cinema?

Despite a streaming boom, which has more content distributors with permissive content boundaries than ever before, a new study finds sex in film has declined dramatically since 2000.

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A study by film data analyst Stephen Follows cited by The Economist that tracked sex and nudity in major live-action films — with each instance ranked on a scale from “none” to “severe” — found the level of sex content in cinema has fallen by almost 40 percent. The number of films with no sexual content at all has risen from 20 percent per year to roughly 50 percent.

On the other hand, some of the scenes that are shown in movies nowadays are more graphic than what was permitted in the past. Examples cited include erect penises (in movies like May December) and characters performing oral sex while their partners were menstruating (SaltburnFair Play).

Ed Morrissey

So it's gone down from broken-hydrant level to more like a firehose? Whatevs, man. The audiences don't seem to be responding to it these days, likely because they've grown pretty cynical about the use of sex -- especially weird sex -- to grab eyeballs. The streaming services especially have turned into porn platforms, with their escalating levels of kink attempting to chase jaded viewers for those productions still looking to use this strategy.

By the way, this article never mentions the #MeToo movement, but I'd bet that has had a big impact on this decline over the last few years especially. Female actors are getting tired of exploitation, and that's not a bad development for them ... and us. 

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