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.
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 (Saltburn, Fair Play).
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