in support of the sex scene (issue 17)

The sex scene is an increasingly trepidatious subject. It shouldn't be.

On the weekend of the new year, I was lucky enough to see Poor Things not once, but twice. Yorgos Lanthimos’s newest film is absolutely insane, beautiful, mesmerizing, and totally unique. A Frankenstein story at its heart, the film is about Bella Baxter, a woman reanimated who is slowly rediscovering the world and what it means to be a person. Largely dealing with topics of femininity, agency, and struggles of being a woman, Bella must learn everything about herself all over again. Because of the film’s themes, Bella’s sexuality is extremely present throughout. On my second viewing where I saw it with my cousin in a packed theater, I noticed that the two couples on either side of us gasped and covered the screen with their hands during a few of the very explicit sex scenes.

Unfortunately, this was a stark reminder that sometimes Twitter discourse is not something that is exclusive to that app. A recent talking point in film circles has been sex scenes in movies and television. A growing number of people are coming out and saying how sex scenes are often unnecessary and do nothing to progress the story of whatever film or show. However, this very vocal group also includes a large number of left-leaning people as well, including many young queer people.

Listen, I can somewhat understand the criticism and disfavor towards sex scenes. I too have been watching a movie with my parents when we silently try to ignore the screen and this shared experience. I have been watching movies where someone decides to enter the room during the thirty second sex scene in a two-hour runtime. I will even play devil’s advocate and agree that sometimes, yes, sex scenes can be superfluous or even redundant, just clearly placed for the titillation of the audience.

However, I think that the sex scene, at least in modern cinema, is becoming increasingly important and the people who argue against their inclusions, especially the queer audiences, are asserting an opinion that is largely entering territories of conservatism and censorship. This is why I specifically highlight the group of young queer people advocating against the sex scene; by advocating for the censorship of sex scenes for comfortability’s sake, this line of thinking can lean into conservative territory for those who wish to support the domineering patriarchal, homogeneous, anti-queer rhetoric which is sadly growing in power by supporting the minimization of human sexuality and all of its diverseness.

When doing research for this piece, one of the first Tweets I stumbled upon was a reply to this Tweet which largely inspired me to write about this. The original tweet is very clearly engagement bait, banking on the large societal discourse persevering about the dreaded sex scene. The reply in question says “That entire movie is unnecessary.” Attached is a GIF of a scene from Brokeback Mountain. This is to say that sex scenes in movies are heavily being discontinued and condemned due to the fact that it seemingly makes people uncomfortable, especially queer sex scenes. I feel like as this topic becomes more and more discussed, people lose sight of how important it is today human sexuality in film.

The sex scene can be used in a variety of ways. In the standard narrative film that depicts sex, it is most successful when used to show connection and relationships between characters. It is a vehicle that can easily show power dynamics, feelings, and metaphors the film will use to carry its message. 

I can immediately call back to Poor Things and Brokeback Mountain. During most of Bella’s sex scenes with Duncan, her extramarital lover, there is a clear connotation between sex and power. Both enjoy sex, but Duncan only wants the sex to be exclusive whereas Bella has no problem seeking her own physical pleasure in others, which further strains their already futile relationship. This relationship between sex and man is very surface-level commentary on the expectations of gendered sexuality and power dynamics. In Brokeback Mountain, the sex scene is brief, but essential, aggressive, yet passionate. It is a reflection of the relationship between the two men and the brevity of their time together, yet their evident love.

I also think the sex scene is essential for movies in the context of the larger history of cinema. When the film industry began to be established in Hollywood, the scene was rambunctious, rowdy, and filthy. Journalists at the time reported on the deviance behind the scenes, yet audiences saw mostly pristine and cleanly made silent films. When Old Hollywood began its reign, sexuality crept its way onto movie screens. Pre-Code films never showed explicit sex, but there was present sexuality. Think of Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face, a young woman who was pimped out by her father flipping the script and using her sexuality to climb the ranks at a banking company. 

However, due to lackadaisical laws and rules in the Pre-code era, films could be edited by movie theater owners before screenings. This individual and demeaning censorship still remains a huge problem when it comes to audiences finding the truest version of older films. In fact, Baby Face existed only in its censored version for decades, which exists with omitted explicit sexual maneuvers and Nietzsche philosophy. 

In addition to theatrical censorship, the Code in pre-Code refers to the Hays Code which was established in the mid-1930s. The Motion Picture Production Code was a rigid but somewhat ambiguous set of rules set up by the industry to keep film sanitized, marketable, and lower censorship. Although many opposed the Code due to its restrictions on art, it was largely required in order to make any art at all. Films could not include graphic violence, profanity, and sexual perversion, which include all sex.

With the combination of censorship and the Hays Code, these Pre-Code films and their themes became disavowed. Films made during the peak of the Code utilized subtext and winks to the audiences to indicate this. The Code would eventually fall out of favor, with films slowly breaking down its staying power throughout the following decades. Sexuality was fully back in cinema by the 70s, when ideas around gender and sexuality were beginning to be explored on a societal level. These early films that explored these topics were essential in creating space for femmes and queer people on the screen, something that was severely restricted due to the censorship of the Hays Code.

This is personally why I find it mind-boggling that queer youth and left-leaning people are pushing against the depiction of sex in the media. Sex is only a single aspect of sexuality and restricting this opens the door for more restrictions of other aspects of those who are oppressed under a capitalistic patriarchal world. If there were no sex scenes in Poor Things, Bella’s story would have no ground, no stakes. Without the sex in series like Pose or Sense8, the queer community - not just the media’s figureheads of white cis gay men - would have nowhere to look for their representation which extends far beyond sex.

It is also worth noting that people’s discomfort with the sex scene seems to stem from its voyeurism. It is a private moment shared between two people. However, at their core, films in general are voyeuristic. We the audience are being inserted into a world where we can only watch passively. It is inherently spectatorship to watch alone in a dark theater or from the safety of your own home. By including sex scenes, they only add to the sense of voyeurism, because the audience is quite literally at their most voyeuristic. These scenes pull the audience as close and personal to characters as possible. 

The best example I can think of in recent memory is Oppenheimer, which was also mentioned in the engagement Tweet above. When in his security hearing, the lawyers press Oppenheimer about his affair with known Communist, Jean Tatlock, while his wife sits inches away. When he details the affair, the audience sees from Kitty's point of view Jean straddling him in the chair while they make eye contact. By including this, it shows not only Kitty’s heartbreak over her husband’s infidelity but also the fact that this affair which undermines her will forever be in history books. Her husband's sex life is now a matter of history, used to compromise his character. It is an act of unnecessary voyeurism of not only Oppenheimer’s character but his character. This is a minute aspect of the sex scene that often goes unnoticed and unaccounted for, especially in the age of streaming and Letterboxd where media consumption is excessive and constant. 

There is something particularly unsettling about the growing number of anti-sex scene notions on social media these days. For me, it feels like people are growing uncomfortable around sexuality as a talking point due to the swing of the pendulum towards radical right-wing thoughts as seen through both politicians and everyday people. Obviously, there are theories one could write about this, but that’s my very surface-level, easily malleable reasoning for this recent phenomenon. 

When executed correctly, the sex scene in any piece of media can be just as important, captivating, and essential as any other; it is the merging of people, the connection people share, an innate and extremely human action. The advocacy against it is redundant and often holds no ground. Pushing boundaries is natural with film because it has always been boundary-pushing. By advocating for the removal of sex scenes in movies, I fear the push for total removal of sex scenes could lead to even more censorship of what makes us humans, for better and for worse. 

Film should not always be easy to watch nor should it ever meet the audience where they are. It should stand on its own merit and say something with every painstakingly detailed frame. So, if you get uncomfortable with Emma Stone fornicating with a man who will never love her, your question should be internal: “why does this make me uncomfortable?” It will undoubtedly lead to better conversations than, “This should not exist at all.”

Major thanks to fellow writer and forever bestie Leah for proofreading. Love you girl. Go follow her Substack if you haven’t yet.