Jenn Gannon considers why seeing a sexually contented woman onscreen is more taboo than witnessing men getting their faces torn off in action films
Every so often film Twitter will get itself into a lather about the need for sex scenes in movies, whether or not they are surplus to requirements or if they further the story in any way. Usually it is men that cry foul to this notion.
[restrict]Womens opinions are mostly left out of this conversation. We are eternally painted as Judd Apatow’s vision of the unimpressed nagging wife or misandrists foaming at the mouth like potential Loreena Bobbitts. Although perhaps women don’t have such a fully formed opinion on this subject because we have constantly been denied the opportunity of seeing female sexual fulfilment on screen.
Men have been treated to a conveyor belt of the best boobs and bits in cinematic history so much so that recently, on a popular film podcast, a male contributor stated that he had memorised the parts in a selection of blockbuster films where there is even a hint of a sex scene. A dubious boast and one that seems unfair in a world where 90 percent of pornography is based on male fantasies. A woman could probably do the same but mostly because when it comes to the portrayal of female sexual stimulation there are so few to choose from.
Men are notoriously lucky when it comes to any kind of sexual content in film. Blow jobs are ubiquitous. If you grew up in the 1980s you were treated to the teatime delight of seeing various SNL alumnus in cars, in boardrooms, in bedrooms, in classrooms having dalliances with anonymous ladies who disappeared from view at a certain point of the proceedings. The Porky’s generation ruled the mainstream comedy so it was a common occurrence to see the suggestion of the beautiful Beverly D’Angelo chowing down on Chevy Chase whilst you were negotiating your sausage and chips. Later on in the 90s you could watch Ace Ventura swing from the rafters in ecstasy as a lady ‘thanked’ him for rescuing her pet. Then there’s the children’s birthday party fave Grease with the lads making crude gestures and singing about ‘pussy wagons’ and chicks creaming themselves. They weren’t talking about a melting block of HB that’s for sure.
As girls we were starved of any kind of representation, our nether regions never received the same kind of attention. Can you imagine Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman gently laying Sigourney Weaver’s Dana Barrett on the bed and then retreating beneath the covers as the camera lingers on her satisfied visage (because I have)?
Cunnilingus has always felt taboo. There is still an abiding sense of secrecy and therefore shame surrounding it, which only adds to young girls insecurity and uncomfortable feelings around such a pleasurable experience. Even the onscreen implication of it could get a film slapped with an NC17 or X rating in America. Seeing a contented woman onscreen is more dangerous than witnessing men getting their faces torn off in action films.
The Motion Picture Association of America were less concerned with Jason Bigg’s character literally plunging his penis into an apple tart in American Pie and more upset about the scene where Kevin performs oral sex on his girlfriend. American Pie for all its masculine bawdiness was one of only a handful of mainstream films that even attempted to reference cunnilingus.
Growing up you had to use a certain amount of artistic license and imagination – daydreaming over subtleties like Christian Slater in a slashed blouse in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Keanu Reeves’ goofy good guy in Parenthood, what could Johnny Depp do sans ScissorHands? Martin Brest’s turgid romantic drama Meet Joe Black is remembered by the majority of the viewing public mostly as the film where Brad Pitt gets monstrously pummelled by two cars or as the one where he does an ill-advised Jamacian accent but for some it is a sexy touchstone.
Critics slammed Brest’s overly long and lingering shots of the actor, who at the time was at his peak himbo-Robert Redford prettiness, a handsomeness that seemed extraordinary. These same critics didn’t complain when Chuck Russell’s camera lustily drank in every inch of Cameron Diaz’s bombshell body in The Mask. Meet Joe Black truly seizes on Brad’s beauty in an unabashed way and we have Brest to thank for the scene where Joe’s appetite becomes aroused as he enjoys several spoonfuls of peanut butter. This scene makes no real sense and continues on for far too long, but the sight of Brad hungrily licking a serving of peanut butter is about the closest allusion to him going down on a woman that young female fans could see on the big screen. Boys would not stand for such delicate nuance.
Sadly not much has improved in the intervening years. In June DC Entertainment informed HBO Max that they would have to cut a scene in their Harley Quinn adult cartoon where Batman gives oral gratification to the minxy protagonist because apparently ‘Heroes don’t do that’. How is this opinion still possible in a universe where the triumphant anthem WAP exists? DC Entertainment are obviously of the same stale, sad mindset as the pathetic DJ Khaled who stated in a 2015 interview that he doesn’t perform oral sex, but expects it from his wife because he’s “the king” and that there are “different rules for men”. The upside to Khaled’s ridiculously embarrassing, reductive display was the speed in which Dwayne The Rock Johnson responded that he took pride in “mastering ALL performances” to assure us ladies out there that he’s down with going down. Phew.
Cunnilingus needs a new PR spin within pop culture because there are still misguided modern men wandering around taking up vital space on dating apps who perceive it as some kind of threat to their masculinity rather than a fulfilling part of sex. The fact that it remains unexplored in the majority of films and TV apart from male titillation in something like Black Swan or the art house lickouts of Blue is The Warmest Colour misrepresent it as a kinky peccadillo.
Even on the sexually frank and quasi-feminist series Sex and the City, Charlotte’s date who relished giving oral sex was painted as a ‘freak’. On this year’s Love Island, new contestant Teddy almost had to spell out to Rachel how much he enjoys equal ‘gratification’ lest he get lumped in with the unevolved cluster of toxic wallies that are currently populating the villa like horny lemmings. Not only does Teddy feel like a breath of fresh air, he also feels like an anomaly.
Thankfully all is not lost – there is always Adam Driver. When news came in from this year’s Cannes Film Festival that the smoldering dog-boy hunk himself was not only singing in his new film, Annette but also performing some serious fajita karaoke on Marion Cotillard’s character, it was time to rejoice- the Horny Summer of 2021 had finally kicked off and we had found our poster boy for female funtimes.
No wonder the film received a five minute standing ovation. Hope also lies as ever in the female gaze. The brilliant coming of age comedy series Betty which centres on a group of female skateboarders navigating their lives in New York is not shy when it comes to sexual expression. Creator Crystal Moselle ensures that there are moments of carefree happiness when it comes to the girls’ sex lives. In its new season the outspoken Kirt becomes a defacto guru to her skating contemporaries, dispensing sex advice to the clueless boys, reiterating how important oral sex is to the female sexual experience. Later Kirt ends up in a tryst with one of the guy’s girlfriend’s. As she brings Shelby to orgasm in her car it’s shown as a playful but entirely normal event. The camerawork is not exploitative or intrusive, it’s natural and pulses with an everyday realism.
Depictions of sex and sexuality in cinema and television are vitally important in terms of representation, we need more LGBTQ+ productions,we need actors to have the ability to express their sexuality without fear, we need the widespread employment of intimacy co-ordinators, we need more female screenwriters, cinematographers, producers and directors.
No-one wants to see a return to the repressive days of the Hays code where art was impinged by ‘morality’ and ‘decency’ clauses. What we do need is equality. Promoting the depiction of female sexual joy is an extremely small step in the right direction. The simple recognition of the petite mort could give life to so many viewers and debunk the sticky filmic theory that pleasure is something solely reserved for the boys.
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