started with famous HBO’s series Sex and the City (1998-2004) which normalized casual sex and popularized sex toys and vibrators for an entire generation of women. According to Report Buyer, by 2024 the global sexual wellness market (including above mentioned sex toys) is projected to grow to $39bn. Link: Sexual Wellness Market – Global Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025

Sex and the City

We can see the highest demand in countries like the US, China, the UK, Japan, and Germany, that comes hand by hand with increase in online sales (particularly, via Amazon). On the surface it looks like women have become more liberated and empowered but many authors and scientists insist it contributes to sexism.

Young women who engaging in sexual relations in 2020 are expected to be savvy in a variety of sexual behaviors and practices, hold their partner’s orgasm in higher regard than their own and even enhance their desirability to men by faking they can reach it quickly and efficiently. Global hit that popularized BDSM Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) is another example of the “mainstreaming” of sex, in other words, on how sexual imageries previously considered obscene became norm in within media culture.

In her book “Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualisation of Western Culture” (2009) Prof of Cultural studies in Middlesex University Feona Attwood analyzes this curious Western phenomena. Read more about Feona and her research. 

In the mainstream film industry, unsimulated sex is when the actors engage in an actual sex act. Notable examples include: Emmanuelle (1974), Caligula (1979), Baise-moi (2000), the majority of these films are European made as at one time in the USA such scenes were restricted by law. The difference between these movies and pornography is the intent (which is not solely pornographic).

1. THE BROWN BUNNY (2003, USA)

The Brown Bunny – experimental minimalist road drama by Vincent Gallo, featuring a scene of fellatio. Vincent Gallo plays Bud Clay, a motorcycle driver travelling across America for a race haunted by memories and flashback of his ex-lover Daisy (Chloë Sevigny).
IMBD link

2. BAISE-MOI (2000, France)

The virtually non-existent plot (the film basically moves from sex-murder to sex-murder), explicit sex scenes, brutal acts of violence and depictions of drug use make Baise-moi (2000) a very controversial movie. This is an impressive experimental piece of work about society’s injustice in the adult version of Thelma & Louise, with lots of violence and sex on the screen. Not a movie for everyone, Baise-Moi sets us thinking about female empowerment or… ugliness in the sake of ugliness. Starring Karen Lancaume.
IMBD link

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