Gina Prince-Bythewood’s 2000 romance “Love & Basketball” is memorable for its star-studded cast -Alfre Woodard, Regina Hall, Dennis Haysbert, and Gabrielle Union - and kicking off the portrayal of the WNBA in cinema. ©New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection There’s nothing missionary about the movies below - S&M, threesomes, self-love, peaches, and puppet sex all abound - but there is substance to these sex scenes. A number of sex-positive, LGBTQ-friendly, and otherwise forward-thinking filmmakers have directed scenes that are as steamy as they are moving. But though many thinkpieces have been written about “the death of the sex scene” there’s still been a lot to celebrate over the last 22 years. They do, but with greater infrequency, certainly in Hollywood studio productions. That is, if sex scenes still appear in movies at all. And though we’re ever so slowly moving away from the male gaze serving as the default perspective on love, sex, and everything between, there’s still a long way to go.
What makes a sex scene sexy? More to the point, what makes a sex scene good? That’s become an especially thorny question in recent years, with detailed accounts of what goes on behind the scenes of movies we love complicating our relationship with their most memorable moments.
