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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 18, 2024

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-5. The line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior during nudity and sex scenes has become fraught, both for MeToo and non-MeToo reasons, and directors and actors are increasingly aware of it. I'd highlight the first two episodes of Stargate SG-1, here, from the mid-90s: the original version had some female nudity and near-nudity pushed onto the showrunners by Showtime, and it got cut and respliced back in 200_8_, partly because it didn't help the actual scene itself, and also because the actress was pretty heavily pressured into it. Most more recent stuff isn't as obviously controversial, but there's reason to be cautious.

-6. Women (are seen to) drive ticket sales, and they are perceived (not without reason!) as not particularly interested in the sort of sort sex scenes or nudity that populated major movie focuses of the 90s and early 00s. The Magic Mike series features full-frontal male nudity for one scene, in the first movie, it involves a penis pump, and even as someone who appreciates hirsuite dudes, it's probably one of the three least sexy parts in the show (and given the competition involves an overdose, that says something). Contrast the workshop scene from XXL -- I'd hope even a straight guy would appreciate a workshop that looks like that, but from an androphillic perspective there's... a lot to enjoy, and from a feminine one the scene's combination of controlled strength and vulnerability is not exactly a subtle shot to the ovaries. Or see the Brendan Fraser George of the Jungle, which is commonly highlighted as an awakening for himbo fans, and wouldn't have benefited from a lot of from doing anything more.

-7. Movies are increasingly seen as playing a different social role; men in particular are far less likely to just go out alone or with a small number of close-in-age male friends, where this wasn't as awkward as, say, if it pops up during a date night or when going with the family.

-8. Horny-but-not-just-porn level works are widely available, but interests have bifurbicated heavily, and as a result people have driven to other formats that aren't as mainstream touchstones in the way movies were. The paid version of Rick Griffin's Skinchange (cw: some violence, donald duck-style nudity) has full frontal nudity-with-bits from page five onwards, with only a few exceptions when the protagonists are in disguise, it's a decent if not particularly genre-busting scifi thriller, and it's even straight-themed and not actually focused on sex or even arousal... but it's a very specific sort of thing to appreciate, and not even all bi furries are going to be able to suspend disbelief re: 'wouldn't that pinch?'. See Oglaf for something that often features fully-penetrative sex, but isn't really sexy. Or Feretta's Tale of Tails, but it's a decently well-written fantasy comic in an original universe that's somewhat given that it does have sex and nudity play a heavy role but also has long sequences without, and not everyone wants a side of sausage (or for a different sort of dislike, pregnancy) in their F/F work. I could turn every playable character in FFXIV into a naked hrothgar dripping from both ends, but that's not really to everyone's tastes, even beyond the ethics of the matter: even fairly tame matters like caking up just my own character, shared to only people in a Mare linkshell, gets into a lot of complicated stuff when others involved may not be androphillic at all.

-9. To the extent that sexual stuff is shared among social groups, it plays a more performative role. Almost every FFXIV FC (read: guild) I've joined has an adult content section in the Discord, but it would be wildly inappropriate to throw a few dozen beefcake pictures at once into any of them, even where full penetration shots might show up on occasion. Posting in these forums is supposed to say something about you and why you drop them. Afterdark twitter will show a lot of stuff (nice 3d-printed gun /and/ dick!), but there's a lot going on there as to what is and isn't the persona each account wants to present. That's always been around to some extent -- trust me, I know what it's like to chuckle nervously and talk about boobs -- but I think the extent is drastically broader.

Women (are seen to) drive ticket sales, and they are perceived (not without reason!) as not particularly interested in the sort of sort sex scenes or nudity that populated major movie focuses of the 90s and early 00s.

Do we actually know how accurate this perception is?

I always heard teenage boys were the biggest driver of movie theater ticket sales. The juggernauts of MCU and fast and the furious franchise would certainly point in that direction.

That XXL scene makes me think of the Simpsons Steel Mill scene 😀

Yeah, I could see the echoes. The 'hot stuff' and disco ball gags take it to self-parody, in the same way that Mike doing a snow angel in woodshop dust or finding a random screw with his kidneys would, but the failed tabletop spin at the end probably feels similar if you're not familiar with/target of the relevant conventions.