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AIBU?

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To think there’s too much sex on tv/netflix

349 replies

WiganNorthWest · 23/03/2021 23:10

Shows that I would otherwise enjoy watching with my teenagers/other family always seem to have graphic and gratuitous very long sex scenes. I don’t think they add anything to the plot and ruin our experience of watching as a family (makes me and my teenagers uncomfortable-and I think we are fairly close/informal usually).
I’m thinking of game of thrones, Bridgerton, normal people and outlander which show a lot of sex and a lot of it is disturbing/rape. Does anyone actually enjoy watching these scenes/think they enhance shows? I wish there were ‘clean’ rated 12 versions of these shows on Netflix and you could chose which one to watch. I did enjoy sex education, and think this was done a bit more intelligently/sex scenes weren’t just there for the sake of it/a lazy way to attract viewers but were necessary for the plot.
AIBU/ a prude?

OP posts:
BurbageBrook · 24/03/2021 21:49

What's wrong with seeing a pair of breasts though? They were normally, non-surgically enhanced... big deal. And I think the sex scenes were actually really tastefully done in NP.

If you have teen boys they will certainly have seen breasts in some form of porn and if you have girls, they have their own. So yeah I guess I don't see the big deal but then I come from an extremely non-prudish family so I suppose it's different perspectives etc.

BurbageBrook · 24/03/2021 21:50

Sorry I meant no big deal

Coffeeandcocopops · 24/03/2021 21:51

I didn’t watch “I may destroy you” with my teens. There is a limit to what they will sit and watch with me.

Macncheeseballs · 24/03/2021 21:58

Not wanting to see shagging in tv drama doesn't make one a prude

XelaM · 24/03/2021 22:01

OP - I completely agree! Totally unnecessary scenes that add absolutely nothing to any story

XelaM · 24/03/2021 22:03

'Big Little Lies' was a recent example. Great show, but so many unnecessary graphic sex scenes

User133847 · 24/03/2021 22:06

[quote BurbageBrook]@User133847 but lots of the examples given here ARE programmes specifically either about sex or with the sex as pretty much a central part of the plot.
I do agree with some shows where it's gratuitous and definitely with that awful foreplay-less sex you get in TV but with many it's not gratuitous, it's just an adult show with sex in it, which will usually warns you at the start or in the programme notes.
[/quote]
It's pretty much every drama now though, or a high percentage. Okay the ones where it's multiple times EVERY episode is maybe more sex themed show. Why was all the sex scenes needed in GOT though (as an example)? It's not a show about sex. HBO seem to have been the catalyst for it, as they moved mainstream TV away from the established networks who had some standards.

NiceGerbil · 24/03/2021 22:24

And this is why I now basically watch the news, progs like pottery throwdown, and old Dr who episodes

RaindropsSplashRainbows · 24/03/2021 22:26

I gave up on Bridgerton.

BurbageBrook · 24/03/2021 22:45

@User133847 yeah I agree about GOT. I guess I just think some of the examples given in this thread have kind of missed the point of some of theTV programmes. But GoT WAS gratuitous. I saw Behind Her Eyes recently which also felt pretty gratuitous as the sex wasn't important to the plot.

VestaTilley · 24/03/2021 22:57

YANBU.

I’m sick of it, it’s gratuitous and the rape stuff is vile and frankly traumatic for many, as well as exploitative.

It puts me right off and I avoid so many shows as a result.

I even complained to the NFCB because of the sex scene in The Dig - not suitable for a 12A! Annoying because otherwise The Dig would be a good film to watch with children.

I’m really sick of the commonly held attitude today that everyone is used to sex scenes and so expects them to be included in everything.

Ninibest · 24/03/2021 23:09

Sex and violence is what they promote most in the TV

WisnaeMe · 24/03/2021 23:12

@VestaTilley

YANBU.

I’m sick of it, it’s gratuitous and the rape stuff is vile and frankly traumatic for many, as well as exploitative.

It puts me right off and I avoid so many shows as a result.

I even complained to the NFCB because of the sex scene in The Dig - not suitable for a 12A! Annoying because otherwise The Dig would be a good film to watch with children.

I’m really sick of the commonly held attitude today that everyone is used to sex scenes and so expects them to be included in everything.

I have to agree, I was so looking forward to finally having the time to watch Outlander.

I felt very uncomfortable and never made it to season 2, in fact I never got through season 1.

Same with Marcella, season 3 sex scenes everywhere, when there was no need.

minipie · 24/03/2021 23:12

Haven’t read the whole thread OP but to me Bridgerton and Normal People were about sex - the whole plot is based round the couple having amazing sexual chemistry. So not sure a no sex version would work.

Game of Thrones, c’mon you must have known what to expect?

aSofaNearYou · 24/03/2021 23:17

Well I know it's only one example, but I don't think you can really class GOT as "would be enjoyable for the family if not for the sex scenes". The violence is far more disturbing for young people than any of the sex scenes, I think that one is off limits anyway, really.

EarringsandLipstick · 25/03/2021 07:03

I even complained to the NFCB because of the sex scene in The Dig - not suitable for a 12A! Annoying because otherwise The Dig would be a good film to watch with children.

Oh c'mon 🙄

I watched 'The Dig' with my kids (13, 11, 9), I barely remember this scene. (I do remember how deathly dull the film was tho 🤦🏻‍♀️)

I can't believe you complained! What was the issue for kids? If you really don't want them to see if, skip forward - it is 12A, the A meaning subject to adult guidance.

EarringsandLipstick · 25/03/2021 07:06

I also think there's a massive difference between sex scenes which are well-shot, relevant to the plot, and telling a positive story, and scenes of sexual violence.

I don't watch anything with violence in it, and it's pretty clear what shows will have this.

There is no place for allowing children / young teens watching violent scenes, sexual or otherwise. That's a completely different point tho, to the general idea of sex scenes in shows.

WorriedMutha · 25/03/2021 07:21

I have a growing list of 'continue watching' suggestions on Netflix that comprise all the abandoned garbage I've started and got bored of after a short foray. This rarely happens with mainstream TV where there still seems to be some kind of filtering or quality control.
Totally sick of the frenzied, thrusting and grunting sex scenes. Show me the A list actors in these shows. I haven't seen Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Aniston or Keira Knightley full frontal in the shower or giving an after dinner blow job. It's amazing how many good films got made before Netflix decided the story couldn't be conveyed without naked people writhing.
Amazing also how many unknown B list actors there are on Netflix who share their artistic vision. The Me Too movement might finally come to mean something when we start to see films with appropriate and tasteful love scenes that don't leave us all cringing.
Don't these companies do any market research. Who tf likes this stuff.

GoLightlyontheEarth · 25/03/2021 08:02

People need to complain. If enough complaints were received perhaps something would be done. Instead we sigh, roll our eyes and grit our teeth.

User133847 · 25/03/2021 08:16

Maybe as pornography has become so ubiquitous for men, this stuff is instead being marketed to women via the medium of story and TV. The hunky serial killers, the period dramas with tons of sex, fantasy genres with female leads (and tons of sex).

But this is unappealing to a lot of women. It's all wank fodder for teenage boys.

User133847 · 25/03/2021 08:19

@GoLightlyontheEarth

People need to complain. If enough complaints were received perhaps something would be done. Instead we sigh, roll our eyes and grit our teeth.
I think it's time to cancel Netflix now as this is the way Drama is going.

I might just stick with Britbox with shows from an era where constant sex and graphic violence wasn't a prerequisite.

SarahBellam · 25/03/2021 08:22

Far too much. Last time I had sex on the TV I cracked the screen Grin

tentimesaday · 25/03/2021 08:27

OP, you are sooooo right. I wonder this every day. The sex scenes are so long and drawn out and cringe - I fast forward through them. But I always wonder WHO on earth really wants this in their everyday viewing fair?

Anyone?

tentimesaday · 25/03/2021 08:28

@GoLightlyontheEarth

People need to complain. If enough complaints were received perhaps something would be done. Instead we sigh, roll our eyes and grit our teeth.
good point
tentimesaday · 25/03/2021 08:31

@BurbageBrook

What's wrong with seeing a pair of breasts though? They were normally, non-surgically enhanced... big deal. And I think the sex scenes were actually really tastefully done in NP.

If you have teen boys they will certainly have seen breasts in some form of porn and if you have girls, they have their own. So yeah I guess I don't see the big deal but then I come from an extremely non-prudish family so I suppose it's different perspectives etc.

No problem with seeing a naked body @BurbageBrook. Breast are not the problem. It's the gratuitous and drawn out and graphic and boring sex scenes. Gratuitous. Drawn out. Graphic. Boring.