Ruth Wilson ‘left The Affair after being pushed into gratuitous nudity and sex scenes’

[stumbledin]

And the worst part is the director is a woman.

‘There was a culture problem at the show from the very beginning and a tone-deafness from Sarah Treem about recognizing the position she was putting actors in,’ a source with first-hand knowledge of the production told the outlet. ‘Over and over again, I witnessed Sarah Treem try to cajole actors to get naked even if they were uncomfortable or not contractually obligated to.’

‘It’s things you would think would be coming out of a man’s mouth from the 1950s. ‘The environment was very toxic.’

metro.co.uk/2019/12/18/ruth-wilson-left-affair-pushed-gratuitous-nudity-sex-scenes-11930315/

But apparently RW cant discuss it as she has signed a NDA

Its so sad that women (ie the director) who want to suceed in a job think they have to behave like men / promote male values.

(I've never watched the show but I think the effect of Hollywood film and tv has been toxic for women being commodified - not forgetting the glorification of male violence.)

I started this in tv as the show had a big following on there. Im shocked tbh. I thought the writer was a feminist.

Sarah Treem is the showrunner (and co-creator).

I also found the sex scenes gratuitous and stopped watching in the second season.

Sarah Treem has come out to deny it but to be honest, it does sound like a really plausible version of events from Ruth, her character became increasingly vulnerable over the series as well.

I saw season one. I was quite surprised how graphic the sex scenes were for a TV show. It could have been just as sexy with implied nudity.

American TV shoes are stuffed to the rafters with excessive and gratuitous sex scenes/storylines/odd tacked on bits. Funny (not funny) in such a conservative God-fearing country. I'm surprised Ruth Wilson wasn't aware of this before she signed up as she seems pretty switched on. I hope this marks a long overdue change in the industry.

I don't really think of those as "male values" because I see as many women as men who seem to believe in them.

This sort of attitude has been around for a long time, that concerns about nudity are just a kind of prudishness, that the increasing nudity in films and tv is a sign of more freedom, less prudishness. That there is no reason viewers or actors should be concerned about this kind of thing. Isn't it great and progressive that now we can go to a stage play and see people naked on stage, it's so authentic.

Maybe women are affected more by this than men, so they should be more skeptical, but in the end women are just as likely to be fools, or exploiters, so it mostly evens out.

Culturally liberal culture is still in the grip of the idea that sex is meaningless fun so no need to worry about it too much. Conservative culture, especially in the US has some ability to talk about it, not not in ways accepted by liberals, it tends to be too tied to religion. This has been one of the failings of MeeToo I believe, though it started in the film industry it never made the connection between sexually exploitive individuals like HW, and sexually exploitive work. When the latter is normal the former will be also.

I do think this may be changing though and it helps when actresses speak out about the pressures around this kind of thing. Emilia Clarke also brought some attention to it.

I dont think it was the nudity. I think it is about what actors and actresses are made (directed) to emulate. There's a huge difference say between showing women swimming nude, and women acting sex on screen.

And it also seems to be about the culture on the set (and producers?).

It obviously has got bad enough in the film industry for them to now have intimacy directors (I think that's what they are called).

Quite honestly I think and film / tv series that relies on prolonged portrayal of sex, and equally violence (or tedious car chases) are not worth watching. It means the so called plot are just fillers so that directors can then indulge in a graphic competition with other other as to who went to the most extreme.

Its the dumbing down of everything to instant visual gratification without having to engage the brain.

Hi EachandEveryone can you post the link to your thread. I didn't think to look there. Thanks

I agree. Shagging/car chases/exploding helicopters are just bloke shite.

I would agree there is a difference between nudity that's non-sexual and nudity that's sexual, but I don't see non-sexual nudity as being a big thing in the English speaking world - there isn't a lot of it and it's not usually controversial. It's mostly sexual, which may or may not involve sex scenes.

There is also nudity that isn't quite sexual though often it crosses over, nudity that is meant to be edgy or pushing the envelope, and I'm not convinced that's a good thing for actors either. It's a way to get a cheap bit of attention or seem more "adult" but it doesn't really contribute to plot or character development.