Unpop Culture

Several years ago, Kate Beckinsale was conned into signing a movie contract that required nudity—something she didn’t want to do. With her acting career in jeopardy, she found herself browbeaten by the director. “I was really disturbed and I was sobbing and begging,” she said . At long last, she gave in to intimidation and performed the nude scene, which made her feel “violated and horrible.” Afterwards, she secretly urinated in the director’s thermos in revenge. In the realm of television, actress Ruta Gedmintas faced her first sex scene for the HBO show The Tudors . “I was absolutely terrified and had no idea what was going on,” she later said . “I cried afterwards because I was thinking, ‘This isn't acting, what am I doing? My mum's going to see this.’” Would you believe me if I told you that stories like these are numerous? Sadly, it’s true. The amount of pressure and intimidation Hollywood places on actors—especially women—to undress for the camera is commonplace...

Have you heard of the word “sexposition”? The term was initially coined to describe the superfluous use of raunchy material in the HBO show Game of Thrones . While it’s universally acknowledged that the series has copious amounts of explicit sexuality, plenty of people are watching it. (Maybe I should say “because” instead of “while.”) Christians make up a percentage of the audience as well. E. Stephen Burnett recently posted a refreshingly forthright article on the matter: But “Game of Thrones” Still Has Porn In It . He points our gaze to the proverbial elephant in the room: Filmmakers and actors can simulate violence, simulate language, simulate other sinful behaviors. But to show nakedness and sex you can only actually 1) be naked and 2) feign to have sex. And let’s spare only a few details here: Unless the actor is himself/herself a goodness-of-the-body-denying, emotionless Gnostic Platonic ideal-person rather than a live human being, he/she will have physical and emotiona...