# Are there equal amounts of male and female nudity in movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002 "2003-07-12T17:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![stringy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@stringy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stringy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/21 "2003-07-14T04:50:52Z")
**Grousser** , I did pay attention to the rest of your post. That comment just struck me as being particularly biased. You’re claiming that ‘society’ finds male bodies less aesthetically pleasing than female bodies. I would like to remind you that society is made up of approximately 50% women, most of whom find men more attractive than women. I don’t think your opinion of what society thinks is accurate, I think it is biased towards what heterosexual men think - an easy mistake to make, because until the recent past heterosexual males have been the most vocal about what they find sexually appealing. I was just trying to remind you that there are a lot of people who don’t hold that opinion. You say that women who show their breasts in movies do it because they love to - have you thought that maybe some (if not most) of them did it because women are often told that if they don’t show what they’ve got, the part will go to someone else who will? Actresses have tough decisions to make in this regard - young men looking to get into Hollywood are not asked to make these decisions as often. Once an actor or actress has some sway with the studios, then you can tell whether they love to show their bodies to the world. You’ll find that many actresses use this influence to have the nude scene written out, or to hire a body double instead. I think this shows that when they have a choice, most actresses aren’t as keen on waving it all about as you seem to think. You say that sexual roles need to be taken into account - I think sexual roles are a pile of crap, a carryover from times past, and they certainly aren’t some hard and fast rule that must be adhered to. There is a difference between sexuality and the organs we keep between our legs, and I don’t think we can divide the roles neatly down gender lines. Mens and women’s _bodies_ are different, and **Lamia** has raised some good points about the difference between nudity for women and men, which I completely agree with. But to say that women should be nude more often than men so that sexual roles can be ‘respected’ just reinforces the idea that women are objects to be put on display, rather than individuals with sexual desires of their own. You ask if women want to see more or if they want to win - you give only two choices there, and phrase it so that it sounds like some sort of competition, which it isn’t. What about a third option? I think women want to be _respected_ as sexual beings, which means not being exploited (happening less often) as well as having our desires considered (also improving, but more slowly). In terms of Hollywood, this means showing a variety of nudity - male and female, titillating and meaningful, or even no nudity (wacky idea, I know 🙂 ) depending on the situation. I don’t think we get that variety yet, although moves are being made in that direction and I believe we will reach that point sooner rather than later. (To change the subject a little bit: Ewan McGregor is doing his share to even up the balance in nudity. ) ---
**Author:** ![stringy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@stringy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stringy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/22 "2003-07-14T04:59:07Z")
Wow, that response looked a lot shorter in the little textbox. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/23 "2003-07-14T07:06:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > **I’m sure I’ve never seen a gyno shot in a mainstream film, but I can think of quite a few that show full-frontal female nudity. The only movies springing (heh heh, I said “springing”) immediately to mind when I try to think of scenes of full-frontal male nudity were either foreign or independant films.** Just the A thru Ds: Willie Aames, _Paradise_, Christopher Atkins, _The Blue Lagoon_, Alan Bates, _Women in Love_, Tom Berenger, _In Praise of Older Women_ and _At Play in the Fields of the Lord_, David Bowie, _The Man Who Fell to Earth_, Jeff Bridges, _Rancho Deluxe_, Gary Brockette, _The Last Picture Show_, Pierce Brosnan, _Nomads_, Simon Callow, _A Room With a View_, Jeff Conaway, _Covergirl_, Tom Cruise, _All the Right Moves_, Willem Dafoe, _Loveless_ and _The Last Temptation of Christ_, Phil Daniels, _Quadrophenia_, Jaye Davidson, _The Crying Game_, Patrick Dempsey, _Some Girls_, Robert DeNiro, _1900_, David Duchovny, _New Years Day_. ---
**Author:** ![stringy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@stringy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stringy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/24 "2003-07-14T09:36:07Z")
Are you going to make a list of movies with female frontal nudity, A through D, for comparison? It’d be useful… ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/25 "2003-07-14T12:42:38Z")
Harvey Keitel displays his penis so others don’t have to. He carries the burden. But if you really want to see a lot of penises, try a Peter Greenaway movie. It puzzles me why the MPAA seems to have become more prudish about nudity over the years. In the 1970’s and early 1980’s I saw quite a bit of nudity in PG movies (including Kelly LeBrock, full-frontal in _The Woman in Red_). Yet a couple of years ago, they gave an R to the Director’s Cut of _Amadeus_ because of a brief scene with a topless actress. Ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/26 "2003-07-14T13:20:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krokodil \* > Hard to say. Any survey of sexy films usually focuses on naked women; were there any naked women in _Red Heat_? W=ell, there’s [_Red Heat_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0089892) (1985) which had them, and [_Red Heat_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0095963) (1988) which didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/27 "2003-07-14T13:29:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\* Simon Callow, _A Room With a View_ \*\* Julian Sands and Rupert Graves can also be seen running around naked for quite some time in _A Room With a View_. Rupert Graves appears full-frontally again in _Maurice_, with James Wilby. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/28 "2003-07-14T16:51:55Z")
**Walloon** , _The Man Who Fell to Earth_, _A Room With a View_, _Women in Love_, _The Crying Game_, and _Quadrophenia_ are all British films and so fall into the “foreign or independant” category. So do the Canadian _Covergirl_, _Paradise_ and _In Praise of Older Women_. (Canada is arguably barely foreign, but they do have their own film industry that is distinct from Hollywood.) According to the IMDB _1900_ was a joint French, Italian, and German production. Robert DeNiro may be a Hollywood star, but it’s not a Hollywood movie. Of the actual Hollywood films on your list, I have only seen _The Last Picture Show_ and I can’t remember Gary Brockette’s character at all. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/29 "2003-07-14T18:53:31Z")
Aidan Quinn, _Reckless_, Kevin Bacon, _Wild Things_, Tim Robbins, _The Player_, Jan-Michael Vincent, _Buster and Billie_, Richard Gere, _American Gigolo_ and _Breathless_, Viggo Mortensen, _The Indian Runner_, Sean Patrick Flannery, _Powder_, James Woods, _Curse of the Starving Class_, Robert Forster, _Medium Cool_, Scott Glenn, _The Baby Maker_, Lou Milione, _Six Degrees of Separation_, David Naughton, _An American Werewolf in London_, James Spader, _Supernova_ (video version), Tony Goldwyn, _Love Matters_, Don Johnson, _The Harrad Experiment_, Ed Harris, _Swing Shift_, Richard Harris, _Tarzan, the Ape Man_, Bruce Willis, _The Color of Night_, Kyle MacLachlan, _Blue Velvet_, Eric Stoltz, _Naked in New York_, Harvey Keitel, _The Bad Lieutenant_, Daniel Day-Lewis, _Stars and Bars_, Rob Lowe, _About Last Night_, Michael Margotta, _Drive, He Said_, Dennis Hopper, _Tracks_, Kenny Moore, _Personal Best_, Arnold Schwarzenegger, _The Terminator_. ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/30 "2003-07-14T19:26:30Z")
And a BIG thank you to **Walloon!** :: rushes off to video store :: ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/31 "2003-07-14T20:02:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blonde \* > \*\*And a BIG thank you to **Walloon!** > > :: rushes off to video store :: \*\* Since you’re making the trip, I’ll recommend Todd Haynes’ _Velvet Goldmine_. I had a friend in college who owned it on DVD, and it quickly became a women’s dormitory hit thanks to multiple shots of Ewan McGregor naked from the front, back, and side, plus Christian Bale and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in various stages of undress. Todd Haynes is an American director but the film was a joint US/UK production, and according to Haynes the leads (Scottish, Welsh, and Irish, respectively) all seemed much more comfortable with doing nude gay love scenes than the American actors he’d worked with in the past. He didn’t mention how American actors feel about nude scenes without the homoerotic component, though. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/32 "2003-07-14T22:09:10Z")
I think there’s more female nudity, partly as a result of the much greater amount amount of female near-nudity which, IRL, you can see just about everywhere in summer. Think about it. If you go down to Ocean Front Walk in Venice California, on an August Saturday afternoon, you’ll see many of the women wearing little shorts, halter tops, tiny bikinis, and other revealing attire. While most all the guys will be in basketball-length trunks and XL t-shirts. It’s a stark double standard that’s gotten stronger over the past 10 years or so. It’s as if a man isn’t supposed to exhibit himself because that would be “gay” ( in either the real sense, or the pejorative sense which has been discussed elsewhere on the Board). Frankly I hate it. I’m a guy and think it would be a lot more comfortable in hot weather if we could nearly strip down the way women can. But there’s definitely an aversion to the male body out there, that comes from several factors. First, men are acknowledged to be more visual; i.e., it seems we like looking at women more than they like looking at us, second most straight men are probably secretly afraid they’ll go gay if they look at a naked man on screen for too long, and third, a lot of men’s bodies ARE unattractive, reflecting the lesser degree of pressure on us to keep them in good shape. So I think these things are reflected in movies. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/33 "2003-07-15T01:04:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spectre of Pithecanthropus \* > **most straight men are probably secretly afraid they’ll go gay if they look at a naked man on screen for too long** Heh heh. You may be on to something here. They may not be motivated by a fear of suddenly “going gay” per se, but some men do seem to find the thought or sight of another nude man very unpleasant. Male partial nudity that’s intended to be comedic, like a guy mooning someone, is usually “safe” for macho audiences, but more serious or sexual scenes might not be. I never saw _Wild Things_ so for all I know Kevin Bacon’s nude scene really was unusually unappealing, but I remember hearing guys talk about it as if it were the single most revolting thing they’d ever seen in their entire lives. Seemed a little silly to me, since I knew some of these same guys enjoyed gory horror flicks. Women rarely seem to have the same sort of reaction to the sight of nude women in movies. They may not always _like_ it, but their displeasure tends to manifest itself as annoyance rather than disgust. So I wouldn’t blame Hollywood for concluding that female nudity, if not too obviously trashy or exploitative, won’t alienate too many female viewers but male nudity may turn off male viewers in more ways than one. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/34 "2003-07-15T03:12:58Z")
[Kevin Bacon nekkid in _Wild Things_.](http://www.simonsez.de/images/sswild01.jpg) Warning: :wally ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/35 "2003-07-15T03:21:35Z")
**Spectre** and **Lamia** : well, now we’re cooking. Is is comforting to know I’m not the only one thinking along those lines (Woman: he’s a cute actor, don’t you think? Man: what??? I don’t know if he’s cute. Don’t ask me that question. Gross.) What is up with that? I must know. And, **Walloon** , I’m watching all those movies the time my SO is out of the house, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/36 "2003-07-15T03:23:45Z")
“It”, not “is” insert “next” I must stop posting so late at night! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/37 "2003-07-15T03:58:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spectre of Pithecanthropus \* > **I’m a guy and think it would be a lot more comfortable in hot weather if we could nearly strip down the way women can.** I have to call “bullshit” on this one. I’m a guy, whenever I go to the beach all I wear is a pair of swim trunks, largely because for me a lot of the fun of going to the beach is getting out in the surf and snorkeling. But I also spend a lot of time just walking around looking at shells and women. Granted, I don’t wear thongs any more after that unpleasant mass blinding incident (it’s really unsettling to hear so many people screaming “My eyes!” “My eyes!”) but really, I don’t feel at all encumbered by a pair of comfy bathing trunks, and anyway given the way little fish nip at whatever’s hanging out when I snorkel, I wouldn’t WANT to be swimming with my dangly bits exposed. I don’t care much what people think of what I look like on the beach, I’m basically there to have fun. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/38 "2003-07-15T04:46:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*[Kevin Bacon nekkid in _Wild Things_.](http://www.simonsez.de/images/sswild01.jpg) Warning: :wally \*\* Man **Walloon** , you’re really on the ball! (Er…heh heh…yes.) But gosh, looking at that picture I can’t think what all the fuss was about. I heard such shock and horror when that film came out that I half expected poor Kevin Bacon to have some sort of hideous deformity, although why he’d agree to do a nude scene if that were the case I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/39 "2003-07-15T04:48:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stringy \* > \*\*According to you. Many people disagree. You are stating an opinion, not a fact. \*\* I think it’s fairly well accepted that males tend to get more aroused by visual stimulus than females. This has been borne out by psychological studies, anecdotal evidence and the fact that theres a whole LOT more porn aimed at guys than women on the web. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Mook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Mr.Mook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Mook)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002/40 "2003-07-15T05:19:05Z")
Women are better looking naked. It’s a fact. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-equal-amounts-of-male-and-female-nudity-in-movies/188002.md?page=3)