Recently watched lists suggest viewers can’t get enough of sex on TV. But, asks WH, is this insatiable thirst for screen sex compensating for going without the real deal?
Rachel Hawkins and her husband watched Sex, Love & Goop to inject some novelty into their pandemic-weary sex life. ‘It’s compelling TV, and not just because it’s voyeuristic,’ she says. Look beyond the unearthly luminosity of presenter Gwyneth Paltrow’s white sofa and the real stars are the couples who strip inhibitions to reignite sexual sparks. Young parents Felicitas and Rama feel more like roommates than lovers. Shandra gets so tense that penetration hurts, while Erika thinks she can’t orgasm because her clitoris is too small (it isn’t). And Rachel? ‘I watched it intently, taking mental notes; my husband looked up when a lesbian couple were in their underwear, then carried on playing Wordle on his phone.’
* THE FOURTH DECENNIAL NATIONAL SURVEY OF SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND LIFESTYLES
The results of a 2021 US study confirmed what you’ve probably guessed if that single tube of lube has lasted you for the past seven years – we’re shagging less.
When Indiana University sex researchers compared the frequency of intercourse, oral sex and partnered masturbation in the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior data in 2009 with 2018, they saw declines in every category. And while at the time of writing, the findings of the 2022 UK equivalent, Natsal-4* are yet to be released, an analysis of British surveys from 1991, 2001 and 2012 confirms that sex among 16 to 44-year-olds is drying up, particularly if you’re married or aged between 35 and 44.
Meanwhile, TV is offering up the equivalent of peeling the label off a beer bottle. Normal People, which featured the most minutes of sex ever broadcast on the BBC, was its most-streamed series of 2020. Billie Piper’s masturbation marathon in I Hate Suzie is the longest solo sex scene in TV history, while season two of Bridgerton is the most-watched Englishlanguage show on Netflix – ever.
In fact, many of the top pop culture moments of 2022 so far – Euphoria, Pam & Tommy, Che and Miranda in And Just Like That – have sex in common. There seems to be something of a chasm between what’s happening on, and beyond, our respective screens, so what’s driving the disconnect?
High and dry
‘We’re seeing a lack of interest in having sex, but what we’re not sure of is what that change is about,’ shares Karen Gurney, psychosexologist (@thesexdoctor) and author of Mind The Gap. Given that sex is a ‘unitask’ – you have to stop everything else in order to do it – the Indiana University team speculated that time was an issue. Social media is an obvious desire thief, but online gaming and less
