Today's Evil Beet Gossip

The Affair’s Ruth Wilson on Sex Scenes and Orgasms

Ruth+Wilson

Ruth Wilson just won a Golden Globe for her work on The Affair, a show in which she, well, frankly, shows a lot of boob. But she’s insisting it’s not just for the hell of it, while also making a good point about how we don’t see male nudity the same way we see female nudity. It’s kind of a “duh” point, but still, it made me think, so maybe it will give you something to process, too.

Anyway, here’s what the Brit (it blows my mind that she’s British), told Net-a-Porter’s magazine, via PEOPLE:

These [sex] scenes need to be real and they need to have a narrative as much as any other scene. They can’t be purely titillation. They need to move the story forward and the characters forward.

[…] It’s assumed that women will get their breasts out, and have to get their breasts out, and I balk at that. It’s unnecessary and it’s unfair.

Why have I always got to do the orgasm face? There should be a male orgasm face. Why is it always the woman who’s orgasming? Let’s analyze the male orgasm. Why aren’t we thinking about that a bit more?

Okay so I totally get her point here, and I think it’s unfair that we expect women to show their boobs onscreen, but we never see dong, or men orgasming, the way we see women orgasming, I guess. But then again, for real, part of me is like, if you hate this so much and disagree with it so much, stop doing it. You’re the one who signed on to a Showtime show in which you’re naked in like half the episode, every episode. You just won an award for it, and it’s paying your bills. So if you hate it so much, cut it out. You know? Is that petty of me?

Anyway, have you been watching The Affair? Frankly, I freakin love it. What did you guys think of the finale? SPOILERS — BEWARE — I thought it was excellent. That twist of seeing her and Noah together, with presumably a baby, was just kind of mind-blowing, and then he gets arrested? Rad. Where is this gonna go? I can’t wait!

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3 CommentsLeave a comment

  • They shouldn’t have revealed that they wound up together and married with a kid unless they are going to continue the story in the present instead of in flashbacks. It takes all the mystery out of that part of the plot, but they still need flashback story to tell Scotty’s death and why. And I’ve never figgered out how far ahead the present is in the story.

  • As for the boobs thing: Maybe we should stop making such a fuzz about showing boobs. It’s just subcutaneous adipose tissue and this whole “oh god, a nipple”-attitude is a bit ridiculous. And dong is not exactly the equivalent to boobs, you know.

    As for the o-face: Women look divine during orgasms, men look stupid. So for pure aesthetic reasons: Please don’t show men during orgasm!

  • Whoever is on top isn’t as photogenic in “that moment” as the person on the bottom. Lean over & look at your saggy face in a mirror. Put the woman on top for a guy shot.