Lesbians, latex and $2,000 condoms: why are this summer’s movies so obsessed with sex?
Why This Matters
Key context: <p>From One Night Only to The Invite, a wave of new movies are a raunchy antidote to gen Z celibacy</p><p>The <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex-recession/573949/">first alarm bells</a> sounded nearly 10 years ago, and since then, a deluge of books, podcasts and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/opinion/gen-z-sex-celibacy-relationships.html">roundtables</a> has tried to get at the bottom of the problem: why is gen Z not having sex?</p><p>Recently it’s as though culture has been recalibrated to make up for the youth’s apparent frigidity. “Smut” literature is on the rise, prestige TV is now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/apr/15/margos-got-money-troubles-review-elle-fanning-apple-tv">depicting</a> OnlyFans models, and indie films have taken a turn <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/may/18/pillion-review-50-shades-of-bsdm-wallace-and-gromit-in-brilliant-bromley-biker-romance">towards</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZI8G4lfbgc">kink</a>. This summer, through confused young protagonists and their sexual misadventures, the movies are zeroing in on generational attitudes about sex.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/10/sex-film-one-night-only-the-invite-camp-miasma">Continue reading...</a> This development from The Guardian highlights ongoing changes in the sector.
From One Night Only to The Invite, a wave of new movies are a raunchy antidote to gen Z celibacyThe first alarm bells sounded nearly 10 years ago, and since then, a deluge of books, podcasts and roundtables has tried to get at the bottom of the problem: why is gen Z not having sex?Recently it’s as though culture has been recalibrated to make up for the youth’s apparent frigidity. “Smut” literature is on the rise, prestige TV is now depicting OnlyFans models, and indie films have taken a turn towards kink. This summer, through confused young protagonists and their sexual misadventures, the movies are zeroing in on generational attitudes about sex. Continue reading...
Curation & Context
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