Sweetback Loses His Virginity in Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971)Ĭonsidering Melvin Van Peebles actually performed most of the sex acts he’s seen engaged in in this seminal Blaxploitation film, it’s quite possible that young Mario Van Peebles’ sex scene was similarly unsimulated.

But the difficulty of distinction only adds to its controversial nature, doesn’t it? Yes, we can count masturbation as sex, though in this film and in The Exorcist, which also includes masturbation with a cross, we might better classify the acts as rape. The “Rape of the Christ” in The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)Ī film so controversial that it’s still very difficult to see it in its (existing) entirety, Ken Russell’s The Devils initially had such blasphemous sequences as the infamous “Rape of Christ,” which features possessed nuns masturbating with crucifixes and effigies of Jesus. Department of the Treasury, Adolph Hitler and Pope Pius XII were partly due to Lamarr’s infamous non-sexual nude scene, but the close-ups on the actress’ face as she expresses sexual pleasure were certainly as objectionable, if not more so, for the time. Censorship, bans and denouncements of the film from the U.S.

This notorious Czechoslovakian production wasn’t the first non-pornographic film to depict sexual intercourse, but it is considered the first theatrically released movie to feature an actress (Hedy Lamarr, in her star-making role) simulating an orgasm onscreen. Hedy Lamarr’s Orgasm in Ecstasy (Gustav Machaty, 1933) Of course, there are also a number of controversial consensual sex scenes that we’ve had to leave out, so feel free to name any excluded titles after reading the list. Besides the fact that many readers will argue that such scenes are not rightly labeled “sex scenes,” there’s also the matter that too many films feature gratuitous rape scenes, and most of the time these are met with criticism. One disclaimer must be made, because we’re sure commenters will jump in otherwise asking why A Clockwork Orange and other films with controversial rape scenes have not been included. Many of them have merits and memorability outside of their “upsetting” depictions of a sexual act, though many of their objectors wouldn’t know since they never actually saw the films themselves. Whether groundbreaking for their time or still questionable today, these scenes could probably have been included in our past highlights of films sold on a sex scene and films remembered primarily for a sex scene. Due to the criticism and controversy of an alleged date-rape scene in Observe and Report, we bring you yet another list of sex scenes, this one focused on cinematic moments that stirred protest, censorship, bans and boycotts.

Sontham movie contraversy