Slutsky and Bitchin' | 'The Affair' Vs 'Sex Education' intimacy coordinators on sets are the need of the hour
Slutsky: You know what I find terribly offensive?
Bitchin': Enlighten me.
Slutsky: Nudity and sex scenes.
Bitchin': Back up a second. What!? When did you get all censor-friendly on me? If you want to tell "adult stories", you are going to have "adult scenes".
Slutsky: No! Of course. I have no problem with nudity or sex scenes per se. But the fact that on set, filming such scenes can get exploitative. You know, like how there was so much controversy about 'Blue is the Warmest Colour' about the gratuitous way the female leads' sex scenes were filmed. Or even that "butter as lubricant" rape scene in 'Last Tango in Paris'. Actress Maria Schneider actually told interviewers that the scene made her feel a "little raped, both by Marlon [Brando] and by [director] Bertolucci.”
Bitchin': I hear you. I don't know why, even in 2020, intimacy coordinators (IC) are not mandatory on sets. How can such a necessary resource not be available to actors? ICs are still a pretty new-fangled concept that most film and TV productions don't want to spend money on.
Slutsky: Well the Time's Up Foundation recently released guides for actors to know their rights in regards to auditions and nude or intimate scenes, as well as their rights to report misconduct. In the second guide, they have encouraged actors and crew to work with an intimacy coordinator. So its a start.
Bitchin': Yup, #MeToo movement brought a lot of these cases to light and intimacy coordination has become a thing only in the last two years. It was disturbing to hear what happened to Ruth Wilson on 'The Affair'.
Supposedly, she was branded "difficult" and faced push-back when she raised concerns about being coerced into more nudity than she was comfortable with or participating in scenes that were more sexually aggressive than she wanted to consent to. That is a hostile work environment!
I mean kudos to HBO’S 'The Deuce' actress Emily Meade, who is one of the first actors who started the conversation about this after she realized that she "didn’t want to have to shut down and dissociate" in order to do her job.
Slutsky: Exactly! I hear nothing but good things about 'Sex Education' or 'Mrs. Fletcher' where they did have intimacy coordinators on-set. Intimate scenes are a bit like stunt scenes -- both involve "bodily danger" of differing natures and both types of scenes need professionals to safeguard the actors.
Bitchin': Yup, and that is true even of couples who are in a relationship filming together. Connor Swindells who plays Adam Groff in 'Sex Education' is dating his co-star Aimee Lou Wood, who is playing Aimee Gibbs. Swindells has said: "There is no confusion to be had between our sex scenes on the show and our own personal life.” Speaking about how the show's intimacy director choreographs the scenes, Swindells said: "That way, it's like you're not taking anything from your own life. When you do that, you get home at the end of the day and you're depressed and you feel vulnerable because you've just shown people what you do in the most personal, vulnerable situation."
Slutsky: Truer words have never been spoken.
‘Slutsky & Bitchin’ is a weekly column, published Saturday evening, examining the highs and lows of pop culture and media from a feminist POV.