There is no point in disputing how much society has evolved in the last 50 years. The standards and accepted past practices have changed fundamentally in and out of the big screen.

Sex, for instance, perfectly illustrates these changed rules.

How do we discuss sex? Moreover, how is it portrayed in movies and TV?

Is sexual liberation duplicity? Will it be our communities' downfall or boost a more accepting and inclusive society?

Sexual emancipation and empowerment statements are widely spread in movies, tv shows, pop culture, and the collective social consciousness. Since the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the morality of sex in Western culture has been altered, becoming much more flexible and fluid. Nowadays, everything in the entertainment industry publicly celebrates sexual empowerment.

Hyper-sexualization has come to be associated with empowerment all-around and sexual revolution in particular. The rise of sexual guilt is based on "not being sexual enough." Sex has unfortunately become the double-faced mirror on which we reflect or neglect people's true worth.

Ironically, despite the hyper-sexualization of popular culture, society has not evolved into a sex-affirmative one where the concept of sex is free from negative connotations and senses. Instead, notions of sex as a wicked and corrupting force continue to flourish. As a result, ideals of repression and strict rules coexist with extra sexual behavior.

The first known on-screen sexual encounter occurred in the 1933 Czech movie Ecstasy. Moreover, although there was no nudity at the moment, the lead female character was seen having an orgasm, which was rather daring at the time. Nevertheless, what could interest us the most is how modern media portrays sex, especially a female orgasm on screen, but we will need to dedicate an entire article to that centuries-old myth.

Although Samantha Jones from sex & the city is a dazzling representation of what we believe sexual empowerment should look like, not all women will benefit from adopting her image. She is intended to be the trigger for the movement away from the outdated and antiquated conceptions that sex is shameful and appalling and toward the idea that it is pleasant and empowering.

In the last ten years, there has been a dramatic increase in the quantity of sex and nudity displayed in movies and television. Studies reveal that exposure to sexual content is associated with more violent sex and long-term sexual socialization developmental disorders, even though some argue that the rise in sexually explicit content in the media is empowering or freeing.

More than two-thirds of television programs contain sexual content. TV show episodes feature excessive nudity as much as theaters, if not more, violent sexual experiences and full-frontal pictures of genitalia. The ability to self-censor is getting more complex as sexually graphic content is now readily available through streaming platforms such as Netflix and let’s not overlook the” Fifty shades” and “365 Days” phenomena.

Safe and consenting sexual activity is not wrong in and of itself, but how the entertainment industry presents sex most of the time negatively impacts how we view ourselves and other people and our minds and growth. There is a direct association between experiencing unprotected sex in real life and seeing unprotected sex on television.

The current media illustration of sex and sexual interactions perpetuates some stereotypes about both men and women. Men are foreseen to push for sexual relationships, value sex and pleasure over sentiment, see women as sexual objects, and reject homosexual tendencies.

These ideas are born as reality and are expected to manifest in people's sexual lives. Additionally, women are supposed to be sexually passive, use their bodies and appearance to seduce men, put their feelings and commitments over sex, and reduce their appetite.

The stark contrasts in sexual longings between men and women aggravate the harmful stereotypes that exist between them in sexual relationships.

Contemporary sex is represented as being normalized as a handshake. Because the effects of unsafe sex are rarely displayed in the media, persons who lack prior sexual education are more vulnerable to STIs and unintentional pregnancies. Violent sexual experiences become more commonplace when violent sex is presented as passionate lovemaking. The capacity to maintain healthy and mutually respectful sexual relationships is getting harder to do since men and women are expected to behave in a traditional dominant-submissive way.

Pursuing sexual liberation and believing in the allure of sexual freedom without fully comprehending our society's implications and realities today cannot help one overcome their fears and increase their sense of self-worth.

On the contrary, our self-esteem's descent to hell will only accentuate itself because the system is designed for us to keep coming back for more and more of that old sense of false confidence. Excessive and hypersexual behavior should not be a part of sexual emancipation. It entails awareness, agency, and informed consent.

In the end, a new sexual revolution is required. one that respects and protects the facts and rights of those who are most at risk in our society, the power of educated decisions in sexual matters can save or change lives. Before we feel genuinely empowered, we need to understand our bodies, energies, thoughts, and boundaries, and ultimately ourselves as a whole.

The controversies over abortion rights and birth control availability, the constant discrimination against and lack of support for sexual assault survivors, the strain between the treatment of sex workers and the consumption of adult entertainment, as well as the discussion of abstinence education are all examples of the paradoxes and ideological crest that have resulted from our exposure to sexual content and lack of understanding its social and psychological impacts.

We consume content without knowing how to handle it or comprehend it, let alone criticize it. Therefore, we will always be doomed to fail in any revolutionary journey we may entertain seeking safer communities and overall a sex-positive society unless we start educating.