Quick: name five movies, documentaries excluded, which feature full-frontal female nudity. Now, do the same thing with male nudity.
It's a little tougher, isn't it?
After a few minutes of thinking, I came up with Bruce Willis in "Color of Night," Geoffrey Rush in "Quills," Peter Sarsgaard in "Kinsey," Kevin Bacon in "Wild Things" and Marc Ruffalo in "In the Cut."
In each of these, however, it was "blink and you'll miss it" penis-peeking.
It has become an unspoken trend in Hollywood that the penis is a rare thing to see in mainstream films. Meanwhile, actresses constantly are pressured to take it all off to advance their careers. Neve Campbell, for instance, just recently nixed the "no nudity" clause in her contract for "When will I be Loved" and now is receiving critical acclaim and comeback talk.
I've heard several reasons as to why Hollywood shrinks away from the penis. One is that the female body simply is more attractive than the male body. I totally agree. Another reason might be that actors might fear emasculation and objectification.
Most male nudity is restricted to the rear, which is grossly overrated. It takes little to no bravery to display the derriere.
But there are plenty of actors willing to show the full monty. Harvey Keitel has done it several times, as has Ewan McGregor and others. But Hollywood still keeps male nudity to a bare minimum.
Colin Farrell had a nude scene in "A Home at the End of the World" that was cut because it was "distracting," according to a USA Today report, and Liam Neeson was willing to do it for "Kinsey," but was not permitted.
I believe this whole penis problem is a mere representation of a larger issue: Hollywood is still a male-dominated industry, and the lack of equal nudity is a sign of continuing inequality between men and women.
Am I demanding more penises be showcased in Hollywood? Not necessarily. But I do think if Hollywood is going to continue to objectify women, men should be no different.
This problem seems to be largely American. While the penis in sex scenes is atypical in American films, foreign films often have no problem whipping it out. Films like "Y tu Mama Tambi�n," "The Dreamers," and "Young Adam" were all made outside the sphere of Hollywood, and each featured full-frontal male nudity.
But each film also received either an NC-17-rating or went unrated by the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA must be held partially responsible for the continuing propagation of inequality of the sexes.
When a film like "The Dreamers" gets released on DVD in the United States, an R-rated version of the film must be made to accommodate video merchants who do not carry NC-17 or unrated films.
"The Dreamers," a film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci ("Last Tango in Paris") is about an American film student (Michael Pitt) who goes to Paris for a film festival. While there, he meets a brother and sister who share a common love for film and a complicated sexual relationship with one another. The American boy finds himself getting tangled up in their sexual web.
However, when the film was edited for an R-rated DVD presentation, was it the full-frontal female nudity that got cut? Nope. Scenes containing masturbation, oral sex or a three-way? No problem. But two leering shots of Pitt's private part got the axe.
The same goes for films like "Young Adam," "Y tu Mama Tambi�n," and many other NC-17-rated films. The penis needs to be cut to get the R-rating.
My question: why is the penis such a sacred and scary thing in Hollywood?
Because sexism still is alive and well in the movies, as male actors are held to a higher standard and producers continue to cater to male audiences.
Solid leading roles for actresses are still in high demand, but low supply and female directorship has failed to garner equal recognition.
We may not be able to place all of the blame on the poor penis. But the inequality of the sexes is perhaps best demonstrated in the objectification, or lack thereof, of the private parts.
Equal opportunity nudity might be a good place to start building the foundation for sameness among the sexes in Hollywood. An eye for an eye, a tit for...well, you know.
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