Hey, Do You Guys Masturbate?: Female Pleasure in Coming of Age Films
The avoidance of depicting female pleasure in film is changing with modern coming of age stories.
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You are now reading an exclusive piece from the Film Daze Digital Magazine, Issue 6: Adolescence. Enjoy! - The Film Daze Team
Male masturbation has made for some of the most iconic scenes in coming of age movies. In Call Me By Your Name, Elio (Timothée Chalamet) uses a peach to get off, and in American Pie, Jim (Jason Biggs) has sex with an apple pie after being told that’s what it feels like to have sex with a girl. Male masturbation has always been seen as normal; it’s the subject of casual jokes and there are countless depictions of men touching themselves on-screen. Why isn’t the subject of female masturbation treated the same way? Women should be able to discuss their pleasure in the same way. An open discussion of self-pleasure helps young women understand that they are allowed to experience pleasure from sex. By masturbating, women have the opportunity to figure out what makes them feel good, which can make them more comfortable and confident in sexual s…