Henry Cavill criticizes sex scenes in movies, which have become the subject of some debate in recent years. Put on the map by his starring role in Man of Steel, Cavill has gone on to become one of the most recognizable movie stars of his generation. Since starring as Superman, the actor, who remains a favorite for the role of James Bond, has appeared in the likes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Witcher, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and most recently, Argylle.

During a recent conversation with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to promote Argylle, Cavill weighs in on the movie sex scene debate, which continues to surface regularly on social media.

After Argylle director Matthew Vaughn expresses that he “can’t get [his] head around” directing sex scenes, Cavill shares his own candid thoughts on the matter, making clear that he often thinks that sex scenes are unnecessary. Check out his full comment below:

“I also don’t understand them. I’m not a fan.

“I think there are circumstances where a sex scene actually is beneficial to the movie, rather than just the audience. I think sometimes they’re overused these days. It’s when you have a sense where you’re going: ‘Is this really necessary? Or is it just people with less clothing on?’ And that’s where you start to get more uncomfortable and you’re thinking there’s not a performance here. There’s not a piece which is going to carry through in the rest of the movie.

“Sex scenes can be great in a movie, they can really help with the storytelling, but most of the time, the human imagination is going to trump it. So I think it can be a little bit of a cop out if a TV show or a movie is just filled with gyrating bodies.”

Henry Cavill’s Sex Scene Criticism Explained

The Arguments For And Against Sex In Movies

To put Cavill’s comments in context, UCLA released a study last October that finds Gen Z viewers interested in seeing less sex on screen. The study followed several notable releases, including Oppenheimer and The Idol, that sparked debates regarding just how necessary sex scenes were to the story that a movie or TV show was telling. A central argument against is that sex scenes are often more distracting and uncomfortable than anything else, and they rarely need to actually be seen on screen to tell an effective story,

The Idol came under fire featuring an abundance of sex and nudity, both of which were widely deemed gratuitous and even misogynistic.

Even before Oppenheimer was released, the film was making headlines for its R rating, a rarity for director Christopher Nolan. The film earned the rating in part due to its depiction of sex and nudity, and Nolan would justify the decision to include these scenes before the movie even released, explaining that they were crucial to creating an accurate portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life and persona. While the glowing Oppenheimer reviews suggest that Nolan was right, whether a sex scene is crucial to the specific story being told is only part of the argument.

One of the most intense scenes in Oppenheimer didn’t involve an explosion, but rather an iconic quote and a particularly intimate scene.

Sex has a long history in movies, and sometimes it’s undeniably only present to titillate. Some have argued that this titillation can be an integral ingredient in the movie-going experience. Another argument is that sex is too crucial an element of the human experience to be excluded from TV and movies. Clearly, whether there is too much sex in movies and TV is a nuanced issue and one that will garner different responses from different viewers, but Cavill is clearly interested in seeing a little less of it on screen.