Sexy As Sin

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The prestige erotic drama, which exploded across Hollywood in the late 80s, incorporated dozens of films, stars and directors. Yet one man remains associated with the genre above all. Adrian Lyne’s contribution may only have been three films but each represented a major milestone in the sultry sub-genre. If Fatal Attraction gave the genre its cultural capital and Indecent Proposal marked its sleazily glamorous apex, then 9½ Weeks, which preceded both, sent it hurtling into the mainstream. It may not have birthed the genre – that happened around the time of Body Heat – but it did plenty to set the defining tone of bold, brazen, faux-thoughtful filth.

The pair’s burgeoning BDSM relationship is presented as unabashedly bizarre – and with no little humour – but also as heartfelt and sweet, a kind of therapy for the two emotionally stunted human beings who respectively harbour complexes about power, shame and transgression. With its weaving together of a workplace ardour and kink-laden bedroom antics, Secretary is a film with an obvious modern-day counterpart – Spader’s white-collar leather enthusiast is even called Mr Grey. Unlike its descendant, though, this is a movie whose real interest lies not in snatched glances of its character’s airbrushed flesh but in many the shades of dysfunction and intrigue that lie underneath.Over the course of the 1980s, as Reaganite America chomped its cigars and flexed its economic muscle, one genre above all others emerged at the fore of Hollywood: the ultra-macho action movie. While Clint Eastwood had embodied the morally dubious antihero of the Watergate-tainted 70s, this new era of American self-confidence needed a different kind of icon: ripped, righteous and ripe with cheap one-liners. And so arrived an onslaught of uncritical violence carried out by Arnie, Sly and their legions of straight-to-video imitators. Bound made her a lesbian. The Wachowski siblings’ directorial debut tells the story of Corky, a charismatic ex-con who begin an affair with the wife of a mafia money-launderer and together the pair hatch a plan to make off with a big bag of the abusive husband's cash. Ironically for a film whose worst moments now seem awkwardly regressive, American Pie’s greatest impact – outside of additions to the lexicon – was to nudge the teen comedy away from the laddishly leering blueprint of the 80s and towards something that, for all its unchaste obscenity, was markedly more wholesome. The film stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna as goofy school-age buddies and from the opening shot, which shows one of our heroes frantically going at it with his girlfriend, it's clear that fornication will play a central role in the next couple of hours. And so it does, the pair soon making friends with an enigmatic older woman at the races and regaling her with tales of an idyllic beach spot, which – metaphor alert – doesn't actually exist. Before long the three have set off on a journey towards sun, sea and, yes, life-changing self-discovery.

When it comes to the millennial generation’s defining coming-of-age movies, Clueless has a lot to answer for. The success of the teen-centred Emma adaption inspired a frenzied craze for remaking celebrated centuries-old classics as cheeky modern high-school romps. Twelfth Night became She’s the Man, A Midsummer Night’s Dream became Get Over It, Pygmalion became She’s All That and The Taming of the Shrew became 10 Things I Hate About You. And Dangerous Liaisons became the most excitedly whispered-about pulpy teen sex drama of the decade – the one where Buffy the Vampire Slayer seduces her step-brother with the never-to-be-forgotten offer: “You can put it anywhere”. Their second lesson: When it comes to poses and facial expressions, less is more. I have a hard time getting my face to behave when I’m posing for pictures—nude or not—but all three photographers encouraged me to chill. The same goes for posing. Beskin told me that some of the most beautiful boudoir shots are those that capture natural, imperfect moments—because they capture the kind of authentic intimacy you share with your partner on a regular basis. After my initial interviews, I had the chance to model in my very own boudoir shoot. It's perfectly healthy to role play or try new things in bed; it can be a great way for couples to spice up their sex life. But certain fantasies may be more difficult to talk to your partner about than others, such as ones that involve group sex, or getting busy with someone else. It's also important to know that imagining yourself enjoying oral sex with that friendly barista doesn't necessarily mean that you're looking to cheat or in you're in the throes of an emotional affair. Nearly 85 percent of women fantasize about getting down in a sultry locale, like on a deserted beach, the survey in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found. It's not just because we've been conditioned by romance novel covers, although that does play a part—"for women, emotional and contextual factors are more prominent in fantasies," says Levy, and a romantic setting can help get you revved up. Hindsight – and the fact that the film has managed a shelf-life far longer than its peers – suggests differently. Taken alongside Verhoeven other films of the same period ( RoboCop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Showgirls), it now looks a lot like a key part of a masterful project to paint a portrait of American depravity using the very trashiest materials within Hollywood itself. Watching it now, Basic Instinct looks less like a brazen attempt to titillate viewers than a winking, eyebrow-raised comment on viewers’ appetite for titillation – not that it altogether neglected the former, as many late-night Channel 5 viewers will be well aware.Just because you like the idea of being naked in front others doesn't necessarily mean you've got an exhibitionist streak. Remember, "fantasies permit us to engage in imaginary scenarios without real-world complications—like jealousy, hurt feelings, offending others, or even risking arrest," says David A. Levy, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and marriage and family therapist based in Los Angeles. Ever had a sexy stranger show up in your dreams? Nearly 50 percent of women reported that they fantasize about having sex with an unknown person, according to the survey in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found. "The anonymous 'stranger' fantasy permits people to avoid issues like attachment, intimacy, or jealousy," Levy says.

Erotica often gets labeled a "guilty pleasure," and while, I mean, yes—there are many campy books to read, some of which are on this list—there are plenty of erotic novels that overlap with genre and literary fiction. Some of these books have inspired Golden Globe-nominated shows, after all (hi, Outlander!). In other words, erotic novels are fun, they're sexy, and they can be prestigious. I mean, where else could you find hot billionaires, rugged war heroes, professors that don't mind giving you a "D" (jokes!), or actors who are just as hot on the screen as they are off? Nowhere but NSFW stories! For the record, I would've happily included an image of my moodboard (it's mostly butt photos, because apparently I'm a huge fan of derrieres), but photo rights issues prevent me from doing so. So you'll just have to imagine all the sexy boudoir butt pics that inspired my shoot.

Sylvia, "Pillow Talk"

Roeg eventually appeased the censors by removing 0.3 seconds of footage and intercutting the sex with scenes of the couple getting dressed to go out afterwards (a technique that prefigured the great Clooney-Lopez love scene in Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight). But the scene remains famous – and rated as one of the best ever – not simply because of its alarming explicitness but because it broke a taboo few films ever venture near: the link between sex and death. Lehmiller's study also found that 59 percent of women fantasized about sex with other women. But if you've always identified as straight, a sexy dream about a woman doesn't necessarily mean you're suddenly not into men. "Female on female sex focuses on oral and clitoral stimulation, and this is how many women orgasm," says Bromley. "A fantasy about another woman could be about the desire to be pleasured in a way that women understand best." Fantasizing about being dominated doesn't imply that you're weak or that your partner is superior to you, though. "Fantasies involving power play may speak to a desire to gain or relinquish control regarding our private lives, work lives, or role in society," says Darnell. "Power dynamics in an erotic context create such sensorial arousal."