Here at Bright Desire we’ve long championed the female gaze in erotic film. We’re glad to see more mainstream film and TV productions following suit. So here’s a list of female gaze sex scenes that we love.
Warning: This article contains spoilers
At time of writing we’re halfway through series 3 of Bridgerton, which ended with a rather thrilling female gaze sex scene in the back of a carriage (more on that shortly). Bridgerton has become rightly famous for the way the sex scenes are shot: they consistently give priority to the woman’s point of view and to female pleasure during sex. This means the scenes don’t follow the usual tropes for sex scenes that we see in most other mainstream films and TV shows. There’s a lot less penetration and a hell of a lot more clitoral stimulation and cunnilingus. The female gaze is a handy term to describe this non-traditional method of filming sex.
Bridgerton: Colin and Penelope
Season 3 Episode 4 left us on a very intense sexual moment between Penelope and Colin. A declaration of love led to some serious fingering fun in the back of a carriage, with the focus entirely on how much pleasure Penelope was enjoying. Usually this sort of moment results in a rush to penetration but of course this is Regency England where that sort of thing was saved for marriage. And what’s more, this is a female gaze sex scene where the woman’s experience takes priority. After months – years – of buildup in their friendship, the emotional climax of Colin’s declaration made the fumbling rush for Penelope’s cunt even sweeter.
Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope, has said that part 2 contains a nude sex scene and that she was keen to show her body as a “fuck you” to all the people who were policing her body, telling her she was too fat to be sexy. We’re looking forward to the scene. Including a diversity of bodies is another example of female gaze sex scenes – it’s about showing that women can enjoy sex no matter how they look.
Bridgerton: Daphne and Simon
We can’t just stop at one when it comes to Bridgerton. The whole series is chock full of glorious sex scenes shot with the female gaze (a shout out goes to all the hot scenes between Anthony and Kate, including a fab cuddling-and-cunnilingus bit in series 3). The multiple scenes between Daphne and Simon in series 1 really set the tone and gave us some seriously spicy moments. It all started with Simon’s advice on masturbation which led to Daphne’s first moment’s of sexual exploration. At this point, showing female masturbation on screen is still rare and to show it in the context of repressive Regency England is almost shocking. So already the focus in on women achieving pleasure
When Daphne and Simon are finally married, a veritable sex-fest ensues and they’re getting it on everywhere, at every opportunity. But there’s a catch. He doesn’t want to get her pregnant. So penetration to male orgasm is off the table. This leads to a whole bunch of female gaze sex scenes where Simon does his best to make Daphne come. This includes two glorious cunnilingus scenes, including one on a ladder in the library and one on the stairs. Hot stuff.
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire
Directed by Céline Sciamma, this film tells the story of an 18th century artist, Marianne, commissioned to paint a portrait of Heloise, an aristocrat who will be married off once the painting is finished. Heloise doesn’t want to be painted so Marianne must study her and paint in secret. Thus, the entire film becomes about the female gaze, about looking and admiring and really seeing another person. Marianne’s gaze leads to desire and eventually Heloise reciprocates. This leads to several gorgeous queer sex scenes. Here, the lovers are totally equal and pleasure is shared without any power exchange. The film also features a shot of hand massaging an armpit which very deliberately looks like a vulva. It’s all very evocative and super sexy.
Outlander
We’re now up to series 8 and Outlander has become known for its intense female gaze sex scenes. These include cunnilingus outdoors in the Highlands and plenty of moments with Claire on top of Jamie, rubbing her clit and enjoying her orgasms. But special mention must be made of the wedding episode back in series 1. In a sex scene that almost spans an entire episode (ep 7), experienced Claire and virgin Jamie get to know each other and then get to it. Every erotic moment is teased out to enhance the sexual tension. Special mention needs to be made of the moment Claire orders Jamie to strip and then slowly inspects him. There’s lingering shots of Sam Heughan’s sculpted body and butt, as the camera invites us to admire him through her eyes. This is real female gaze stuff. Claire’s takes charge and enjoys herself, and the third and final fuck is full of intense emotion. Though it’s a marriage of political convenience, it soon becomes apparent that the two are falling in love.
Bound
Before The Matrix, the Wachowskis made their first film Bound. This tells the story of a lesbian romance between gangster girlfriend Corky (Jennifer Tilly) and her neighbour Violet (Gina Gershon). The sexual tension builds until the two finally get it on in an erotic and realistic sex scene that features plenty of fingering and fisting. The Wachowskis asked On Our Backs editor / sex educator Susie Bright to be a consultant for the scene, ensuring the moment was authentically queer. Up until then lesbian sex was very taboo on screen so this scene is something of a historic moment for the queer female gaze in film.
The Piano
Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning 1993 film explores a mute woman’s experiences as she’s sold into marriage in faraway New Zealand. Ada (Holly Hunter) has an affair with farmer George Baines (Harvey Keitel) after he buys her abandoned piano and trades sexual favours each key. Though their erotic interactions are transactional at first, Ada falls for George and explores her own sexuality with him. There’s a moment when George touches Ada through a hole in her stocking which is intensely erotic and mimics rubbing a clitoris. The camera also lingers over the body of Keitel when he strips nude and uses his shirt to polish the piano in a scene of sexual longing. The shot invites us to admire Baines and to see his sexual vulnerability. The sex scenes themselves feature a strong female gaze, with a focus on touch and female pleasure. We see George touching Ada to make her come, rather than penetration.
Female Gaze Scene Scenes Honorable Mentions
Minx
This fantastic TV show is all about the creation of a women’s sex mag, Minx, and the struggles of its feminist creator to bring her dream to life. The entire show is essentially about how to embody the female gaze a magazine. As it’s set in the 70s, male centerfolds make up a big part of the mag. The series has fun with shooting these scenes, unabashedly showing full frontal male nudity. In some cases, the penises and male bodies are the whole focus of the shot, minus the men’s faces, deliberately inverting male gaze tropes. In the very first episode there’s a sequence called the penis montage which very deliberately shows a lot of cocks. The plotlines also explore female sexuality, with Joyce’s sister Shelley discovering vibrators, orgasms and lesbian relationships.
The Great
This fun TV series offers a very fictionalised account of the life of Catherine The Great and that includes plenty of sex scenes. The series featured a mix of male and female directors and we like it because it doesn’t shy away from showing Catherine, her maid and the other court ladies as sexual beings. Catherine leans to enjoy sex via several sensual scenes with her lover Leo but it’s the moment where Peter ducks under her dress and gives cunnilingus that gets the attention. Catherine, caught unaware by an orgasm, sets out to make her husband do it more often, with hilarious – and sexy results.
Of course, if you’re keen for female gaze sex scenes that are explicit, you’ll find plenty of them here at Bright Desire.
