Don't get it twisted: Porn is great when I want to see straight-up nudity and pretend that I don't need buckets of lube to make anal sex pleasurable. It's gotten to that point where these days, sex scenes on Netflix can be more of a turn-on for me than actual porn. My hope is that these graphic, raw sex scenes will help those still exploring their identities to understand their sexualities are completely normal, no matter who they prefer. Thankfully, as cinematography has evolved, so has mainstream media's portrayal of intimacy across the spectrum of sexuality. (They were all PG-13-maybe the R-rated ones were a little more gratuitous, but I was too nervous to search for them on my family computer.) As a gay teenager still in the closet, these muted portrayals of queer sexuality only furthered the idea that my identity was something I needed to hide.
When I was younger, most LGBTQ sex scenes I saw didn't show much beyond two people passionately making out, a little hand-over-the-crotch action, and tight shots of faces moaning.