Some minor spoilers for The Hunting Wives can be found throughout this piece.
Listen, it’s a hard truth that nudity is falling out of favor on the TV schedule. Ten to fifteen years ago, we had programs like Spartacus and Game of Thrones dropping sex scenes onto pay cable on a weekly basis. Now, as actors have landed more say over roles and intimacy coordinators have become the norm, we’ve seen fewer and fewer sex scenes. Part of this also has to do with Gen Z, an entire coming-of-age demographic that doesn’t actually love to see intimacy onscreen. Still, a new show on Netflix is defying the norms.
Netflix has been known for sexually explicit movies and shows from time to time. Regardless, I was a little surprised at how much nudity cropped up in The Hunting Wives when it hit the Netflix schedule at the tail end of July. In fact, the first episode shows Sophie (Brittany Snow), a bit of a fish out of water, wandering into a bathroom at a party in her new home state of Texas. There, she meets Margot (Malin Akerman), who stunningly drops her dress and shows off her naked body in front of the newcomer. It’s just a quick moment, but it sets the tone for a show about power dynamics, and one that continues to be sexually alluring through its runtime.
Despite The Hunting Wives, Nudity Is Declining On TV
Despite the fact there are TV orgy supercuts out there, the amount of nudity on the small screen has declined drastically over the past few decades. A study released by The Economist revealed that sex has declined on TV nearly 40% since the year 2000. Another roundup of commentary researched by UCLA found that GenZ prefers to see platonic relationships play out onscreen. In fact, of the test group, 51.5% expressed a desire for less sex and more friendship shown onscreen. Some also expressed a preference for fewer heteronormative relationships and more variety.
In this way, The Hunting Wives is also a bit exceptional. It’s a show about using sex to manipulate and to escape reality. It’s also a show about obsession and fantasy, and one young woman going out of her way to explore beyond the confines of her own marriage… with another woman. Brittany Snow’s character is a bit out of her depth in small-town Texas, but her new friend Margot helps her to adjust fairly quickly, teaching her about both guns and sex, and encouraging her to engage in more hedonistic behaviors away from home.
It’s not the type of role we’ve seen from Snow in past gigs like Pitch Perfect, and it's kind of nice to see her spice things up. In addition, her character's addictive personality is manipulated by Margot in a way that makes for compelling TV, but also some pretty sexy stuff, filmed from with a feminine eye. (All episodes of The Hunting Wives were directed by women.)
Despite the ulterior motives from the gals, I think The Hunting Wives handles its sex both explicitly and tactfully for the most part, and it adds an intriguing subtext to the sin-in-small-town America plotline.
Given the show’s had a solid run on Netflix’s Top 10 list, I do feel there is still an appetite for sexually explicit content out there. (At least if I can use my coworker's reaction to The Hunting Wives as evidence.) Sure, a significant chunk of Gen Z may not be as interested, but there are a lot of streaming audiences out there that still have an appetite for this stuff. I think when it's done well, sex scenes still have a place on television, and I'm glad the new Netflix drama chose to not forgo some of its sexier stuff.
Obviously, if you aren’t a fan of boobs flashed on your home TV or if have young kids in the home, I am absolutely not recommending you throw on The Hunting Wives. But if you’re a consenting adult missing the days HBO got a little rowdy, Malin Akerman and Brittany Snow’s fun new Netflix show is a great substitute.
