The "unnatural" movie scene Hollywood didn't want you to see.

I’d like for us to take a moment to talk about oral sex. Specifically, men giving the ladies oral sex, which is totally GROSS amiright?

Oh wait – that’s just what Hollywood thinks. Which would explain why a man sawing off his own leg is officially rated as less offensive than a woman getting head.

Hollywood isn’t exactly known for it’s equitable treatment of women in films. Be it in the form of pay-packets, or simply the lack of scenes that include women not talking about men.

But the warped attitudes towards women as sexual beings who enjoy pleasure is pretty darn concerning. Basically, there are ridiculous double standards in film when it comes to oral sex.

Allow me to explain:

Sex scenes = totally fine

Violence = totally fine

Sexual violence = totally fine

Graphic murder/torture = totally fine

Woman giving man oral sex = totally fine

Man giving woman oral sex = DISGUSTING AND MUST BE CUT FROM FILM IMMEDIATELY

The proof is in the totally appropriate and not at all sexual pudding. In the US, the MPAA (the standards board that gives all films a classification) has a reputation for giving films that feature men going down on women the highest possible rating, NC-17.

That is basically the equivalent of XXX, and because most cinemas aren’t allowed to show NC-17 films, it also pretty much guarantees a film will fail at the box office. Most producers choose to cut the evil, scary and unnatural lady-pleasure scene in exchange for a lower rating.

But recently, some high profile actors have been calling out this double standard for what it is: ridiculous and clearly sexist.

Evan Rachel Wood, star of the soon-to-be released Charlie Countryman, went on an awesome Twitter rant over weekend when she found out the film had only received a lower rating when the producers agreed to cut the scene in which her character receives oral sex, even though graphically violent scenes were allowed to remain:

“I would like 2 share my disappointment with the MPAA, who thought it was necessary to censor a womans [sic] sexuality once again…the scene where the two main characters make ‘love’ was altered because someone felt that seeing a man give a woman oral sex made people ‘uncomfortable’ but the scenes in which people are murdered by having their heads blown off remained intact and unaltered.

This is a symptom of a society that wants to shame women and put them down for enjoying sex, especially when (gasp) the man isn’t getting off as well! Its hard for me to believe that had the roles been reversed it still would have been cut OR had the female character been raped it would have been cut. Its time for people to GROW UP.

Accept that women are sexual beings. Accept that some men like pleasuring women. Accept that women don’t have to just be fucked and say thank you. We are allowed and entitled to enjoy ourselves. Its time we put our foot down.”

Damn. Straight.

Wood isn’t the first actor to point out the blatant sexism and hyprocrisy when it comes to women and sex in film. In 2010, Ryan Gosling released a similar statement when a scene in Blue Valentine that portrayed his character giving his wife oral sex resulted in the film getting the maximum possible rating:

“You have to question a cinematic culture which preaches artistic expression, and yet would support a decision that is clearly a product of a patriarchy-dominant society, which tries to control how women are depicted on screen.

The MPAA is okay supporting scenes that portray women in scenarios of sexual torture and violence for entertainment purposes, but they are trying to force us to look away from a scene that shows a woman in a sexual scenario, which is both complicit and complex. It’s misogynistic in nature to try and control a woman’s sexual presentation of self. I consider this an issue that is bigger than this film.”

Harvey Weinstein, the producer of Blue Valentine, added his own (less eloquent, but certainly more to the point) statement, when referring to the fact that Piranha 3D managed to get a lower rating than Blue Valentine: “A penis got coughed up in the movie by a piranha!”

So what the hell is going on? How is it that a woman enjoying oral sex is considered MORE offensive than a piranha coughing up a penis? How is it that a woman enjoying oral sex receives a higher rating than a woman cutting a key out of a man’s stomach in order to open the exploding bear trap locked around her head (SAW)? How is it that a woman enjoying oral sex receives a higher rating than a man drilling holes into a woman’s head before blow torching her eye while she screams in pain (Hostel)?

What is so damn offensive about a woman getting her rocks off when a man doesn’t?

Nothing. Not a damn thing. But it’s a crappy double standard that has a ripple effect larger that we realise.

I have adult female friends who have never even had an orgasm, let alone a sexual experience in which they’d be comfortable enough to ask a man to pleasure them orally.

Maybe if popular culture considered a woman’s pleasure less offensive than a blowtorch to the eye, they wouldn’t be afraid to ask.

What’s more unnatural to you? A dude sawing his own leg off or a woman getting a bit of happy-time?