Lesbians, latex and $2,000 condoms: why are this summer’s movies so obsessed with sex?

<p>From One Night Only to The Invite, a wave of new movies are a raunchy antidote to gen Z celibacy</p><p>The <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex-recession/573949/">first alarm bells</a> sounded nearly 10 years ago, and since then, a deluge of books, podcasts and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/opinion/gen-z-sex-celibacy-relationships.html">roundtables</a> has tried to get at the bottom of the problem: why is gen Z not having sex?</p><p>Recently it’s as though culture has been recalibrated to make up for the youth’s apparent frigidity. “Smut” literature is on the rise, prestige TV is now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/apr/15/margos-got-money-troubles-review-elle-fanning-apple-tv">depicting</a> OnlyFans models, and indie films have taken a turn <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/may/18/pillion-review-50-shades-of-bsdm-wallace-and-gromit-in-brilliant-bromley-biker-romance">towards</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZI8G4lfbgc">kink</a>. This summer, through confused young protagonists and their sexual misadventures, the movies are zeroing in on generational attitudes about sex.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/10/sex-film-one-night-only-the-invite-camp-miasma">Continue reading...</a>