History Main / IdealizedSex

* FanFic/WolfSpider: Subverted, when [[spoiler: Taylor and Rachel]] have sex for the first time it is described as having been awkward and strange. This is to be expected since [[spoiler: Taylor]] was a virgin and [[spoiler: Rachel]] only had sex once before.

* ''Film/TheCooler''. Pretty short scene, but, umm... not due to editing. Even shows cellulite; for which they had to shoot in Nevada due to possession carrying a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence in Los Angeles.

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* ''Fanfic/AsFateWouldHaveIt'' while initially depicting Nate's and Yancy's [[TheirFirstTime first time]] as going pretty well aside from Yancy feeling a degree of pain for the first few minutes, it becomes a subversion towards the end. The story states that as hard as both of them try to continue making love further following their first orgasm, they soon feel tired thanks to their inexperience and drift to sleep in each other's arms not long after. No immediate round 2 or anything of the sort happening. Not to mention their lovemaking session ending only in the span of 6 or so minutes.

* The ''Series/JohnAdams'' miniseries averted this every which way with John and Abigail's bout of reunion sex in France; it's fast, clumsy, and a little bit sweaty. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming And still leaves viewers gazing dewy-eyed at the screen from the palpable emotions surging between them.]]

* One of Creator/BillEngvall's most famous routines involves how Idealized
Sex is different from real sex...which he knows from personal experience.

* In Creator/MorishimaAkiko's Angelic Girl, when Negama and Tsukimiya, both inexperienced, have sex for the first time, we see them talking afternath, and while they both enjoyed it, Tsukimiya mention that she was not able to come. Later in a Omake, Negama and Nana discuss the YuriGenre trope of two girls climaxing at the same time, the more experienced and more pragmatic Kei point out how rarely it really happen, and how if it do it's likely that one partner was faking it.

->''Learning to have sex from watching porn is about as effective as learning to drive from watching car chase movies.''

* In [[Creator/MorishimaAkiko]]'s Angelic Girl, when Negama and Tsukimiya, both inexperienced, have sex for the first time, we see them talking afternath, and while they both enjoyed it, Tsukimiya mention that she was not able to come. Later in a Omake, Negama and Nana discuss the YuriGenre trope of two girls climaxing at the same time, the more experienced and more pragmatic Kei point out how rarely it really happen, and how if it do it's likely that one partner was faking it.

* During the WallBangHer sex-scene in ''Film/{{Roadhouse}}'', the relative positions of both Patrick Swayze's and Kelly Lynch's bodies either means either Swayze's wing-wang is two-and-a-half feet long, or else they were dry humping. Still a hot scene, mind, but physically impossible.

** Likewise in "The Zeppo" when Xander loses his virginity with [[ReallyGetsAround Faith]]. After some romantic snuggling in bed we SmashCut to Faith booting him out the door now she's finished making use of him.

* One adaption of ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers|1993}}'' has D'Artagnan and Constance Bonacieux having a bit of implied trouble getting into position (they were just off-camera at the time). %%Please correct year if inaccurate.

* Pretty much any scene that is presented in such a way that it has sparked genuine debate as to whether the two actors actually had sex on camera. Some examples include Mickey Rourke and Carre Otis in the Unrated/NC-17 version of ''Wild Orchid'', Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in ''Don't Look Now'', the opening scene of ''Film/BettyBlue'', Tony Leung and Jane March (who was underage at the time of filming) in ''The Lover'', and Bruce Dern and Maud Adams in ''Tattoo''.

* Also played for laughs in ''Film/{{Crank}}'', where the protagonists heart has been stolen, and he needs to constantly maintain an adrenaline rush to keep the artificial replacement going and stay alive. Usually done by fighting bad guys, but it leads to quite a few DeusSexMachina scenes, the one that ''really'' takes the cake being where he's stuck in Chinatown with no such action to be found. He somehow convinces his girlfriend to do the deed right there. As in, in public, on a crowded street. (Possibly, the ''most'' unrealistic part is how willing she seems to do it.)

* The Korean film ''Eungyo'' (The Muse) has a scene in which the titular Muse is having sex with her boyfriend who is hovering so high above her that we can see her pelvis clearly enough to know that no penetration was occuring.

* ''Manga/FutariEcchi'', which seems to have "[[DeconstructedTrope Deconstruct]] Idealized Sex" as one of its goals, does indeed manage to be more realistic in its portrayal of sex—particularly the young, awkward-first-time sex only virgin newlyweds can manage.

* Although there's no actual on screen sex, the act is portrayed realistically as awkward and confusing in ''Film/TheFortyYearOldVirgin'' for a 40 year-old who's never done it. ConservationOfDetail is averted when he tries numerous times to put on a condom. [[spoiler: When he finally has sex, it goes pretty much as you'd expect]].

* One adaption of ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers|1993}}'' has D'artagnan and Constance Bonacieux having a bit of implied trouble getting into position (they were just off-camera at the time). %%Please correct year if inaccurate.
* ''Film/TheCooler''. Pretty short scene, but, umm... not due to editing. Even shows cellulite; for which they had to shoot in Nevada due to possession carrying a mandatory minimum 10 year sentence in Los Angeles.

* There have also been a growing number of mainstream films in which the realism of the sex scenes is unquestioned since the actors are actually having sex (''Shortbus'', ''All About Anna'', ''Film/BaiseMoi'', ''9 Songs'', etc.). However it can be debated whether this trope applies since as of 2010 no major mainstream production has featured such explicit material, with the possible exceptions of the "reality TV movie" ''The Real Cancun'' and the heavily-censored swingers scene in ''Film/{{Bruno}}.''

* The trope is referenced in ''Discworld/NightWatch'' with a porno novel entitled 'The Amorous Adventures of Molly Clapper', which had been passed around the Watch House for years. A fifty-plus year old Sam Vimes reminisced that he learned a lot from reading that book when he joined the Watch in his early twenties... and when he got married in his late forties, he discovered that most of what he had learned was wrong.
* In "To Take a Dare," by Crescent Dragonwagon and Paul Zindel, teenage Chrysta has lame first-time sex, gets an STI, then has to deal with her emotionally abusive dad finding the anti-biotics.

* ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' comically averts this during '''any''' sexual situation involving Nathan - actually, very few sex scenes in the show play this trope remotely straight, but if Nathan's involved you know you're in for something particularly disastrous. He's been shown to suffer from [[SpeedSex premature ejaculation]], has got his finger stuck in a girl's vagina during foreplay, and has displayed an o-face so off-putting and bizarre that his partner started laughing hysterically when she saw it. He also has a famous habit of "tripling" himself during sex - yes, kids, that's when you ejaculate, puke and shit yourself all at once - although luckily for everyone this one happens off-screen.

* Australian comedian Josh Thomas notes that for him, sex never involved [[TheImmodestOrgasm loud moaning and thrashing]], but more often, "Mm... mm... oh, gosh... mm... OH SHIT are you alright?! ... and then it takes you a while to get back into the rhythm..."

* One adaption of ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers'' has D'artagnan and Constance Bonacieux having a bit of implied trouble getting into position (they were just off-camera at the time).

* Any of Samantha's sex scenes in ''SexAndTheCity'' count, though injuries are frequently shown in this instance. There's still a ludicrous amount of screaming, thrashing and athleticism.

* Very common in works by the [[TheDesAngesClan Des Anges sisters]]; sex is at best a pain in the ass to clean up after, and will often feature fumbling, awkwardness, pain, and swearing at inanimate objects.

* Pretty much any scene that is presented in such a way that it has sparked genuine debate as to whether the two actors actually had sex on camera. Some examples include Mickey Rourke and Carre Otis in the Unrated/NC-17 version of ''Wild Orchid'', Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in ''Don't Look Now'', the opening scene of ''Betty Blue'', Tony Leung and Jane March (who was underage at the time of filming) in ''The Lover'', and Bruce Dern and Maud Adams in ''Tattoo''.

* In "To Take a Dare," by Crescent Dragonwagon and Paul Zindel, teenage Chrysta has lame first-time sex, gets an STI, then has to deal with her emotionally abusive dad finding the anti-biotics.

* In To Take a Dare, by Crescent Dragonwagon and Paul Zindel, teenage Chrysta has lame first-time sex, gets an STI, then has to deal with her emotionally abusive dad finding the anti-biotics.

* In To Take a Dare by Crescent Dragonwagon and Paul Zindel, teenage Chrysta has lame first-time sex, gets an STI, then has to deal with her emotionally abusive dad finding the anti-biotics.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzGvESR4erc This]] ad for a dating site called Zoosk.com includes an ImagineSpot of two people trying to have IdealizedSex. They fail miserably.

* ''Manga/FutariEcchi'', which seems to have "[[DeconstructedTrope Deconstruct]] IdealizedSex" as one of its goals, does indeed manage to be more realistic in its portrayal of sex—particularly the young, awkward-first-time sex only virgin newlyweds can manage.

* As well as showing quite a considerable amount of IdealizedSex between the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Lizzie Siddal and various prostitutes, ''Series/DesperateRomantics'' does at least depict Lizzie encouraging Gabriel to abandon the prophylactics they have apparently been using prior to their marriage. There is also some awkwardness shown between Millais and Effie the first time they're in bed together, though they get over it later in the series.

* One of Creator/BillEngvall's most famous routines involves how IdealizedSex is different from real sex...which he knows from personal experience.

* Comical subversion in ''AFishCalledWanda''-- Otto makes some utterly ''hilarious'' O faces.

* Dealt with in ''Literature/TheSharingKnife''. Fawn's first time with a farmhand in a field while being bitten by gnats was not at all what she expected, and ended with her an unwed mother. On the other hand, her first time (and every other time) with ''Dag'' is one of the most joyful experiences of her life, but that's due to his intentional effort.

In the same way that CPR is presented as [[CleanPrettyReliable clean, pretty, and reliable]], sex in fiction has a tendency to gloss over the more awkward aspects. Sure, maybe it's explored if it's TheirFirstTime to highlight the characters' inexperience, but most of the time sex is very different to how it is in real life. Issues like impotence, pregnancy, STD's ([[STDImmunity or not]]) can come up, but generally only when it's a plot point, deployed for drama. Realism is simply a lower priority than RuleOfSexy, RuleOfFunny, {{Fetish}}, avoiding FetishRetardant, avoiding FanDisservice, and so on.

# A lot of this is due to TheLawOfConservationOfDetail (why waste time showing characters putting on condoms when we want to get to the good stuff?). If it's not important and progressing the plot, mentioning it would only distract the audience.

# GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex, not just clean sex but skilled passionate sex. Realistic sex would make the characters look clumsy and unheroic.
# Giving too much detail about sex would upset the MoralGuardians. Even if those details are the kind of thing that might show that sex isn't always perfect and wonderful.

Also, note that this trope [[TropesAreNotBad is not necessarily bad]]. Sometimes the audience might genuinely enjoy idealized torrid steamy sex. Hell, there's a multi-billion-dollar industry built around it: pornography.

For sexual variations such as sadomasochism, all of the above applies. But since these sexualities are less known, there can ''also'' be heavy doses of bad research, CreatorsApathy, and sometimes also AcceptableTargets.

If your example falls under one of the following subtropes, please make sure that it is added to that page rather than here