History Main / ModestyBedsheet

* Invoked in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' by the ''title character'', of all people. In the middle of Buckingham Palace. Subverted in that far from having had sex, he was simply too lazy to put his clothes on before Mycroft's people hauled him off for a meeting. He's quick to grab the sheet when it starts to slide off (because his brother stepped on it to keep him from walking away). He is, however, willing to use the threat of abandoning the sheet as leverage against said brother, who is already ticked off about his state of undress.

** This is often averted with the original, opting instead to go with either selective blurring/framing to avoid showing any "naughty bits". Even still, at least on one occasion, a nipple of a female victim manages to get in-frame.

Somebody, somewhere, may have actually done this in real life. Once. Maybe. It's of course largely illogical, as they've already seen each other completely naked. It's equally illogical when a character is actually all ''alone''--although a chilly bedroom might be a possible explanation. In which case, you might expect her to wrap not a sheet but the whole ''duvet'' about herself - or to be wearing a big thick passion-killing flanelette nightie, which would be more typical of a woman sleeping alone on a cold night.

* Laetitia Casta playing Brigitte Bardot does a phenomenally sexy dance with a modesty bedsheet in the French film {{Gainsbourg}}.

* Bizarrely played straight in ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' with Jack and Rose in the back of a car. Not only is it uncertain where they ''got'' the blanket, but it took place not '''ten minutes''' after the famous nudie painting scene. Allegedly, this was because of JamesCameron's tiptoeing around the censors, to still allow the movie to be PG-13. Nudity while posing for a painting probably counted as "tasteful", while nudity during coitus probably did not.

Note also that women are rarely on top; it's harder to shoot a woman on top without showing her breasts. Missionary position is TV-friendly. The ModestyBedsheet covers both partners in this position, and allows for lascivious hip churning while never actually showing anything explicit.

Even in pay cable shows such as ''Entourage'' and ''Californication'', which freely show topless women, sex scenes frequently feature sheets tightly wrapped around the waists of the two actors simulating coitus in a manner that would be difficult and time-consuming to accomplish in real life.

* Invoked in ''{{Sherlock}}'' by the ''title character'', of all people. In the middle of Buckingham Palace. Subverted in that far from having had sex, he was simply too lazy to put his clothes on before Mycroft's people hauled him off for a meeting. He's quick to grab the sheet when it starts to slide off (because his brother stepped on it to keep him from walking away). He is, however, willing to use the threat of abandoning the sheet as leverage against said brother, who is already ticked off about his state of undress.
* Parodied on an {{SNL}} sketch with AlecBaldwin showing various SoapOpera clips where both men and women walk away from the bed with a sheet already attached and covering their body without them holding it!
* Justified in HowIMetYourMother both times Robin sleeps with TheCasanova Barney when they aren't actually dating. She feels bad because she slept with her ex-boyfriend's friend and she usually mocks the type of chicks Barney sleeps with. The second time she was cheating on Kevin and Barney was with Nora.

* This trope and variations thereof are more common in real life than you might think. Many people have no problem being naked ''during sex'', but once the passions cool, they may suddenly feel self-conscious and cover up.

**** Exceedingly bright lights are also used to wash out any naughty bits on either men or women cavaders that can't be reasonably hidden in the scene by a modesty sheet. Aparrently, the ceiling lights in the average autopsy lab kick out more light then the sun.

While this is a censorship trope, it is also a FanService one- a woman wearing solely a bedsheet is, well, a woman [[TheissTitillationTheory wearing solely a bedsheet]]...

* The L-shaped sheet is skewered in [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-products-that-only-exist-in-movies this]] ''{{Website/Cracked}}'' article.

* Lampshaded in ''BridgetJones: The Edge of Reason'', when Bridget is getting out of bed trying to cover herself with the bedsheet, and her bedmate points out that it's a silly thing to do because "I happen to have a very high regard for your wobbly bits." She promptly decides to drop the sheet.

* Used by one girl in [[http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5009523/ this comic]] of ''Webcomic/TheKAMics'' (the other girl uses a pillow.)

* In an episode of ''CovertAffairs'', Auggie is on vacation and romances a woman. The next morning, she holds a bedsheet uncomfortably over herself while having a conversation with him. This is especially amusing because Auggie is blind, so she has no in character justification at all.

** Edna Krabbapel in one scene in which she is covered in a {{Spider-Man}} bed cover after having sex with Comic Book Guy in her apartment.
*** Actually, it was a t-shirt.

* In the movie ''{{Holes}}'', Stanley showers in his swimming trunks... probably {{justified|Trope}} by the fact that he thought they were all under constant surveillance.
** Well, and he was outside with barely any division from him and the desert and there is at least ONE woman at camp.

* Invoked in ''{{Sherlock}}'' by the ''title character'', of all people. In the middle of Buckingham Palace. Subverted in that far from having had sex, he was simply too lazy to put his clothes on before Mycroft's people hauled him off for a meeting. He also displays a perfect willingness to abandon the sheet as soon as it becomes an inconvenience.
** Not exactly "perfect willingness"--he's quick to grab the sheet when it starts to slide off (because his brother stepped on it to keep him from walking away). He is, however, willing to use the ''threat'' of abandoning the sheet as leverage against said brother, who is already ticked off about his state of undress.

** Wash and Zoe also use one when they're in bed together (during "Shindig" and "Objects in Space")-- in "Shindig" this sheet just ''happens'' to be laying over Zoe's body in such a way that it covers anything potentially inappropriate but leaves the length of her legs exposed. (Of course, considering they're Wash's favorite part of her body...[[hottip:*:Well, there and where her legs meet her back... actually, that whole area...]])

** Another time, Homer barges in on Ned Flanders in the bath. When asked about the swim trunks he's wearing, Ned says that they are there so he won't have to see his own "shrinky-dink". [[hottip:*:In a later episode, "shrinky" is shown to be quite an understatement.]]

Whether you believe it or not, this trope is actually OlderThanFeudalism: There are numerous Roman wall paintings depicting couples during sex - with the woman wearing a brasserie, because it would've been considered lascivious for her to show her breasts. To her own husband. During sex.

* Utilized in [[TheMovie the film of]] TheRunaways by Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie.

* In one issue of ''{{Runaways}}'', Nico and Victor are found in bed together after what is pretty clearly implied to have been a sexual encounter. However, both are fully clothed.

* Ursula Andress in WW1 air epic ''TheBlueMax''. There is a protracted scene where she has a folded towel looped around her neck so that the two lengths of towel, draped strategically in front of her, both conceal most of a breast, or at least the nipples. Despite how she moves or speaks, despite how her unsupported breasts jiggle and move, ''her nipples are always concealed by the towel as if it was glued in place'' (and probably was).