A large body of work exists on women’s sexuality and its construction and
misrepresentation in media texts, yet little research analyses explicit sex scenes
in mainstream film. Drawing on textual analyses of the sex scenes in Basic
Instinct (P. Verhoeven, 1992), Body of Evidence (U. Edel, 1993) and
Disclosure (B. Levinson, 1994), the article addresses these issues more
specifically. We argue that a consideration of the heterosexual identities and the
heterosexual sexual practice (heterosex) displayed in the films can offer
opportunities for the disruption of hegemonic heteronormativity. Two of the films
discussed - Body of Evidence and Disclosure - offer powerful,
although stereotyped forms of feminine heterosexual identity and subversive sexual
practice. The final film considered - Basic Instinct - displays alternative
forms of feminine sexuality, but ultimately returns to a publicly sanctioned form of
heterosexual identity. Within all three films the coding of heterosex,
heterosexuality and feminism incompletely conforms to a heteronormative framing,
offering space for the viewer to possibly reassess sex and heterosexuality.
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