To sex or not to sex?

Hollywood has long been blamed for the influence of sex and violence on television and in the media on the youth of today. Romantic films in particular in modern times have continually used sex scenes in their story lines, and even the opening episode of Battlestar Galactica featured a very raunchy cylon (Tricia Helfer) having relations with Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) and whether it may have been essential to the storyline is not for me to say, but as I write the screenplay for the first love story I have ever written, I find myself asking the question - To Sex or Not to Sex?

Sexual relations portrayed on screen can most definitely show the closeness of two particular characters as in The Time Traveller's wife, and as evidenced by the aforementioned film can be portrayed without actually showing the act of intercourse itself. This makes me wonder whether Hollywood has allowed itself to be seduced by the sight of the box office returns on a film featuring nudity. Do we really have to bear all to portray intimacy or is it just Hollywood hype?

It seems to me that the question that should be asked when deciding whether or not to portray nudity in a feature film should be, does this enhance the story? If the portrayal of intimate relations in a film makes the story better, I am all for it. However, some portrayals of nudity are merely just nudity for nudity's sake. The scene from Battlestar Galactica where Tricia Helfer's spine glows red because we saw the subtle differences between the human model cylons and the humans they were trying to annihilate. This instance of nudity did enhance the storyline in my opinion but as I am not a staff writer for SyFy, I will never know whether or not it was essential for the story line of the series.

As I approach the intimacy scenes between the two main characters, I am still undecided as to whether or not I will portray the sex scenes. The story pretty much has a flow in my mind at the moment and although I have a story arc plan that I am following for the project, it seems to be taking on a life of its own. Even I, the writer, await with baited breath at what comes out of my own imagination.