For all the (slow) progress pop culture has made in embracing queer sex, it's been particularly slow to embrace one aspect in particular — the strap-on.
In 2023, The Daily Beastquestioned whether strap-ons are "the last taboo of sex on TV," noting how few and far between scenes that have featured them have been over the years. When they are featured, it's often as a joke, and more likely to revolve around role reversals in heterosexual sex rather than anything queer.
But some movies and TV shows (and pop icons) have done their best to celebrate strap-ons all the same, creating some unforgettable sapphic moments that we're more than happy to revisit.
Netflix
Viewers already knew that Sense8 was going to include a lot of top notch sex scenes, thanks to the first few minutes of the series already including Nomi (Jamie Clayton) and Amanita (Freema Agyeman) getting it on with the help of a trusty strap.
Christina Aguilera made serious headlines when she donned a glittery green strap for her duet with Kim Petras during LA Pride in 2022. Truly iconique.
This 2002 adaptation of Sarah Waters' queer classic Tipping the Velvet may have been made for TV, but that didn't stop them from pushing some serious boundaries for the aughts. This includes Nan (Rachael Stirling) being sent to fetch something from the trunk of one of her lovers, only to be stunned by the discovery of a harness and strap she was expected to put on. Whew!
Despite its many, many, many sex scenes, The L Word wasn't exactly known for its use of sex toys throughout the series. Actually, the most memorable scene involving toys has got to be when Alice (Leisha Hailey) brings Dana (Erin Daniels) on a shopping trip to a local sex store.
Sales Clerk: "If you use it with a harness, you can detach the dіldо, leave the bսtt plսg inside while you do other things."
Dana: "What, like, the dishes?"
And then, of course, was The Real L Word, an oft-forgotten reality series that followed real queer women in Los Angeles (and later New York) and tried to be just as dramatic and raunchy as its fictional counterpart. This ultimately included an extremely controversial scene that showed two of the show's participants having sex using a strap-on.
The only strap-on sex scene in seven seasons of Orange is the New Black featured none other than Big Boo (Lea DeLaria), and was praised for actually showing a "fat, butch, middle-aged lesbian" having sex with the same explicitness as the show's other scenes.
"We all know that one of the biggest talking points of the year was that I have a dick, so why not give them what they want?" Lady Gaga told Q when she posed for their 2010 magazine cover. "I want to wear a dick strapped to my vagina."
That's some queen shit right there.
Focus Features
Pariah centers around the ideas of identity and expectations, so it's actually quite fitting that its strap-on scene involves Alike (Adepero Oduye) deciding that the strap-on purchased for her by her best friend is not actually for her after all.
HBO Max
The relationship Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has with Che (Sara Ramirez) may have been the most controversial aspect of Sex and the City revival series And Just Like That... But their strap-on scene was arguably a step up from that time the original series had Samantha (Kim Cattrall) briefly get a girlfriend — and throw out her back during their off-screen strap play.
Technically, no strap-on was present when Chappell Roan performed a brand new song, "The Giver," during her appearance on Saturday Night Live. But with lyrics like "Good luck finding a man who has the means / To rhinestone cowgirl all night long," we all knew exactly what she was going on about.
