In the new film "Shame," an examination of the extremes of human sexuality, Brandon Sullivan, a successful, handsome New York executive afraid of intimacy, has frequent, random sex with prostitutes and strangers. At work, he sneaks off to masturbate in the men's room or extends his lunch hour with trysts.
The movie harshly depicts casual sex as an emotionally disconnected, meaningless defilement, as reflected in the the title. Brandon Sullivan is never permitted sexual enjoyment. Instead, his getting off is presented as alienating and self-destructive. The only time he he attempts to have sex with someone he knows, a co-worker, he can not perform.
In the end, punishment awaits Brandon, the presumable fate for all who have casual sex, as punctuated by the suicide attempt of Brandon' sister, who is similarly portrayed as sexually depraved.
-Psychology Today
