When Did ‘Modern Family’ Become So Obsessed With Sex?

A couple weeks ago, I fell victim to the flu that’s been plaguing our world. Dizzy, feverish, and surrounded by tissues, I turned to the one thing that’s guaranteed to make me feel better when I’m really, truly sick — ABC family sitcoms. But by hour three of my binge, I had a surprising revelation. Without me paying attention, Modern Family has become surprising cavalier about its treatment of sex.

As far as family sitcoms go, Modern Family has always been a bit flippant about sex to he show’s credit. Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan‘s show has always prided itself on depicting the realistic spats that drive families apart and pull them together, and sex plays a role in those stories, albeit often indirectly. The main conflict of the series initially revolved around Claire (Julie Bowen) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Fergusen) adapting to their father’s new, hot wife Gloria (Sofía Vergara). However, Gloria’s sexuality and Phil’s (Ty Burrell) attraction to her weren’t the only sex-themed running jokes throughout the series. Mitchell and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) have had more than their fair share of candlelit moments that were ruined by a poorly-timed interruption or thoughtless comment. It’s even been a running joke for nine seasons that Claire and Phil are really into sexy role playing. Sex is a part of life, and so it’s part of this complicated family.

I understand and respect that, and for the most part, I consider myself to be a fairly sex positive pop culture critic. I’ve written at length about the sexual politics in shows like Easy, Better Things, Casual, and Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On, and I’ve covered the sexist imbalance of nudity on television at least twice. However, as I was sick in bed binge watching, I found myself watching way more episodes about the Dunphy kids casually talking to their parents about their sexual exploits than I ever expected.

It all started with the aptly titled episode “Sex, Lies, and Kickball.” For a couple of seasons now the college-aged Alex (Ariel Winter) has been dating the meek Ben (Joe Mande), a character almost everyone on the show seems to hate including Alex. However, no one dislikes Ben more than Claire, so to prove to her mother she and Ben are a happy, steamy, impulsive couple, Alex steals her parents’ body paint kit and paints a canvas by covering both of their naked bodies in blue and gold paint and having sex on it. Claire ends up hanging to canvas on the wall, forcing everyone to have an uncomfortable conversation about sex before it’s later revealed that Alex faked the whole thing. It’s a moment that shows the stubbornness of this mother and daughter, but getting to that payoff involves Alex snooping through her parents’ sex habits and her mother hanging up a painting she believes was created by her daughter’s naked body. That feels weird, even in the land of sitcom antics.

However, the award for the creepiest parent-child plot about sex definitely goes to Manny (Rico Rodriguez) and Gloria. In “Tough Love,” Manny brings his new girlfriend — who also happens to be his college professor — to Jay (Ed O’Neill) and Gloria’s home, assuming that it will be empty. It’s not, and Gloria is forced to realize that her sweet, innocent baby boy is now a sexually active man. That in and of itself isn’t that scandalous of a plot, but Jay’s advice to Gloria — that she should stop freaking out and just let Manny and his professor sleep together in their house — feels like it crosses a line. Ultimately Manny crashes on the couch with his little brother, proving he’s at least partially still a little boy to Gloria’s relief.

On a less surprising note, newer seasons of the show have also sexualized Hayley (Sarah Hyland) and Luke (Nolan Gould). Neither sibling seems to have trouble getting a date, though Luke is a bit more callous to his love interests than I would expect. In general, I have no problems with the sitcom using its younger character to talk about sex. It’s been nine years. Good for the children of Modern Family for growing up and getting some! What makes it weird and gives me pause is how many of these plot lines include parents and kids casually talking to each other about their bedroom lives. I’ve always found Modern Family to be a very relatable show, but stories about sexy shenanigans has always been unofficially off the table when it comes to conversations with my family.

Maybe I’m being a prude. After all, the title of the show is “Modern” Family, and what’s more modern than children having a frank and open conversations about sex with their parents? I’m not even saying that these bedroom side plots are bad. I still found the show as entertaining as I normally do. However, as someone who only periodically tunes into the world of family sitcoms, I was surprised and a little freaked out to learn that all the Dunphy children are now getting laid, and much like The Ring tape, I felt unsafe keeping that revelation to myself. Now you have to live with this information too.

Where to stream Modern Family