1980s sword and sorcery movies

[Werewolf]

Roger Corman movies had pretty much deteriorated to pure exploitation by that point and those movies were always fairly cringe worthy. I think reviewing them as an adult you now have empathy for the female characters. As teens a good portion of the audience was probably of the mindset of "Wow nudity and violence!!" and not really understanding or thinking about the cultural impact of those images and depictions. I don't think it's about the culture being more or less conservative. After all, the 80s were considered a fairly conservative era. I think culturally we just have a little bit more empathy and understanding of those kinds of depictions.

[torgospizza]

Just bought a DVD set of four Roger Corman sword and sorcery movies (Deathstalker, Deathstalker 2, Barbarian Queen, and The Warrior and the Sorceress) and was kind of shocked by them, really. I hadn't seen them since the old days of cable and had forgotten how, well, "rapey" they are. Have you ever watched something from the 70s or 80s and realized in some ways we're more conservative as a culture now? Don't get me wrong--I'm hardly a prude--but there are instances in these films where there is no rational reason for swordswomen to go around topless. I understand gratuitousness as a product, but how did they get the viewership they had? We have similar things now (E.I. Independent movies like "Lord of the G-Strings" or whatever, f.ex.), but people don't take them as seriously as they did then. Was it purely that there wasn't anything else to watch, in your opinions?

Anyone else watch an old movie and get a bit shocked by how different perspectives were then?