The way that these mostly male creators and executives portray female sexuality include women who resemble Victoria’s Secret models, voracious female libidos and routine pairings of older men with women 20 and 30 years younger. The new film “Crazy Heart,” released this week, which matches Jeff Bridges, 60, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, 32, is just the latest example.

Image Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in “The Proposal.” Credit... Kerry Hayes/Touchstone Pictures

“The Proposal,” a hit over the summer that starred Sandra Bullock, 45, and Ryan Reynolds, 33, is among the few films that switch the age disparity. Generally, in these sorts of films, Dr. Lauzen noted, “the entire story has to revolve around explaining that relationship, because how can it be that a younger man would find an older woman attractive.” An older man-younger woman relationship, by contrast, is “just accepted, no explanation needed.”

Exceptions to the male view are “startling because you almost never see them,” Dr. Lauzen added, mentioning as an example the TNT cable series “Saving Grace,” which stars Holly Hunter and was created by a woman, Nancy Miller, who also serves as executive producer. In scenes that depicted Grace’s lover fulfilling her sexual desires without reciprocation, “it was about her pleasure, not his pleasure,” Dr. Lauzen said.

One twist in the new film “Up In the Air” is that a female character exhibits what is considered typical male behavior: sex without emotional attachment.

Ms. Ruhl, who spoke from her home in New York, said: “We get a lot of the male gaze on female sexuality. In the theater, a lot of woman have to be naked onstage.”

In “In the Next Room,” Dr. Givings (Michael Cerveris) ends up standing in front of the audience, nude, while his wife (Laura Benanti) does not.

“I don’t take it lightly to ask an actor to take his clothes off onstage,” Ms. Ruhl said, but added that she felt that it was important in this context. “It is about his character’s vulnerability, but also about her looking at him. I feel we see a lot of examples of men looking at women, and audiences’ being asked to take the male point of view. We’re so unconscious of it.”