I'm not a big follower of celebrity culture. I don't watch much tv, and my personal involvement in music and visual art has never brought me remotely close to Hollywood. But I still get a thrill when I see a nude actress, especially one who I never expected to strip onscreen. This is particularly true when it comes to actresses from my 1990s youth.

The first decade of 21st century has been full of surprises, some pleasant, many not so much. One of the more exciting ones has been the new trend of actresses over 40 taking it all off onscreen. The trend seemed to start just before the turn of the century, with Sigourney Weaver baring all at 49 in "A Map of the World", reaching its apotheosis when Diane Keaton, at 57, finally showed us her tits when she let her hangers swing in 2003 in "Something's Gotta Give".

 By far more exciting, at least to me, have been the instances of 40-something actresses showing their bushes onscreen. Mary-Louise Parker was still in her late 30s when she bared her muff (and everything else) in "Angels in America", but as her super hot nude promo poster for the tv program "Weeds" shows, she still has that killer bod in her 40s.

Speaking of "Weeds", Elizabeth Perkins recently showed her bush in one episode, something I never thought I'd see from an actress who had previously limited her onscreen nudity to brief looks at her boobs, and during the 90s seemed to have something of a "good girl" image.

 On the other hand, I'm quite surprised that we had to wait so long to get a look at Mimi Rogers' muff, given her past willingness to display her gigantic tits, most prominently in 1995's "Full body Massage", where her impressive mounds were on display for most of the movie. In 2004's "Door in the Floor", we finally got to see her fully nude from every angle, with a trimmed bush and a sexy mature sagginess to those mouth-watering melons.

 So what's responsible for this trend? The rise of the MILF as an object of desire, thanks to the internet? Perhaps Demi Moore and the whole "cougar" thing? Whataver the reason, I hope many mature actresses, especially those like Diane Keaton and Elizabeth Perkins, who were so reluctant to show skin when they were younger, continue to bare boobs, butt, and bush, their confidence perhaps bolstered by a society that finally seems to be recognizing what we aficionados of mature ladies have known all along: older women are still sexy.