Mon got some last night welcome to TV sex in 2017. Photograph: ITV/REX/Shutterstock

A camera zooms in on a black-and-white closeup of a foot dangling from a duvet, then a wine bottle is vigorously knocked over on to the floor. A dull moan fills the room and then and really, what could be sexier? a Scottish voiceover announces something sarcastic. The next day, a girl called Montana declares, in an almost bored drawl, Mon got some last night to a gaggle of squealing girls. Welcome to TV sex in 2017.

The aforementioned scene comes from the current series of Love Island (2.4 million viewers and counting) which is merely the latest reality TV show to tap into the British publics fascination with watching real sex on screen. The question is, why are we so enthralled?

After all, it was way back in 2004 that Michelle Bass and Stuart Mitchell fashioned a makeshift hideaway under a table with some sheets and chairs on Big Brother. On the hot and sweaty journey since then, weve seen the rampant northerners of Geordie Shore pushing the boundaries of TV sex so far that Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah called it bordering on pornographic and threatened to take her gripes to parliament. And weve had 2012s The Valleys, which featured a trailer for its second series so hyper-sexed there was butt jiggling, boob bouncing and sheep riding that it was banned by the ASA pre-watershed.

A generation of Brits now see sex as par for the reality show course, thanks to offerings like 2013s What Happens in Kavos (which taught us that one in three Brits in Kavos had chlamydia truly a statistic to make a nation stand tall) and Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents which made horrified mums and dads privy to their childs misdemeanours via hidden cameras.

Has the novelty of seeing people get some, often through a shaky camera, not worn off yet? And is it harming the moral fibre of the nation? It really all depends on the programme. Laura Hamzic works for Brook, a sexual health charity for young people, and says shows like Love Island can provide young people with an entry point for discussion by reconciling sex with relationships.

I think were still quite quick to judge young people as being sexually irresponsible and promiscuous and thats something we would challenge, she says. They are starved of places to discuss sex and relationships in controlled environments like school, because sex education is very poor. Love Island isnt exactly the best place to learn about sex and relationships, but its better than porn.

Love Islands commissioning editor Amanda Stavri agrees, pointing out that the key to the shows success is relationships rather than sex. Our feeling is if youre inviting 12 singletons to live together in the sun, things are gonna get heated under the covers, she says. But its not salacious, its not grubby, its not explicit. Were more interested in the story of the couple who have chosen to take their relationship to the next level.

Whatever Love Islands intentions, though, the last few weeks have still seen a fair few frenzied headlines. The Mirror impatiently proclaimed Love island Olivia and Chris FINALLY have sex while OK! revealed Love Island stunned as Camilla admits to sex with Jamie. But is anyone really stunned?

Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, who was in Big Brother back in 2006 and again in 2015, says shes surprised by how things have changed since her original time in the house.

When I did BB the first time, it felt a lot more real, and even a bit more innocent, she says. Now, its just people jumping into bed with each other to get airtime. What are we teaching the next generation with these shows? I enjoy feminism and support your right to choose, but theres a thin line between feminism and expressing yourself and just being ... a slag?

Of course, TV has to be relatable rather than just a smut-fest to connect with viewers. After all, who can forget the ill-fated scientific investigation of Channel 4s Sex Box in 2016, which operated under the guise of social science when its basic premise was sticking a camera in the faces of people who had just emerged from doing the deed in a sweat box. Despite a nationwide campaign that pulled in 1.1 million viewers for the opening episode, the number dropped by 200,000 after the first 15 minutes.

But get it right as Love Island seems to have done and the sex can complement rather than dominate the content of the show. So perhaps the evolution of sex on TV just taps into what weve always known we want to see people who are just like us. And that to see imperfect decisions made on screen is really to see ourselves.

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More than just a smut-fest: Love Island and the evolution of reality TV sex - The Guardian