Earlier this week, Jennifer Aniston did an interview with Variety where she claimed to turn down an offer for an intimacy coordinator during her scenes with Jon Hamm on The Morning Show. Not only did Aniston not seem to understand the purpose of such a coordinator, but her blatant disregard for their importance was a disservice to other people in the film industry who may be afraid to vocalize their needs.

While Aniston herself will probably never read this, her comments have inspired me to talk about why intimacy coordinators should be a part of every set with nudity or sex scenes.

An intimacy coordinator is a person on a film set whose goal is to make the actors as comfortable as possible when filming intimate scenes. They work with the actors before, during, and after the shoot so that there are expectations in place and all guidelines are met.

Even in cases where there are not explicitly intimate scenes, coordinators can help to ensure actors are not crossing their boundaries. Amanda Seyfried has talked about how she wished a coordinator was there on the set of Mean Girls. Had there been, she would have had someone to talk to about being uncomfortable grabbing her boobs during the weather scene.

In her Variety interview, Aniston claimed that she “never felt uncomfortable” with her director or scene partner. That is incredible for her! However, that is quite simply not always the case.

After the Hays Code was abolished, we went from very strict rules around what could be done and shown on screen to absolutely none at all. This led to films where young actors were getting exploited into more nudity than they truly wanted to do. In addition, actors could be taken advantage of during their intimate scenes by other actors and the directors. These actors would likely be afraid to speak out, fearing repercussions or being labeled “difficult”. Intimacy coordinators are there to set guidelines and be a voice for the actors.

In laughing off the idea of an intimacy coordinator, Aniston is unintentionally making it more difficult for young actors to request a coordinator’s presence on set. She’s also setting a precedent that it is up to the actors whether or not they are there at all. All of this puts actors in the same position they were when intimacy coordinators did not exist—request a coordinator, and you may be labeled as difficult to work with by the industry.

It is great that Aniston felt comfortable on set without an intimacy coordinator there. Everyone should feel comfortable at their jobs. However, had she truly cared about the comfort of everyone around her as well as those who come after her, she would have demanded an intimacy coordinator on every set, just to be safe. Her director, as well, should have provided the coordinator without feeling the need to ask. Imagine a situation where Aniston turned down a coordinator, but Hamm wanted one there. Would he feel comfortable telling the director this? If the intimacy coordinator arrives on-set, will this make Aniston annoyed at her peer?

The purpose of an intimacy coordinator is to be an advocate for all actors involved in intimate scenes on set. Aniston’s disregard for how crucial they are speaks not only to her privilege, but to her lack of awareness of other actors who have spoken up about their necessity.