'Attitudes to sex and death in the USA seem a little strange sometimes.'

You are mistaking the movie industry for reality. Unlike, Hollywood movies, the lives of the 300,000,000 people of the U.S.A. cannot be summed up in a sentence or two.

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'It ain't about sex. It's about control and power.'

I suspect it's about both - sex and power. With some people, the less their minds are operating, the more the substitute sex. And you've got to admit, the leaders of this group must have to tell their minds (consciences) to 'shut up' quite a lot.