Jim McBride has made it his life?s work to know how much naked female flesh appears in movies ? an obsession apparently shared by millions of people.

So far McBride, alias Mr Skin, and a staff that includes his mother, who works as a ?skintern?, have chronicled nude women in more than 25,000 movies and television shows. It is all recorded on his web site, which has been running for eight years, and now McBride has launched into print, publishing Mr Skin?s Skintastic Video Guide to ?the 501 greatest movies for sex and nudity on DVD?.

?It?s the greatest job in the world,? said McBride. ?As a kid, I used to tape as many movies as I could with nudity and then I?d save the nude scenes on separate tapes. I really amazed my friends with my nudity knowledge growing up.? Some experts say the Internet and more explicit television are fostering a more relaxed response by Americans to bare flesh, even if many people profess to be conservative. Last week?s opening episode of the HBO drama Tell Me You Love Me , contained at least half-a-dozen sex acts featuring both women and men in the nude, an unprecedented level of sexual frankness for a US cable television show. But those looking for naked men on McBride?s site will be disappointed. ?We have 8 to 10 people who just go through movies and television shows... for nudity, female nudity only,? he said. ?We don?t do male nudity. I think it?s mainly because this job is so fun I didn?t want to make it work.?

He said his website, which had a 35% boost to nearly 7 million hits a month after it featured in this year?s hit movie Knocked Up, was a celebration of female nudity that only chronicles mainstream movies, not pornography. ?There are plenty of porn sites on the Internet. We?re celebrating nudity in mainstream film,? he said.