It's still true. People in the US easily forget about violence in the media, but any sexual content sticks in their mind and is either greeted with approval or disgust. There's no real middle-ground, and if there is, it's completely drowned out by the arguments on both sides.
In video games in particular, that owes much to the abiding impression in the media that video games are supposed to be for children. Simulated violence has been an acceptable mode of play, especially for boys, for much longer than video games have been around. Simulated sex... less so. That said, it's not as if ultra-violence has never aroused controversy, look back to the original reception of Mortal Kombat titles. It's faded over the years, but it's still there today. Now that sex is having a greater onscreen presence, the same thing may happen.
That, and many people simply feel that onscreen sex is senseless titillation that cheapens the experience in order to attract the lowest common denominator.