SEX: An Unnatural History
January 12, 2012
Australian network SBS aired Sex: An Unnatural History over the course of six weeks. ‘Sex: An Unnatural History’ is a six-part factual series exploring the last 50 years of Australia’s sexual landscape. Presenter Julia Zemiro brings her wit, intellect and humor to each episode starting with an exploration of why we started having sex and how we became hardwired to monogamy.
Humans started copulating to procreate but if we can make a baby in a test tube and even get someone else to carry it for us where does that leave sex? Is it now just purely about pleasure?
The introduction of the pill sparked a revolution that is still happening, but where are we headed? Julia explores what taboos are still left to us and why societies require sexual boundaries. We’re moving towards more liberated attitudes about marriage, homosexuality and personal fetishes but is everything up for grabs? When it comes to fashion many of us use what we wear to signal what we are looking for, but what does fashion also tell us about the sexual attitudes of the day? And how are our sexual lives affected by our churches?
Julia delves into the complex world of how and why the Catholic Church became so fixated with what we do between the sheets and how one little pill may have led to the demise of confession.
Julia takes a look at how and why humans fall in love and what role chemicals play when Cupid’s arrow strikes. But isn’t there more to it than neurotransmitters and serotonin? Isn’t it all about the romance? How can we explain the metaphysical aspect of love and how it transforms not only our sex lives but also every other part of our lives?
We end the series with a look at sex and the future. All sorts of people have opinions on what sex will be like in 2060. Sure, we can imagine robot lovers, virtual partners and sex without gravity but will we ever invent something better than a condom?
Episode 1: The Revolution
The 1960s was an era that heralded the birth of feminism, civil rights, free love and gay liberation – a sexual revolution that changed our attitudes towards sex and relationships forever.
Episode 3: Fashion
Does how we dress tell us what we’re like in the bedroom? If you see someone wandering around in fetish gear it’s safe to say they’re doing so to attract potential mates of like minds. But what else can fashion tell us about sex? A lot, it seems.
Episode 4: The Church
Why do people cry out “oh God!” during sex? Is it because sex transcends our mind and bodies? Religion has been getting between the sheets since it became organized, but it was the sexual revolution of the ’60s and birth control that brought matters to a head.
Episode 5: Love
Sex existed long before the idea of love but somewhere along the annals of history the two became entwined. Many humans then started selecting their partners based on this emotion.
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