Real Sex

''Real Sex'' was a documentary television series produced by HBO. ''Real Sex'' was a sexually explicit "magazine" which "explores sex '90s style." Created by Sheila Nevins and produced by Patti Kaplan, the series was originally meant to be a single 60-minute special about sexuality, largely in response to the cultural attitudes surrounding sex in the wake of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980's. The series was female-run, and segments were largely directed by women.

''Real Sex'' explores human sexuality. Gary R. Edgerton and Jeffrey P. Jones described the fare in ''The Essential HBO Reader'' as "a peek into the diversity of sexual activities...with an emphasis that ranges from the unusual to the bizarre." The show typically explores three to four topics each episode. Segments are separated by street interviews with random people, relating to the episode's topics.

In 2018, HBO began removing the show from its streaming services HBO GO and HBO Now, along with similar series Cathouse and Taxicab Confessions making them largely unavailable to the public.

It spawned a spin-off series called '' Pornucopia''.

Subsequent release history

While a hit show for HBO during its original run in the 90s (with HBO rerunning the series and compiling "best of" episodes to air late night until the final 2009 episode), HBO has declined to include it in any of its various streaming services such as HBO Go and HBO Max/Max. In the Vice documentary series "Sex Before The Internet", series creator Sheila Nevins lamented the show's lost media status; stating that HBO largely disowned the series after finding mainstream critical success with shows like "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" and considers the series and other sexually explicit shows such as "The Cathouse", as old shames. HBO's response in the documentary is that "there hasn't been a strong demand for this kind of adult programming, perhaps because it's easily available elsewhere."

Episode guide

See also

* Sexcetera

References

Further reading

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External links

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{{HBONetwork Shows

1990s American documentary television series
1990 American television series debuts
2000s American documentary television series
2009 American television series endings
2010s American documentary television series
Documentary films about sexuality
Nudity in television
Erotic television series
HBO original programming
American English-language television shows