If there’s a definitive theme — nay, a single word — to sum up our feelings at the end of 2021, it’s sexy. After months of lockdowns and social isolation, we’re eager to don our finest fits and flirt with handsome strangers on New Year’s Eve, and, lucky for you, some of the most popular programming on Netflix doubles as an aphrodisiac. Trust us on this one.
Whether you’re into Regency-era romance, celibacy by the sea, animalistic urges, and/or unapologetic women, these shows will scratch your itch in the most sex-positive ways possible.
A Netflix Top 10 title worldwide, Sex/Life follows Billie Mann (Sarah Shahi), a woman whose seemingly perfect suburban life is challenged when Brad Simon (Alex Demos), a heartthrob ex from her early 20s, reappears. But make no mistake, this isn’t a sanitized tale of a midlife crisis. Instead, Sex/Life offers viewers a dynamic protagonist with an open-minded, progressive approach to intimacy.
Steamiest Scene: There’s no shortage of screen-fogging scenes in Sex/Life, but it’s hard to beat a certain moment in a certain New York City elevator in Episode 3. (The runner-up involves a shower in the same episode, but there will be no spoilers here.)
The Character to Fall For: Billie! Both as a young academic, and, later, as a married-with-kids family woman, Sex/Life’s lead struggles with the limits society places on mothers and her own sultry past. In the midst of all her conflict — internal, external, societal —– she’s still able to value her sexual satisfaction, and that, my friends, is what sex-positivity looks like.
Dating reality shows have met their match: On Too Hot To Handle, attractive twentysomethings from across the globe enter a beachside paradise, expecting a few weeks of carousing and carnality. Instead, they’re told there’s no physical intimacy allowed. But this scheduled celibacy is, in its own way, a sex-positive venture: The contestants are taught about other forms of closeness, heightening their relationships in the process.
Steamiest Scene: Too Hot To Handle is all about sexual tension. Heated moments happen right before the real action goes down. But that might be a cop-out: Season 2, Episode 3 includes a sentimental date between English cowboy Nathan Webb and New Zealand lawyer Larissa Trownson that ends in a Magic Mike–style lap dance, and it is... certainly something.
The Character to Fall For: Each person in Too Hot To Handle’s carefully manicured island haven is there to learn how to connect through emotional attraction, so instead of jumping straight into bed with chiseled strangers, everyone is equally worth lusting after. You’ll just have to watch their hedonism morph into affection and decide for yourself. But if you really can’t decide: Melinda Melrose’s hilarious commentary will win you over.
Imagine, if you will, a period piece that detangles patriarchal ideologies surrounding sex, and you’ll merely scratch the surface of what makes Bridgerton a masterclass in tantalizing rendezvous. From the brilliant mind of Shonda Rhimes, this series bucks traditional notions of a Regency romance-drama and offers something deceptively modern in return. (The fashion, of course, remains of its time period. And how alluring is that!?)
Steamiest Scene: In Episode 7, there is a sumptuous staircase. The rest needs to be seen.
The Character to Fall For: There is only one answer: the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page). Dive into the series, and you’ll give in to it almost instantaneously. It boils down to this: The heart wants what it can’t have, and then it catches aflame with desire.
Easy is an eclectic anthology of vignettes, showcasing diverse love stories across age, gender, sexuality, class and more. The show follows Chicago residents as they fall in and out of love — modern romances, warts and all.
Steamiest Scene: There are countless, but one spontaneous, dangerous makeout between Alexandria (Sophia Bush) and Jo (Jacqueline Toboni) in Season 3, Episode 3 comes to mind.
The Character to Fall For: Whoever you want! If anything, there is something refreshingly realistic about the series — real representation that allows the viewer to feel seen. That said, the queer journey that Chase (Kiersey Clemons) undergoes is one for the books. You’ll really feel for her as she navigates her own sexuality, and you’ll probably envy her wardrobe. Just sayin’.
Could you find the love of your life dressed in elaborate prosthetics, unable to see what your date actually looks like? Sexy Beasts brings hot singles to London to date one another, all while rocking a couple of hours worth of blockbuster makeup. Watch a chicken seriously flirt with a witch and a deer. A beaver, a pixie, a leopard and a zombie walk into a bar. Want to know what happens next? Well, you’ll have to watch to find out.
Steamiest Scene: Making out is nearly impossible while wearing big beaks and massive latex rostrums, but there is an adorable moment when a dolphin and a rhino share a nose kiss in Season 1, Episode 5.
The Character To Fall For: Kariselle The Panda. Watch Episode 3 in Season 1, and you’ll get it.
