Putting The Sex Back In Homosexuality, On Television

One of the common and quite valid complaints about gay activism today is that it has totally white washed gay sex. Men having sex with men, especially in a post-AIDS world, remains distasteful to too many and it's too controversial to officially address.

Aside from Dan Savage, there are very few high profile, pro-sex activists out there. Sex has been taken out of homosexuality. But Britain's Channel 4 hopes to to change that with a new program called Sex Box.

A talk show on which couples have sex in a sound-proof, opaque booth and then discuss it with the show's experts, including journalist Mariella Frostrup, sex therapist Phillip Hodson, and, yes, Dan Savage, Sex Box will extend beyond the hetero bedroom by featuring a gay couple. This naturally means we can expect lots of frank talk about the ins-and-outs of male-on-male intercourse, which will definitely be a breath of fresh air. Or maybe that's not the right expression.

But don't go looking for any cheap thrills here. The show aims to "reclaim sex from pornography" and will be in only the best taste. "Ultimately I think it was a really really mature -- surprisingly for television -- look at a subject we've allowed to proliferate in its worst manifestations and refuse to confront," says Frostrup. Though not salacious, it will be still be lively, says Channel 4 head of programming Ralph Lee: "The experts we have are not flippant people... There is a levity to the conversation." And rightly so; if nothing else, sex is meant to be fun.

(H/t Towleroad)