How Sex Changed the World Season 1, Episode 5: Sex & Power

America's Sex Pioneers

From America's earliest days, sex has shaped and defined our country. From the Puritan "mandatory sex" rule for married couples to Ben Franklin's racy newspapers and even car design, these are the stories behind America's sex pioneers.

Sex for Sale

The world's oldest profession turns up in the places you'd least expect it: as a major source of revenue for the Catholic Church, the driving force behind America's first racially integrated neighborhood, and the launch pad for the most powerful woman in the history of the Roman Empire. Discover the truth behind how selling sex has changed the world.

60 min

Sex Rebels

From Ancient Rome to Washington DC and everywhere in-between, discover how the world changes when powerful people shamelessly shatter boundaries and break rules. In this episode, a Roman empress turns to prostitution for fun, the Marquis de Sade gains a big reputation and President Lyndon Johnson flaunts his manhood.

Sexpocalypse

Sex is powerful force of nature and for some; it's like the end of world. These are the unbelievably true stories behind what happens when people treat sex like doomsday: from the little known sex cover-up in Pompeii, to J. Edgar Hoover's legendary Obscene Files used to keep politicians in check, to how a favorite breakfast cereal is supposed to help impose more self-control on lonely nights.

60 min

Superheroes of Sex

Da Vinci's work to the man who discovered and translated the Kama Sutra.

60 min

Sex & War

Nothing unleashes sex like war–after all, if you were going to die tomorrow, what would you want to do tonight? From Ancient Roman battalions to seductive spies to how soldiers spent their down time in the Civil War and even how porn was used as part of strategy for victory in WWII, discover how sex has decided wars and changed the world.

60 min

Extreme Sex

These unbelievably true stories reveal what happens when people take sex to the extreme: from Emperor Nero's now famous sex parties to Teddy Roosevelt's crusades against sex-ridden New York City and the invention of a mystical practice called "sex magic", which kicked off the free love vibe of the 1960s.

60 min

Sex Gone Wrong

Sex is one of the most powerful human needs and many people have tried to harness its power for their own gain. But those attempts often backfire. From Jack Parsons, an American rocket scientist who thought he could harness the power of sex, to Thomas Jefferson's attempt to trap Alexander Hamilton in an affair, find out what happens when basic instincts back fire.

60 min

Sexperiment

These are the surprising stories behind how scientists, the government and even the judicial system have harnessed sex to change world history: from covert experimental CIA orgies to the Middle Ages' "honest woman" test to verify bedroom activity and even the "cure" for female hysteria.