
25 Steamy Movies & TV Shows To Watch For Your Viewing Pleasure

Looking for something that makes you throb in all the right places, sans the guilt? We've got a list for you! When it comes to the explicit shows to stream, we've realized the plot is just as important as the nudity. You need to be properly teased, seduced, and entertained if you will by the stream-worthy shows and films tantalizing you on screen. Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Starz, HBO Max, and Hulu have a lot of movies and TV shows to watch, but which ones are the sexiest to watch?
Keep scrolling for TV series and films to stream that are basically porn, without sacrificing your viewing pleasure.
The Handmaiden (2016)
A South Korean film released in 2016, The Handmaiden puts the "erotic" in erotic thriller. In the film, a con man, with plans to marry a Japanese heiress to steal her fortune and have her committed, hires a pick-pocket to help him do his bidding. However, things get complicated when the "handmaiden" becomes romantically entangled with the heiress herself. Sex and seduction no doubt ensues.
Where to Watch:Amazon Prime
Premature (2019)
Summertime is the season for new love and this is portrayed poetically in this 2019 film. A love affair blooms between a music producer and a poet. The Harlem backdrop is poignant and their romance is just as hot as the actors portraying the lovebirds navigating the ups and downs of a budding relationship.
Where to Watch:Hulu
Sex/Life (2021)
Speaking of sex life, the title of this Netflix series says it all. Sex/Life follows a woman struggling with accepting her reality as a stay-at-home mom-of-two as the nostalgia of her younger years having amazing sex with a bad boy old flame come flooding back to her. Things become even trickier when her former beau returns into her present, shaking up her life and marriage with her husband. And can I just say... episode 3?? Netflix recently reported that 20 million viewers replayed it just to see Adam Demos showing us what he's working with. You've been warned.
Where to Watch: Netflix
The Voyeurs (2021)
What happens when your desire to partake in voyeurism reaches killer heights? The Voyeurs is a 2021 film that centers on a young couple played by Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria) and Justice Smith (All the Bright Places). The Amazon Original plays with the idea of peeking into another couple's sex life, the obsession and the temptation around voyeurism, and the deadly consequences that may follow.
Where to Watch:Amazon Prime
Bridgerton (2020-)
With how this cast got done in the 1800s, we couldn't not include Bridgerton as one of the entries in this list. The hit Netflix series (Shonda Rhimes' first offering in her deal with the media juggernaut) follows the elite social circle of high society members and their affairs. You'll come for Regé-Jean Page, but you'll stay for the trysts.
Where to Watch:Netflix, of course.
Run the World (2021-)
Starz has been keeping the streaming streets hot with content that is explicit but doesn't sacrifice plot for porn. Tastefully done and beautifully executed is how you can describe the sex scenes shown in the recently renewed series Run the World. The series follows four girlfriends and their love lives in Harlem as well as their friendships with each other.
Where to Watch:Starz App
Insecure (2016-)
Speaking of Black women navigating their love lives and showing that we too are sexual beings unapologetically, we'd be remiss not to include the GIF-worthy event that is Insecure. The series returns for its fifth and final season in October and we can't wait to see what Issa Rae and friends has in store for us.
Where to Watch:HBO Max, Amazon Prime
Adore (2013)
Adore is an Australian film that stars Naomi Watts and Robin Wright as two best friends who fall in love and have sexual relationships with each other's sons. What begins as a teenage tryst spans over a course of decades, interfering with the young men's ability to have fruitful relationships with women their own ages. What could be complicated by that? The cinematography, score, scenery, and sexcapades are what makes this one a must-watch.
Where to Watch:Amazon Prime
Euphoria (2020-)
Euphoria focuses on a cast of adults playing high school kids, yes, but there's no denying that Euphoria has a plethora of sex scenes (and a fire soundtrack and editor) that makes some of these scenes hit different than most. The Zendaya-led HBO series goes there with topics like acceptance, abuse, sexuality, and more.
Where to Watch:HBO Max, Amazon Prime
Below Her Mouth (2016)
Jasmine is engaged. Dallas doesn't care. As a fashion editor minding her business and living her life, Jasmine never expected to meet anyone like Dallas, whose confidence reels her in more than anything else. What ensues is a forbidden affair between two women, which may or may not prove to be an eye-opener about what each of the women actually need in their lives.
Where to Watch:Google Play, Amazon Prime
The Sinner (2017-)
Although, it's a crime drama more than anything, I can certainly vouch for the explicit scenes of the first season in the hit anthology series. Entitled "Cora," Jessica Biel is a force on the screen. And before everything is turned upside down, she manages to let her freak flag fly in a number of NSFW scenes. We were more than here for it.
Where to Watch:Netflix
Obsession (2015)
I'm all for a good affair story, mainly because movies like Unfaithful made me realize how rich and filled with erotic opportunities the topic is filled with. There's something about the secrecy. In Obsession (also called, Rendez-Vous), the film follows a woman who has made an B&B in France after inheriting a house. She moves there with her family in tow. Shortly thereafter, she meets a younger, handsome man whose presence threatens the life she's made at home with her husband and kids. But sis doesn't care, she's tempted by what's forbidden.
Where to Watch:Amazon Prime
Gypsy (2017)
Naomi Watts stars in this Netflix original as a therapist that finds herself spiraling as she erases the thin line between professional and personal with some of her clients. Nothing tastes more delicious than the things you're not supposed to have.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Newness (2017)
In a hook-up crazed culture, it can be hard to compete with "new." A young couple decide to play with the idea of expanding their boundaries to keep up with wanting to experience new people sexually while being in a relationship. Sometimes trying something or someone new isn't worth the risk.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
28 Hotel Rooms (2012)
What begins as a night of passionate sex, two people find it hard to not want more. Instead of leaving each other behind one night in a hotel room, an accountant and a novelist maintain a steamy affair over a span of years. Doing so threatens to upend their everyday lives.
Where to Watch:Amazon Prime
A Teacher (2013)
A high school teacher has a passionate affair with one of her students that quickly begins to spiral into an unhealthy obsession as the teacher realizes her fantasy for what they are isn't their reality.
Where to Watch: Hulu
You (2019)
Sure, it's more about an introspective man with homocidal tendencies, but at its center, there's love. And sex. Joe Goldberg is the manager of a bookstore with an unhealthy obsession with the women he falls for. So unhealthy that his obsessions become deadly. In the first season, there was Beck as the object of his desire. And by season two, there's Love. The popular thriller returns for its third season on October 15.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Duck Butter (2018)
If you want unapologetic steamy sex scenes in a film, look no further than Duck Butter. The Alia Shawkat-starring film centers on two women who haven't had a lot of luck in love and seek to put their relationship on the fast track. They make a pact to have sex every hour for 24 hours, uninterrupted. Spoiler alert: the sexual intimate experiment isn't what the two strangers thought it would be.
Where to Watch:Amazon Prime
Monogamy (2010)
Lust and jealousy creates this unconscious uncoupling between the two lovebirds in this film. A Brooklyn photographer becomes smitten with one of his clients that hires him for his services. The pair played by Rashida Jones and Chris Messina fall for each other, but their love affair quickly unravels as reality sets in.
Where to Watch: Hulu
The L Word (2004-2009)
Groundbreaking for its time, it's hard to think of The L Word and the incredible sex scenes not to come to mind. The provocative series follows a group of friends in LA each navigating their own love and lust lives. What is interesting is the sexual fluidity of the cast of characters that include lesbians and bisexual women. The sex scenes are Hot with a capital "h."
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, Showtime
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021)
The Lee Daniels-helmed films The United States vs. Billie Holiday chronicles the time during the blues singer's career when the United States sought to make her the face of their efforts to racialize their war on drugs. Her song "Strange Fruit" was seen as a threat and Billie had to make decisions of whether she should sing or allow herself to be silenced. Aside from the controversies and the sometimes heavy imagery, Trevante Rhodes and Andra Day's chemistry sizzled.
Where to Watch: Hulu
Lovecraft Country (2020)
Lovecraft Country's cancellation was met with much controversy. The 2020 horror drama series didn't make it past its inaugural season but its impact remains felt in television. Jurnee Smollett and newcomer Jonathan Majors are solving a mystery in the 1950s on-screen, but the chemistry between the stars is ever-felt. Add a few memomorable sex scenes to the mix and this entry makes for an undeniable contender for this list.
Where to Watch:HBO Max, Amazon Prime
In the Cut (2003)
In a change of pace, Mark Ruffalo and Meg Ryan star in an erotic thriller centering around an English teacher who finds herself being questioned as a witness because of a dead body found near her home. The detective doing the questioning and her end up feeling a spark that eventually ignites an erotic awakening experienced by Ryan's character. What unfolds is sex, murder, and intrigue In the Cut.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
So a lot of Game of Thrones fans would throw away the entire last season if they could, but that doesn't negate the fact that the long-running HBO series had a plethora of litty sex scenes during its run. The fantasy drama isn't for everyone, but we're show the love scenes are.
Where to Watch:Hulu, Amazon Prime
Four Lovers (2010)
In this French film, the concept of being swingers is explored as two married couples decide to swap partners with each other for uninhibited sexual exploration.
Where to Watch:Hulu
Featured image by Lovecraft Country via Tenor
Devale Ellis On Being A Provider, Marriage Growth & Redefining Fatherhood
In this candid episode of the xoMAN podcast, host Kiara Walker talked with Devale Ellis, actor, social media personality, and star of Zatima, about modern masculinity, learning to be a better husband, emotional presence in marriage, fatherhood for Black men, and leading by example.
“I Wasn’t Present Emotionally”: Devale Ellis on Marriage Growth
Devale Ellis On Learning He Was a ‘Bad Husband’
Ellis grew up believing that a man should prioritize providing for his family. “I know this may come off as misogynistic, but I feel like it’s my responsibility as a man to pay for everything,” he said, emphasizing the wise guidance passed down by his father. However, five years into his marriage to long-time partner Khadeen Ellis, he realized provision wasn’t just financial.
“I was a bad husband because I wasn’t present emotionally… I wasn’t concerned about what she needed outside of the resources.”
Once he shifted his mindset, his marriage improved. “In me trying to be of service to her, I learned that me being of service created a woman who is now willing to be of service to me.”
On Redefining Masculinity and Fatherhood
For Ellis, “being a man is about being consistent.” As a father of four, he sees parenthood as a chance to reshape the future.
“Children give you another chance at life. I have four different opportunities right now to do my life all over again.”
He also works to uplift young Black men, reinforcing their worth in a world that often undermines them. His values extend to his career—Ellis refuses to play roles that involve domestic violence or sexual assault.
On Marriage, Family Planning, and Writing His Story
After his wife’s postpartum preeclampsia, Ellis chose a vasectomy over her taking hormonal birth control, further proving his commitment to their partnership. He and Khadeen share their journey in We Over Me, and his next book, Raising Kings: How Fatherhood Saved Me From Myself, is on the way.
Through honesty and growth, Devale Ellis challenges traditional ideas of masculinity, making his story one that resonates deeply with millennial women.
For the xoMAN podcast, host Kiara Walker peels back the layers of masculinity with candid conversations that challenge stereotypes and celebrate vulnerability. Real men. Real stories. Real talk.
Want more real talk from xoMAN? Catch the full audio episodes every Tuesday on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and don’t miss the full video drops every Wednesday on YouTube. Hit follow, subscribe, and stay tapped in.
Featured image by YouTube/xoNecole
My personal relationship with birth control pills is a bit of an odd one. Back when I first became sexually active (I started having sex with my first boyfriend a couple of months shy of 19), I took them for a couple of months, didn’t like how they made me feel, and so I quit using them altogether (and got pregnant almost immediately after). The rest of my adult life, I stayed off of the pill and pretty much only used condoms (and even then, not consistently — SMDH).
And yet here I am, now, all these years later, back on them again: surprise, surprise.
These days, it's for a completely different purpose, though. Now that I am in the hopefully latter stages of perimenopause (I’m not sure because my mother had a full hysterectomy at 29, her mother died at 53 and I don’t deal with my paternal grandmother because…chile… ) — although I have always had relatively easy cycles and I could definitely set my watch to them, about two years ago, my periods started to show up whenever they felt like it and it was damn near a crime scene once they did.
It was driving me crazy, and so, my nurse practitioner recommended that I take progestin-only pills to shorten, if not completely stop, my cycle: “After a year or so, we can wean off and see if you are entering into menopause on your own.” (Whew, perimenopause, chile.)
Although the first five months of being on this particular pill made me wonder if it was worth it to take this approach, I actually re-upped for another 12-month cycle because the extra progestin (a synthetic form of progesterone) has benefitted me in other areas as well because I am sleeping more soundly and my weight is more stabilized (by the way, when these things are “off,” they are signs of low progesterone levels). However, I did ask my nurse practitioner if, once I do decide to wean off of the pill, would there be any issues.
Her response is what inspired me to write this article because, until she said “post-birth control syndrome” to me, I had no idea there was such a thing. Anyway, if you give me a sec, I’ll explain to you what it is and why you should care if hormone-related birth control is currently a part of your life.
Yes, Post-Birth Control Syndrome Is a Very Real Thing
Okay, so it’s important to always remember that the way that birth control works is it “manipulates” your hormones so that you can significantly reduce your chances of conceiving. This means that taking them could result in some side effects including nausea; weight gain; headaches; irregular periods and/or spotting; increased stress; depression; blurry vision; breast tenderness, and/or a lowered libido.
That said, even though birth control pills are basically 99 percent effective (when taken correctly and consistently), if the side effects that you are experiencing are making you close to miserable, you should absolutely share that with your healthcare provider because…what’s the sense in preventing pregnancy when you don’t even feel up to having sex because you don’t feel good or your sex drive is shot? More times than not, your provider can find you another pill brand or option that will help you to feel more like yourself.
With that out of the way, think about it — if going on the pill can produce side effects, why would going off of it…not? And this is where post-birth control syndrome comes in.
For the most part, it’s what can happen to your body once you decide to come off of birth control. Typically, the symptoms will last anywhere between 4-6 months and, although the symptoms seem to present themselves most intensely as it relates to going off of the pill, any hormone-related birth control (like IUDs, injections, patches, the ring or implants) could produce similar outcomes.
Outcomes like what?
- Irregular cycles
- Breakouts
- Excessive gas and/or bloating
- Weight gain
- Anxiety and/or depression
- Fertility issues
- Migraines and/or headaches
- Shifts in your libido
- Sleeplessness/restlessness
- Hair loss
Whoa, right? And if a part of you is wondering, “Okay, if this is indeed the case, why have I not heard of this syndrome before?” It’s because it’s not a term that conventional method uses nearly as much as alternative medicine does. Still, it makes all of the sense in the world that if your body has to adjust to an uptick in hormonal intake, it would also need to adjust to removing those extra doses of hormones from your system as well. COMMON. DAMN. SENSE.
Anyway, if you were thinking about taking a break from birth control and taking all of this in has you feeling a bit…let’s go with the word “trepidatious” about doing so, I totally get it. There are some things that you can do to make experiencing post-birth control syndrome either a non-issue or a far more bearable one, though.
7 Home Remedies That Can Make Coping with Post-Birth Control Syndrome Easier
1. Take a multivitamin.Something that’s fascinating about what going off of birth control can do is it sometimes has the ability to lower your nutrition levels as it relates to certain vitamins and minerals; this is especially the case when it comes to vitamins B, C, E and minerals like magnesium, selenium and zinc. So, if you don’t currently take a multivitamin, now would be the time to start (along with consuming foods that are particularly high in those nutrients as well).
2. Up your vitamin D intake. Speaking of nutrient levels, a vitamin level that commonly drops after going off of birth control isvitamin D. This is hella critical to keep in mind as a Black woman since many of us tend to be naturally deficient in the vitamin as-is and vitamin D is important when it comes to fighting off diseases, regulating weight and keeping your moods stabilized (for starters). So, make sure that your multivitamin has vitamin D in it. Also make sure to consume vitamin D-enriched foods like fatty fish, eggs, mushrooms, yogurt and fortified orange juice.
3. Drink herbal teas. Since going off of birth control will cause your hormones to be all over the place for a season, consider drinking some herbal teas that will help to stabilize them. Black cohosh contains phytoestrogen properties, Chasteberry can help to level out your prolactin levels and green tea can help your hormones out by helping to balance out your insulin (which can sometimes directly affect them).
4. Keep some ibuprofen nearby. The headaches and migraines? Until those subside, you and ibuprofen are probably going to become really good friends; although I will add that ginger tea and inhaling essential oils like chamomile and lavender can help to ease migraine-related symptoms too.
5. Do some meditating. Waiting for your hormones to get back on track can be stressful as all get out. That said, something that can get your cortisol (stress hormone) levels to chill out is to meditate. If meditation is new for you, check out “7 Meditation Hacks (For People Who Can't Seem To Do It).”
6. Get massages. As if you needed an excuse to get a massage, right (check out “12 Different Massage Types. How To Know Which Is Right For You.”)? However, there is some evidence to back the fact that regular massages (somewhere around once a month) can help to lower your stress, boost your dopamine, increase blood flow and drain your lymphatic system so that you will have more energy.
7. Sleep/rest more. There is plenty of scientific research out here which says that sleep deprivation can throw your hormones out of whack — and since your hormones are already trying to stabilize themselves, you definitely need to get 6-8 hours of sleep and not feel the least bit guilty about taking naps sometimes too.
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Post-birth control syndrome may not be the most pleasant thing about getting off of birth control yet it is manageable. So, now that you know all about it, you can feel more confident about taking a birth control break (or getting off altogether) — without the surprises that can come with doing it. Give thanks.
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