Sexuality & gender documentaries

BBC Select explores sexuality and gender and how our perceptions of these taboo topics have changed. If you live in the US or Canada, sign up to BBC Select today and let these BBC documentaries on sexuality and gender guide you through this evolving landscape.

Louis Theroux: Altered States - Love Without Limits

Love and marriage. Do they still go together like a horse and carriage – or is the model no longer fit for purpose?

British filmmaker Louis Theroux visits ‘US capital of polyamory’ – Portland, Oregon – to meet the couples opening up their relationships in eye-opening ways. For many, more partners means more love and happiness – but for some, he finds, it means jealousy, upset and broken hearts.

Secrets of Sugar Baby Dating

Sugar Babies and Sugar Daddies, paired up on a website with the promise of money, gifts and a luxury lifestyle.

It sounds unsavory, but is it a legitimate business? This highly revealing documentary lifts the lid of the Sugar Baby Dating phenomenon, and talks to girls who have a string of rich older men funding their lives and the women who feel damaged by the whole experience.

Louis Theroux: Selling Sex

With online booking, reviews, and lashings of social-media interaction so customers can try before they buy, the sex trade is more accessible than ever. New technologies help sex workers to vet their clients in safety. But at what emotional cost?

Should sex ever be as easy to book as an Uber? Awkwardly charming investigator Louis Theroux passes no judgement – but his eyebrows do the talking.

Couples on the Couch

Couples lay bare their most intimate secrets to the sex therapists in a specially constructed clinic, as they battle to get their relationships back on track.

But when the truth unravels, are their troubles in the bedroom a sign of deeper issues? Candid, awkward, heart-breaking, and moving, this series sees relatable but rarely discussed topics finally brought into the open.

This show is not currently available on BBC Select but browse through the previous titles for more Sexuality & gender documentaries available to stream on BBC Select.

Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best?

Around the world there has been a huge increase in the number of children being referred to gender clinics. Parents are often encouraged to adopt a ‘gender affirmative’ approach and fully support their children’s change of identity. Is this approach the best way?

This challenging documentary visits a childhood gender dysphoria expert who lost his job for challenging these new methods.