7 TV Shows to Watch if You Like Sex/Life on Netflix: Who doesn’t love watching a show or movie about sex, drama, and infidelity? For these exact reasons, Sex/Life has taken the internet by storm since the release of its first season. The premise is simple: A lonely suburban mother, Billie (Sarah Shahi), yearns for the wild, hot sex-filled party days of her youth, particularly her time with bad boy Brad (Adam Demos). She starts writing about her experiences on her laptop, and when her husband (Mike Vogel) discovers what she’s written, he uses it as an instruction manual to spice up their sex life.
For those unfamiliar, the series description reads: “A woman’s daring sexual past collides with her married-with-kids present when the bad-boy ex she can’t stop fantasizing about crashes back into her life.” The show involves bored women and toxic men having lots and lots of sex. Sex/Life grabbed eyeballs for its depiction of nudity and raunchiest, forbidden copulation scenes- and soon made it to everybody’s list of guilty pleasures.
Apart from a lot of skin shows, the show also has a few clever dialogues thrown in to keep the typical plot engaging for most parts. The show has a women-led creative team but suffers from the hangover of the male gaze that looms large on popular television and sets a poor example for young women. The show talks about lots of uncomfortable truths regarding infidelity in women’s lives. With all the good-looking sex choreographed in flashy neon lights and warm interior hues, the show’s target audience seems to be vanilla women who are dying to call monogamy a sham. And Sex/Life delivers on that promise.
As the second season of Sex/Life just dropped on Netflix, let’s look at seven other shows that you can binge if you yearn for something similar.
1. Fishbowl Wives
Netflix’s 2022 series Fishbowl Wives is based on a manga, and it is supposed to show women taking charge of their crumbling marriages by crossing the line into infidelity. The show abounds in promiscuity and visceral nude scenes making many netizens compare the NSFW drama to soft porn. The first episode of Fishbowl Wives begins in a similar way to Sex/Life, where the protagonist is having a steamy sex session in a shower and against the window of a skyscraper as they both talk about the adultery they are committing. The series is about the kind of intimacy and romance that could be seen as coming from lust and selfishness but actually stems from a much somber place.
There is a deep melancholia beneath the affairs, and the show doesn’t move away from exploring that. The eroticism of the series is a complementary tool to expand the plot. Fishbowl Wives is a study of the resilience of women and how eventually, desire has to take over morality to give agency to their lives. There is an ample amount of nudity and physical violence in the show to make it a demanding watch. The story is shown in an anthology format where six wives living in the same complex experience sexual awakening in different story arcs. If you are a Sex/Life fan, rest assured Fishbowl Wives too delivers consistent sexual romps, adult dialogues, and a risqué romantic drama to keep you engaged.
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2. The Girlfriend Experience
Steven Soderbergh’s “The Girlfriend Experience” is probably the most audacious TV series around. The show already has three seasons and is an adaptation of the 2009 film of the same name. The show spirals down the lane of sex work and how the different complexities that come with it impact the life of the characters. The anthology drama series delves into subjects like work, power, and possession. Just like Sex/Life, the show is filled with scenes revolving around Christine (Riley Keough) having sex with older clients- the show doesn’t use the sex scenes for titillation. The show focuses on an escort who offers the titular high-end service that makes the client feels like receiving the illusion of a partner rather than a more transactional sexual encounter.
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3. Shrill
Hulu’s Shrill is my favorite show from the list, and it doesn’t only offer some realistic and sexy make-out scenes, but the show’s outlook towards sex is far more progressive and thought-provoking than Sex/Life. Shrill is about a writer making her way through the world as a fat, straight Wiman, It is based on Lindy West’s life, and her perspective guides the series. It is a rare show that discusses a plus-size person’s sexual desires and how the protagonist is worthy of desire and pleasure. She has agency, but the male gaze has majorly fucked with her self-esteem, so having sex is like going through a minefield for her.
The show doesn’t take the popular route of showing body parts and aggressive pouncing while depicting a sex scene. Rather than that, Shrill focuses on enjoying the plateau with plenty of intimacy, pleasure, and communication. The three-season show is a huge leap toward body-positive television. If you love Sex/Life, watch Shrill to detoxicate your expectations on how great sex should look like, and you can enjoy both of them.
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4. Desperate Housewives
Melding suburban dreams with a dark murder mystery plot, Desperate Housewives managed to balance the plot’s melodramatic elements with plentiful comic relief. When the show hit our screens in 2004, it had a unique blend of genres, making it survive eight long seasons. This show can be a perfect companion piece to Sex/Life as Desperate Housewives also tells the story of several suburban women as seen through the eyes of their deceased neighbor and friend on Wisteria Lane. The show is pulpy, has soap-opera-worthy plot lines, and can surprise you with its dark twists. It also has plenty of steamy sex scenes and themes of repressed angst for all Sex/Life fans to relish.
5. The Affair
The Affair deals with the temptation of an affair and the potential havoc it can wreak on a person’s life. The series explores the psychological effects two separate affairs have on the corresponding couples, eventually capturing two marriages. The series stars Dominic West and Ruth Wilson and is littered with too many sex scenes, which made Ruth Wilson eventually quit the show. The sex scenes of the show are more dynamic than Sex/Life and show a wide spectrum- from sweet ones to intense ones and even BDSM scenes. Joanie’s (Anna Paquin) second hookup of season 5 is haunting and shows the disturbingly morbid outlook the show has toward women struggling with mental illness. The show has often garnered controversies regarding its toxic work culture, sadistic messaging, and titillating sex scenes, but if you are in for it, maybe it can provide you with a wild ride.
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6. Dear White People
Dear White People can be viewed as a cross between Sex/Life and Elite. It is a bold show and tackles gay sex with rational lenses. Dear White People consistently delivers A+ sex scenes. Hollywood has a terrible record of depicting cunnilingus. Even Netflix is guilty of historically treating it like a less important sexual act compared to penetrative sex. But in one of Dear White People’s episodes, we see two characters fully clothed while the girl is delivering an erudite monologue while the guy’s head is betwixt her leg. It is a timely and provocative show with an entertaining blend of social commentary and incisive humor.
7. What/If
Like Sex/Life, What/If is an unapologetically escapist and dramatic show. Netflix’s original series What/if boasts a similar and darker premise than Sex/Life but has more similarities to that show beyond the slash in both their titles. Renée Zellweger plays Anne, a meddlesome millionaire who interferes in a couple’s relationship for reasons we won’t spoil. Anne agrees to fund Lisa’s (Jane Levy) science venture—if she agrees to let her husband (Blake Jenner) spend the night with her. The premise of the first season is reminiscent of Indecent Proposal. The show is pulpy and filled with ridiculous yet dramatically satisfying twists. What/If can be a perfect guilty pleasure if you crave something raunchy and binge-worthy after finishing Sex/Life.
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