http://aim-med.org/news/2008/04/09/1207775874/------------------------------------------------
Look for Dr. Mitch's interview in this upcoming series.
Award-Winning Filmmakers Hart Perry and Richard Lowe Chart Seismic Changes In American Sexual Attitudes, Laws And Practices From 1950s-1980s
Premieres On VH1 On Monday, May 12 – Thursday, May 15 at 10:00pm
Airs On Sundance Channel MAY 19th and May 20th at 12:00am and 1:00am
New York, NY, March XX , 2008. VH1, in association with Perry Films and Sundance Channel have produced “Sex: The Revolution,” an original 4- part documentary series about the sexual revolution and how it changed America. “Sex: The Revolution” is written and directed by Hart Perry and Richard Lowe.
“Sex: The Revolution” premieres on VH1 on Monday, May 12 – Thursday, May 15 at 10:00pm et/pt and on Sundance Channel Monday, May 19th – Thursday May 22rd at 11:00pm et/pt.
“Sex: The Revolution” frankly examines a colorful and controversial chapter of modern American history, when individuals and events coalesced to challenge the moral orthodoxy surrounding sex and sexual behavior. Eros moved from the shadows into the sphere of public discussion, as people sought to eradicate sexual ignorance, fear and loathing. Activism took root and laws were changed; traditional institutions and gender roles were questioned; pleasure was had, and so was profit. And as with any revolution, there were counter-forces seeking a return to the status quo.
“Sex: The Revolution” begins its narrative in the famously frigid America of the 1950s, with the first stirrings of a new sexual candor that would challenge the country’s rigid “save-it-for-marriage” mandate. It continues through the political activism and sexual experimentation of the 60s and 70s, and concludes with the AIDS epidemic and the culture wars of the 80s. Along the way are Alfred Kinsey; Hugh Hefner; Elvis Presley; Citizens for Decent Literature; Sex and the Single Girl; the Pill; Masters and Johnson; Sandstone; Stonewall; Billy Graham; Deep Throat; Fear of Flying; the Castro; Studio 54; Jerry Falwell; Harvey Milk; Ronald Reagan, and much, much more. The series tells its story through rare footage, classic clips, iconic music and interviews with a broad and eclectic spectrum of people. The storytellers featured in “Sex: The Revolution” are those who created that revolution, lived it, wrote the books and music and made the films about it, and were shaped by it. Among them: musicians Nile Rodgers and David Crosby; actors Cybill Shepherd, Danny Glover and Dyan Cannon; writers Erica Jong, Armistead Maupin, John Rechy and Gay Talese; publishers Hugh Hefner, Helen Gurley Brown and Gloria Steinem; filmmakers John Waters and Paul Mazursky; television host Phil Donahue; writer/publisher Paul Krassner (The Realist); birth control activist William Baird; and Marilyn Chambers, star of the landmark porn film Behind the Green Door. Also contributing are the authors of several recent historical studies: David Allyn (Make Love Not War), Legs McNeil (The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry) and Martin Torgoff (Can’t Find My Way Home).
“Sex: The Revolution” is produced by Perry Films, Inc. Executive producers for VH1 are Brad Abramson, Shelly Tatro, Steve Mintz and Jeff Olde. Ann Rose is the Supervising Producer for Sundance Channel and Lynne Kirby is the Executive Producer for Sundance Channel.
Producer/directors Hart Perry and Dana Heinz Perry are leading creators of documentary films and series related to music and popular culture. Their company Perry Films Inc., founded in 1989, pioneered music videos, music documentaries and music longform, and has produced over 50 films to date, including the recent “Imagining America: Icons of 20th Century Art” and the Peabody Award-winning “John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen.” Hart Perry’s credits also include cinematography for Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award-wining documentaries Harlan County U.S.A. and American Dream, and he was the youngest cameraman on the Academy Award-winning Woodstock.
The schedule for “Sex: The Revolution” is as follows:
Monday, May 12 at 10:00pm on VH1
Monday, May 19th at 12:00am on Sundance Channel
Episode 1: Save it for Marriage – A look at the many faces of sexual repression in the 1950s, manifested in popular culture, schools and in the average American home. Virtually everything outside of marital procreative sex is outlawed, and for those who transgress the consequences can be life-shattering. But America has its bawdy underside, and its share of visionaries in the sciences and arts. 1953 brings a one-two punch to America’s sexual ignorance and prudery: Dr. Alfred Kinsey documents women’s sexual practices in the second of his groundbreaking Kinsey Reports; and Hugh Hefner launches Playboy magazine, trumpeting sex as a fundamental element the modern bachelor lifestyle. By the late 1950s, even more cultural forces are at work, piquing the libidos of the young and adventurous across the land. In 1960, the FDA approves the Pill, the first oral contraceptive for use by women. Suddenly women are free to have sex without worrying about pregnancy, and Helen Gurley Brown is there to offer them advice. As the 60s take flight, the Civil Rights movement provides inspiration for activism on numerous fronts. On college campuses, students boldly claim their rights to free speech, including the dirty words of D.H. Lawrence and Henry Miller. San Francisco’s eccentric Sexual Freedom League emerges with ideas both outré and prescient, and sexual rights activists demonstrate in New York and San Francisco. Haight Ashbury hits its peak – sexual and otherwise – with the Summer of Love in 1967; young hippies preach “free love” and a feeling of utopianism is in the air…
Tuesday, May 13 at 10:00pm on VH1
Monday, May 19th at 1:00am on Sundance Channel
Episode 2: The Big Bang –In the late-60s, liberated sexuality spreads like wildfire within the burgeoning youth counterculture, which has united against the Vietnam War. A generation succinctly states its consciousness in the slogan “Make Love, Not War,” and the Yippies (Youth International Party) add fake erotic potions to their arsenal of political provocations. At the same time, the sexual revolution is going middle class and mainstream – not to mention capitalist. Madison Avenue weaves innuendo into advertising and Hollywood studios begin to take some cues from sultry foreign films. Canny entrepreneurs inject a jolt of nudity into cocktail bars, swinging sweeps the suburbs, and Russ Myer takes sexploitation films to a new and astoundingly busty level. William Baird, the founder of Parents Aid Society, defies laws against contraception to bring information and birth control to poor communities around the country. Sex researchers Masters and Johnson sell millions of books and spark a national conversation about good sex, female orgasm and other once-verboten subjects. Inhibitions are definitely out, and suburban couples across America give swinging a try – a phenomenon reflected in zeitgeist entertainments like Paul Mazursky’s Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. The nation’s final remaining law against miscegenation is overturned, and a student at all-female Barnard College challenges the double standard in university housing rules. The women’s movement takes root, and takes aim at one of America’s bastions of female objectification. But not everyone is thrilled to see taboos crumble, and in 1968 president-elect Richard Nixon vows to press the national effort to “control and eliminate smut.”
Wednesday, May 14 at 10:00pm on VH1
Tuesday, May 20th at 12:00am on Sundance Channel
Episode 3: Do Your Thing – The 70s are the halcyon days of the sexual revolution. Androgyny is in and anything goes. The queers who resisted arrest at the Stonewell Inn have kicked open the closet door once and for all; gay culture is out, loud and proud in the Meccas of San Francisco and Manhattan. In New York, Bette Midler begins her bawdy reign as the queen of the Continental Baths, kicking off the golden age of bathhouse and cruising culture. The 70s is also the age of feminism, a decade of passionate activism, debate, advocacy and factionalism. Mainstream feminism is represented by Gloria Steinem, editor of Ms Magazine, while in the popular culture, Erica Jong creates a sensation with her novel Fear of Flying and Helen Burley Brown turns Cosmopolitan into a national phenomenon. And all of it takes place against the drama of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalizes abortion and seals the sexual revolution in place. In California, adventurous heterosexuals can explore sex and self-realization at the Sandstone Retreat; one of the guests, Dr. Alex Comfort, will go on to publish The Joy of Sex, the first lavishly illustrated coffee table sex manual. The era of porno chic dawns with Deep Throat, which is followed by Behind the Green Door, starring a wholesome blonde model named Marilyn Chambers. In 1977, San Francisco becomes the first major U.S. city to elect an openly gay public official, Harvey Milk. Meanwhile, a growing segment of society is voicing outrage about pornography, permissiveness and homosexuality. A new crop of moral crusaders enters the national fray, including former beauty queen Anita Bryant and California State Senator John Briggs, who seek to reverse the tide of gay anti-discrimination laws.
Thursday, May 15 at 10:00pm on VH1
Tuesday, May 20th at 1:00am on Sundance Channel
Episode 4: Tainted Love – The pleasure principle triumphs in the non-stop erotic disco culture of the late 1970s. Sex is out of the bedroom and out in public -- in glamour spots like Studio 54 and at private clubs like Plato’s Retreat. Hardcore porn magazines multiply, making Playboy seem almost quaint in comparison; 42nd Street is a XXX playground; and VCR’s bring blue movies into households nationwide. Many feminists take angry exception to the graphic raunch of Hustler and company, leading to the formation of the activist group Women Against Pornography. But the biggest backlash comes from conservative America, the religious right, and the new President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. As the 80s begin, an undercurrent of sexual fatigue and suspicion appears in popular entertainment, mirroring public unease about rising rates of both divorce and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). In 1981 and 1982, newspapers and magazines publish the first reports of a mysterious outbreak of two rare diseases in homosexual men. With frightening speed, AIDS slams into gay communities all over the country, snuffing out thousands of lives and becoming the new crucible of the culture wars. For several years, the epidemic is shrouded in misinformation and prejudice, with victims treated as pariahs. By the end of the decade, the Meese Commission will have issued a 1,900 page report calling for a war on porn. The AIDS Memorial Quilt will have been rolled out on the Washington Mall, and the slow march to AIDS education and awareness will be underway. In the years to come, the story of the sexual revolution and its legacy will become ever more charged with moral controversy. But one thing is clear: America was changed, profoundly and forever.
VH1 connects viewers to the music, artists and pop culture that matter to them most with TV series, specials, live events, exclusive online content and public affairs initiatives. VH1 is available in 90 million households in the U.S. VH1 also has an array of digital channels and services including VH1Classic, VH1 Soul, VH1 Mobile, VH1 Games and extensive broadband video on VH1.com. Connect with VH1 at VH1.com.
Sundance Channel
Under the creative direction of Robert Redford, Sundance Channel is the television destination for independent-minded viewers seeking something different. Bold, uncompromising and irreverent, Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse and engaging selection of films, documentaries, and original programs, all unedited and commercial free. Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is a venture of NBC Universal, CBS and Robert Redford. Sundance Channel operates independently of the non-profit Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, but shares the overall Sundance mission of encouraging artistic freedom of expression. Sundance Channel’s website address is
www.sundancechannel.com.
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