'Taboo: Sexuality' Premieres on National Geographic Channel

[WASHINGTON, DC] - On Monday, Dec. 2 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT), the National Geographic Channel (NGC) premieres "Taboo: Sexuality," the latest episode in NGC's new series that examines customs and practices that are acceptable in some societies and forbidden, illegal and reviled in others.

"Taboo: Sexuality" examines gender issues around the world. In Albania, we follow a group of "sworn virgins," women who have completely discarded their female identities and become men. In Thailand we follow a man who has chosen to change his sex through surgery. And in India we meet Mona, a representative of "the third sex," a eunuch who is shunned by society and yet provides sex advice to local housewives. By seeing the world through these characters' eyes, we challenge our traditional notions of sexuality.

"Taboo: Sexuality" is the latest episode in the series that crisscrosses the boundaries between modern society and traditional beliefs, exploring the range of human diversity and commonality, from the mundane aspects of everyday life to universal issues like hope, fear, mortality, and evil. In each hour-long episode, a single subject is examined through the lens of several different societies, including rites of passage, blood sports, drug use, witchcraft, marriage, food, tattoos, death, tests of faith.....and sexuality.

Experts featured in this episode include Shahla Haeri from Boston University, Hillary Crane from Tufts University and Daniel M.T. Fessler from the University of California
(Los Angeles). "Taboo: Sexuality" repeats Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT), and 2 a.m. ET (11 p.m. PT), and again on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT).

Based at National Geographic Society Headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Channel is a joint venture between National Geographic Television and Film and Fox Cable Networks Group. National Geographic Channel debuted to an initial 10 million homes in January 2001, and is one of only four new networks to ever surpass 20 million subscribing homes within its first year. The Channel already has carriage with all but one of the nation's most significant cable and satellite television providers, making it available to more than 36 million homes currently. For more information, please visit
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/channel.

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For screening copies, interviews, or more information, please contact:

Russell A. Howard, National Geographic Channel, ,
[email protected]

Nord Wennerstrom, The Fratelli Group, ,
[email protected]

Cathy L. Saypol, (national television contact), ,
[email protected]