I’ve watched Sex and the City cover to cover more times than I care to admit. Like many superfans, I grew up watching the series and wanted to be like the characters. More than any other movie or TV show, the women of SATC have had a profound impact on who I aspire to be – what to wear, what cocktails to drink, where to eat, Who you sleep with, how often you sleep, and how you sleep. It’s no accident that I became a sex columnist, liked impractical shoes, had a drinking problem, and ended up living in New York, just two blocks from Carrie’s actual porch.
Most importantly, Sex and the City makes me want to get enlightened the fucking way – I think I Not alone. The series makes casual, spontaneous, and often absurd sex with a rotating cast of relative strangers fascinating and empowering. I’d watch the show and wonder: Can I really consider myself a modern woman if I don’t bump into a sociopathic investment banker in the bathroom of the hottest restaurant in the Meatpacking District? I would say no. Rewatching the series 25 years later, I can’t help but wonder if…Sex and the City changed the way we make love ?
I first watched this series when I was sneaking episodes with friends after my parents went to bed . We don’t understand half of what’s going on, but we’ve certainly never seen this unabashedly sexy woman on screen. (Remember, that was the time when Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson were virgins until they got married. Wow .) Back then, thinking women would do it for fun, Just like a man. Conversely, promiscuous women are often portrayed as evil or disposable. Like, have you ever noticed that in basically every horror movie, any woman who dares to wink at a man is the first to be stabbed or eaten by a zombie? Yes, this is no coincidence. Even in the late 1998 years, when SATC first aired, slut shaming was ubiquitous—whether in In reality or in fiction. From The Scarlet Letter
, to Monica Lewinsky, to Paris Hilton, “sluts” are literally and figuratively fucked – basically From the dawn of time.
But then came the SATC group, like a beacon of debauchery. Rewatching it today, the show’s depiction of female sexuality often still feels progressive, which makes it easy to assume it’s in
How groundbreaking, seeing women unapologetically talking about orgasms, threesomes, and casual tea at brunch. (And now, it’s hard to find female characters who aren’t Aperol and avocado toast who discuss anal at least once per episode. I guess that’s progress?)
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