Sex and the City

You will read the title and you will either really want to read this post or you will really not want to. I don’t care.

I’m writing it on the off-chance that some of the people who have unsubstantiated opinions on Sex and the City will read it and maybe think a bit more in the future, and maybe even give this show the respect it deserves.

I’m sure you’re all aware that the SATC film is premiering tonight in London! (But it’s not the ‘World Premier’ – that’s in New York to avoid arguments).

Sex and the City began in 1998. It seems bizarre to think but the 90s really was very different to now. We may not have noticed it as much because we were too young to have been affected by topics such as sex and equality, but a lot has changed in the last 12 years.

Yes, when you talk about SATC you can mention the clothes and the shoes and the sex, but to be honest those aren’t the parts I’m interested in. I love SATC, and believe that it does have feminist aspects, because of the 4 main characters and their relationships with each other. This is the first programme where there were truly witty, intelligent independent women. Female hedonism wasn't frowned upon. Of course, there have been other intelligent women in TV but the only ones I can think of (Lucy, Samantha, even more recently the female characters in Friends) were all in some way dependant on men. Think about it. Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda were certainly not dependant on anyone, except each other.

While it may have not been overtly feminist, SATC still endorsed feminist themes whilst letting the characters display femininity and individuality. Do you honestly think that Carrie dressed like that to impress men? Christ no! Men probably think she looks like a deformed raggy doll or something – she wore what she wanted, because she wanted to – and that’s feminism in a nutshell Manolos.

For example, when Charlotte says she wants to be a housewife, and Miranda tells her that she shouldn’t after all the feminist movement has achieved. Charlotte says something along the lines of “the women’s movement is about choice”. "Here here!" is all that I can say. I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Ultimately, the feminist aspect is that the 4 main characters are soul mates. Anyone that watches the show for an amount of time can see that. They don’t need men as much as they need each other. They don’t compete for male attention. They can have intelligent, funny conversations. They are individuals.

Some people say that the world changed dramatically because of Sex and the City. I’m not so sure. SATC may not have directly affected the way we think and live, it may just have been at the right place at the right time with the right writers (try saying that 10 times fast!), but even so it serves as an attractive, user-friendly guide to a forward-thinking time that we can all relate to... if we give it a chance.