Sex & The City

With all the buzz about the new Sex and the City movie, it’s important to keep things in perspective…

The HBO series created a culture of its own. I recall being on airplanes and overhearing women who were trying to make it home in time to watch SATC with their friends. A recent survey indicates just how much the series influenced women and the culture at large.

While I don’t endorse the lifestyle proposed by the show, I can think of some positive – yes, positive – influences it had. For one thing, in a vast hook up culture, it encouraged dating. Granted, it was sort of a hook up version of dating, but at least there was some element of dating. The culture at large has lost what it means to date: going out with someone and getting to know them. It doesn’t mean a hook up. At the same time, it’s not so serious that wedding bells should start ringing. Many of our parents were able to date, really date. It meant that they got to know different people in a social setting. It meant that the guy asked the girl out, that he planned something, and made some sort of an effort to impress her. It meant that men and women had choices about who their spouse would be. Yes, the survey above indicates that SATC made people more open to the idea of casual sex and dating; but it could be an improvement over a mere hookup. The series also encouraged a bit of girliness that isn’t  bad necessarily. Some might call it a lipstick feminism. Sure, not all of the outfits were recommendable and most of us can’t afford such labels; but women were inspired to dress up and be feminine in some way. Again, not necessarily a bad thing.

The upcoming film solidifies a core, perhaps unavoidable, theme in the series, that women desire things that might ultimately be deemed traditional or not-feminist: a husband and children. I find it interesting that true themes like this persist even in situations or from sources that may not be that laudable.

Liz Jones, a UK writer, also has this interesting perspective on the movie. I haven’t seen the movie and have no plans to do so, but I do think it’s worthwhile to consider the effects of such a substantial influence on women and the culture at large.