Critiques of Sex and the City

Few television programs have shaped popular talk about sex and women's lives as much as Sex and the City. The series followed four friends in New York, grew into a pair of feature films, and became a reference point in conversations about dating, fashion and female friendship. It also became a frequent target of criticism, including from writers in Canadian cities such as Halifax.

One critical essay written around the release of the second film argued that the franchise confined women to a handful of types and turned independence into a shopping habit. That essay, along with the fan culture it reacted to, illustrates a recurring debate about what mainstream media says about women and sex.

The four types at the centre of the argument

Critics often reduce the main cast to archetypes. Carrie is read as a romantic whose self-worth depends on partners. Miranda is cast as the guarded career woman. Charlotte stands for conventional ideals of marriage and motherhood. Samantha is the sexually confident character who confronts ageing and illness. The essay disputed that any of these women could speak for all women, and asked where other identities were present: queer women, tattooed alternative women, bikers, intellectuals, vegans and kink practitioners. Defenders of the series reply that the characters were written as individuals rather than as representatives, and that the show spoke openly about female desire at a time when little else on television did.

Fashion, merchandise and premiere culture

A second strand of criticism concerned commerce. In Halifax and other cities, the second film's release prompted themed parties where attendees dressed in glittering outfits, arrived by limousine and drank cosmopolitans. The essay read this as a way of selling beauty products and reinforcing expectations about femininity. Supporters see such events as harmless fun, a chance to dress up with friends.

Media as a producer of myths

The essay drew on Janet McCabe, a feminist film scholar who applies semiotics to cinema. In that tradition, popular films are understood to carry ideologies that appear natural, including ideas about women's roles and sexuality. Applied to this franchise, the argument holds that its message of sexual independence coexists with a message about buying the right products. The essay's author admitted never having watched a full episode, and acknowledged the show could be more liberating than assumed.

A search-engine side note

The author also complained that the title dominates search results for the word sex, crowding out health and education content. That frustration points to a real effect of cultural prominence on online information.

Alternatives named in the discussion

The essay mentioned The L Word and the communal ritual of Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings as contrasting forms of entertainment, one centred on queer women and the other on participatory audience culture.