The Influence of "Sex and The City" on The Public’s Opinion of Gender Representation

In this essay I will critically consider the extent Sex and the City (1998-2004), has influenced the public’s opinion of gender representation. Sex and the City was a trendy award winning television show created by the American producer, director and writer Darren Star and produced by the cable company HBO. I will closely look into the way the writers have portrayed the roles of males and females through the characters in the show and how that has had an effect on the targeted audience of 21 and over females. Media can have a big impact on our lives in many ways; within that there are images of gender portrayed with representation that as an audience we all try to keep up with in our own lives. The arguments will examine if the characters have been exploited to a certain representation.

The romantic comedy-drama first aired in 1998, it was a show that had four lead female characters with ambitions, independence and successful jobs. The way they are so open about their sex and dating lives ‘which seems unremarkable now but was really innovative then.’ (Guru-Murthy, 2010) is powerful. It is something that changed the way women felt about having that conversation with their girl friends, it was suddenly no longer a male matter but now involved both genders. Women nowadays openly have talks about sex and it is something females should be proud not ashamed of, that’s exactly what Sex and the City aimed for when grabbing female attention. The difficult situations that aired on the show made it a ‘culture phenomenon because women could relate to the characters’ (Sotonoff, 2004).

We see the show dealing with many challenging female issues, however the characters express their feelings and we see their strength and power though those moments in order to overcome them. The topics of single motherhood, abortion, homosexuality, and cancer are burning issues many women go through. To have a show that speaks out about those complications makes the female and male audience understand more about how they can deal with, or how to speak confidently about the concerns, this is one of the first modern shows that has done that. The influence Sex and the City has we can see through the ‘unity between the character and the audience’ (InfoRefure) there’s a relationship of agreement between the two, both genders can happily watch the show and say “I have been through that.” It is essential for a show to have an influence on the audience, it can make the viewer think or speak out in a distinctive way.

Furthermore, Sex and the City has made women feel comfortable within themselves and with other people to talk about sexual encounters, experiences and males without being judged and/or being called out for pointless chitchat. ‘It was the first time you'd ever seen an engorged breast on TV. I think it's fantastic that women now feel comfortable talking about vibrators’ (Akass, 2004) Mothers all over world have been inspired that there is no shame in breastfeeding in public after seeing Miranda, one of the lead characters breastfeed her baby, openly in front of people. It has made females feel confident in their own skin, which prior was not how the media would represent women who have just given birth.

Time’s magazine had a front cover of the four lead characters of Sex and the City in 2000 and the headline reads ‘Who Needs a Husband?’ (Times, 2000) This embraces the whole outlook on single life and comforts females by telling them that they don’t need a husband next to them just because they have reached a certain age. Highlighting the fact that females can be a lot more powerful and selfish; women should focus on their careers and lives rather than obsess with finding a husband. ‘Thirty something year old characters take pride in the fact that they are educated and successful, and most importantly have reached such status completely on their own, allows for women all over to relate.’ (InfoRefuge)

We see the main characters on many occasions have self-confidence in how they have succeeded in their careers throughout the show. This only proves to females that the capability of success does not have limit and is not dependent on men, even when men are above their job position. Media associated men with achievements and accomplishments and women with housework and kids, to this day women are proving themselves to the media and the world that all of these statements are incorrect.

Sex and the City gives men and women an example of what a working environment should be like; equal. In Season 2, Episode 5, Mirada invests into buying her own big apartment for herself. She rages, ‘I've got the money, I've got a great job, and I still get, it's just you?’ (Hobbes, 1999) we then see the rest of the girls go on telling her that people are ‘threatened’ from her job because she is more successful than most men and women. This proves to our audience that people feel more confortable with seeing a man being a dominant sex rather than the female. Viewers can see now how wrong that seems compared to when the show aired and people were only just realising impact the gender representation the show had. Viewing this episode made women think why should a female be questioned on their achievements and not males, this becomes an eye opener for all female viewers.

Concluding this both genders in some way have been targeted in the show in a positive way. It has made an impact of what genders can do, we see the independence of women, and the courage mothers have. There is a large audience who will relate to many of the subjects and the will find answers in the questions they have. Sex and The City has been seen as a concern for gender stereotypes; many feminist views claim that if people looked into the hidden messages they will find many stereotypical gender comments. Many say ‘… role of men being the sole beings who hold the key to achieving a sense of completion and happiness in a woman’s life.’ (InfoRefuge) The meaning behind this is that women without male attention or help do not feel a complete satisfaction in their life.

For the characters in Sex in the City the status “single” is being torn into many episodes of how to find the “marriage material guy”, which personally goes against the independent strong and leading females which they portray themselves as. This hypocritical viewing on the audience’s behalf can only confuse how women should be acting. Do they find someone special and marry him or be independent and not care about being single? This leads us to the episode I mentioned previously, season 2, episode 5, everyone being so supporting of Miranda buying her own place and then a comment is received from Charlotte “Everyone needs a man. That's why I rent. If you own and he still rents, then the power structure is all off.”

There is a disconnection between being independent and needing a man, and the inability to supersede your male counterparts. This is false representation; on the one hand we have the argument of how successful Miranda is, and on the other, the argument of how successful you are when being alone. It is inaccurate information portrayed to both the female and male audience, due to the females being afraid to better men, and men carrying the “men are more successful than women” stereotype. I disagree with that image giving to women, especially with the large influence it has. The female characters in season one are hopelessly dating different men, unable to find men who aren’t afraid of commitment and marriage.

Yet again we have this reoccurring stereotypical image of men who love the single life because they see females as ‘sexual objects for men’ (Foss, 2004). Now as an audience we have a perception of males as something negative and that men only want females for fun. In my opinion it is wrong to go on the stereotypical figure of a single man in New York, the audience will simply see males as the enemy and pass that belief on to everyone else. Furthermore, Sex and the City persuades the audience, by having an attractive actor, to look for a man that has the exact qualities as Mr. Big, physically large, wealthy and powerful. It encourages the audience to believe that he is an example of who women should be looking for. On the other hand, we have Carrie ‘returns again and again to a man who treats her like dirt’ (Penny, 2010) We see how Mr. Big has some sort of authority over Carries life due to her change of her ‘moods, emotions, and course of events throughout the each day’ (InfoRefuge) we see her reschedule dates to make time for him and carelessly forget about her friends. In season 1 episode 7 we see Carrie realising she had ‘forsaken my girlfriends for my new boyfriend.’ (Bradshaw, 1998)

The audience is unable to understand why would a strong powerful character put up with a man who manipulates her life, and begins to dismiss her friends’ company. As an audience we are able to notice how much all the women are struggling to keep their independence and slowing loosing it to the men in their lives, simply by always talking about them over breakfast, lunch or dinner. It leads the female audience to believe that women should have men as a top priority conversation topic over their successful jobs and day to day lives. It gives us an indication of why should females work so hard to get somewhere when in reality their real aims in life should be to have a man by their side. This constant running backwards and forwards for a man should not be a representation of what a strong independent woman should behave like, instead Sex and the City displays the wrong attitude, it is simply the false interpretation given to women.

In conclusion, having viewed both arguments for and against gender representation and the influence on the public, I believe that there was a lot of influence primarily targeted towards women. Pin pointing one argument is difficult because the series was very hypocritical in the way they portrayed the independence in women. The audience would always get the strength in females and minutes later it would jump to ‘needing a man’ and I do not agree with having that as an example for women to watch, however it makes for good television regardless. On the other hand it is wonderful to see a show developing the strength women contains the serious topics the lead characters have dealt with; as mentioned previously single motherhood, abortion, homosexuality, and cancer. It is something that when the show aired had influenced women to freely express how they felt and that truly is incredible.

To some extent I agree that the wrong image is being portrayed that women should be reliant on men, and it is not something our society particularly needs, however Sex and the City is one of the first female lead popular shows that begins to make us question the relationship between men and women in the work and personal environment, and conclude that one is not reliant on the other. This is something women should embrace.