Let's Talk About Sex

I want to make this blog about more than just theory, and lately there has been a lot of it, so. I want to keep this blog accessible to the masses ("the masses" don't read your blog yet -- pub). More to the point, this post is a shameless attempt to get more girls to read and be interested in this blog. If you're a girl and reading, then this is your day (thanks to reader Jennifer [who is too cool to get her own blog] for her expert input on this subject). Even guys know about the show "Sex and the City." Even if you haven't watched it, chances are you are subjected to quotes from it on a fairly regular basis courtesy of your female friends who happen to be really big fans. I've watched the show. Not in a weird, "I'm obsessed with it" kind of way, just a few times out of curiosity. I mean, I don't like the show. I find it offensive, it's completely geared towards women, the morals it promotes are horrible, it does a better job objectifying men than Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition does objectifying women. All the guys are tools. The only things that are purported to matter are the stereotypical things a female would care about: how "successful" he is, is he an "eligible bachelor," does he have a big d*ng. It plays shamelessly to all kinds of stereotypes. But still, it's such a cultural phenomenon that you have to give it credit and wonder how it got to be so successful. Obviously I'm going to be getting most of this stuff wrong but...There a few things I can think of that account for this show's catastrophic success:

• It engages girl viewers with their sexual selves through its storylines telling of the sexual adventures of the main women characters, and as such is highly liberating. The premise of the show, which is women empowering themselves by having sex, offers a big escape from the usual stigma that says that for women to be interested in sex, they have to be slutty. This is the "why women like to watch it" theory.

• Alternatively, it gives men a window into women's sexual lives. This is the "why men might like to watch it" theory. On a purely sexual level, as a piece of...I don't know the word, pornography, erotic arts...the show is pretty pathetic. If you get the show at all, then that means you get HBO, which means that you might as well get Skinemax, which would be much better if that's what you're interested in. And its not as if the characters are "real," so no one's getting a voyeuristic kick out of it. But there is good reason to think that if so many women follow the show so religiously, how far from the truth in terms of the female psyche can it be?

• It's a good show. And by this I don't mean to say I like it. I mean to say it's well-written, well-cast, well-acted, well-shot. I'm no literature major, but I would be so bold as to say the characters seem well developed. The characters' parts are written very plausibly and realistically. The characters visibly go through changes on screen. The four different types of person embodied in the characters do a good job of representing the variety of female "types" out there. The acting is good. Personally, I think the Samantha character is hilarious. The actresses have a great on screen rapport.

• The message: it seems to be: "at the end of the day, your friends are who will be most important." Kind of the opposite of the "bros before hoes" doctrine. It's a very sweet message. That is all I have to say about that.

• It is somehow culturally very apposite at this point in time. I don't live in the big city so I don't know, but are good men hard to find in the city? Are gorgeous, successful women endlessly cycling through one-night stands? Have the women in New York City become so cynical romantically that they are going around indulging in meaningless and excessive sex with multiple partners on a (weekly) basis? If true, then perhaps I should reconsider my living arrangements. If partially true, then it would have great resonance with people out there if you made a show about it.

Any girls out there who would like to share their thoughts / feeling /experiences feel free to chime in. (No Jung, you don't count).