Ten years of Sex and the City: girlfriends like these

Sex and the City has been a phenomena for the last ten years. Has it really been that long? Yes it has. August 1998 was the airing of the first episode of this cult show, recently followed, in 2008, by a movie by the same name.

Carrie Bradshaw has changed every woman’s notion of fashion and given every girl dreams of what clothes are all about. One could go as far as to say that the show made Manolo Blahnik’s and Jimmy Choo’s iconic brands. But the one service (or dis-service as some critical religious groups may say) that Sex and the City has done for woman (and maybe, secretly, man) kind is all to do with (of course) sex. Sex and the City was undoubtedly the first mainstream show to openly discuss explicit sexual subjects. The discussions between the girlfriends, the Samantha Jones, Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York and Miranda Hobbes had women worldwide hooked and wishing they had friends like those. Those weekend brunch and after-work drinks conversations brought up every sex-related topic that females everywhere had been afraid to discuss and, quite frankly, many that the viewers had probably previously never thought about. Everything from STDs to girl on girl action.

The four friends had very different personality and in the real world it’s difficult to see how they could have come together as close as they were. Samantha Jones, try anything once, sex missionary (but in every position but missionary), self-confessed BJ-addict, different man every night but still made it look somehow classy. Almost all the porn and great sex advice in the show came from her scenes. Charlotte York: prom Queen, straight As, conservative, sexual prude even, looking for the perfect man, always offended at Samantha’s use of sexual language and, almost ironically, marries a man who has emotionally-rooted impotence and then discovers her own infertility. Carrie Bradshaw: made it all look so easy, always on top, that washboard stomach, rippling stomach muscles as she rode her man using those powerful thighs (and always seemed to make love with her bra on?), and of course the most emotionally attached to her sexual experiences. And finally utterly cynical Miranda Hobbes: who taught the masses about phone sex in season three, has predictable sex honed down to the last move with her partner;. The character that softens as she becomes a mother and later marries.

And let’s not forget the “fifth girlfriend” as, Stanford Blatch, gay best friend of Carrie Bradshaw and with almost as good taste in fashion (and men). Stanford is distinctly stereotypically gay but in a completely non-Will and Grace, “oh so hot, what a shame he’s gay, looking” way – all short, balding and teddy bear cute. And, accordingly, has dilemmas of his own with men and looks.

So, are we gonna miss these girlfriends, now that the show is finished and the movies been released? No. I’ve already started again at season one. And anyway, there is always Lipstick Jungle…