When I set out to research previously published material on a feminist perspective to Sex and the City for an article, I thought I'd get a wealth of heated material. I expected to find an eternal stalemate deathmatch between the traditional second-wave feminist faction and the "girlie" feminism, or the "post-feminism." I expected the wordy arguments of the second-wavers, I expected their declamation that SATC was just a syndicated designer shoe ad, and I expected the claim that heart of the show was misogyny because all of the women seem to be driven by longing for a man. What I didn't expect was only one article praising the show.
One article. Seriously, guys? This brought visions of rejection letters swimming into my subconscious; if there are no other articles like this out there, what is the likelihood of mine being published? I mean, normally a niche idea is a good idea, but if I'm marketing it to proprietors of feminist literature, there doesn't seem to be any point in selling them a viewpoint that they despise. Is there?
Misogyny. Product Placement. Dependance. Dysfunction. Surreal Imaging. Hegemonic Dissonances. I agree that all of these points can be made, but I personally believe that the show does a lot of good simply by giving a time slot to a set of strong women of independent means, who aren't afraid of what the world is going to say about them.
Yes. These women are too pretty to be an accurate representation of the typical woman in power. Yes, they perpetuate a possibly abnormal obsession with expensive footwear. And yes, they all are lucky enough to have succeeded in careers that have most people swimming in envy. But they perpetuate actual emotions, and they solve problems in the workplace that many women can identify with.
I point to an episode entitled "Belles of the Balls" wherein Samantha gets turned down for a job because, as a woman, she was too promiscuous. Her response? "If I were a man, you would have shaken my hand and gotten me a scotch. It is shocking that someone with such an innovative vision should be so short-sighted."
Perhaps instead of bad-mouthing one of the only network television shows to address the issue of abortion head-on, we should instead investigate the cultural reasons whereby these characters dress and act the way they do. What cultural changes need to be made in order for a show to air about 4 normal looking women, who struggle in love and in the workplace, and don't really want kids?
In the meantime, I'll take my syndicated Jimmy Choo commercial and like it, thank you very much.
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