Okay. I may get voted off the One City Blog for this one, but that\u2019s a chance I have to take.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been a lot of Sex and the City<\/em> talk on this blog lately, and I hope you don\u2019t mind if I take the discussion a bit further. I came across this piece a few days ago on Judith Warner\u2019s blog \u201cDomestic Disturbances\u201d on the New York Times and had to share it because I think it’s really well written and if you scroll down to the comments section, there’s some interesting debate. The blog article is aptly titled: \u201cWoman In Charge, Women Who Charge.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n Warner\u2019s article is not about the outcome of Clinton\u2019s campaign but \u201cthe zeitgeist<\/em> in which Hillary floundered and Sex<\/em> is now flourishing.\u201d I think this is a fascinating dialogue to consider. Is there some underlying connection between the media\u2019s depiction of what women should look like and should wear and how they should act, and the country\u2019s general distaste for Hillary Clinton? Warner writes:<\/p>\n \u201cHow antithetical Hillary\u2019s earnest, electric blue pants-suited whole being is to the frothy cheer of that film, which has women now turning out in droves, a song in their hearts, unified in popcorn-clutching sisterhood to a degree I haven\u2019t seen since the ugly, angry days of Anita Hill and\u2026the first incarnation of Hillary Clinton.\u201d<\/p>\n Well, yeah, they\u2019re antithetical. One is trying to lead the country and one is a goofy TV show. Case closed? Maybe, maybe not.<\/p>\n My mom loves Sex and the City<\/em>. My mom is also a self proclaimed feminist. At lunch a few months ago she told me that she was not happy that I was voting for Obama. She was annoyed with me for two reasons:<\/p>\n \n 1) <\/span><\/span>\u201cHillary is more elect-able if it comes down to her vs. McCain\u201d (Read: you are being too idealistic)<\/em><\/p>\n 2) <\/span><\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s time for a woman president\u201d (Read: you are not a good feminist).<\/em><\/p>\n While I thought these reasons were neither solid enough to back up her decision nor worthy of making me suffer through her stories of her old college feminist meetings for the rest of that lunch, I did understand where she was coming from. They\u2019re the same arguments you\u2019ve heard for the past year (Hillary\u2019s got more experience, she\u2019ll stand up to McCain better, she\u2019ll have a tougher skin to withstand the mudslinging, etc). Apparently, my not voting for Hillary was a vote against women.<\/p>\n Warner cites among the recent media atrocities a South Park episode called \u201cSnuke,\u201d which you can find online (legally) at www.Hulu.com.<\/a> It involves Hillary Clinton having a nuclear weapon hidden in her vagina. As research for this article, I watched the episode. I thought the concept was funny, and my issues with the episode have more to do with the fact that I don\u2019t enjoy the gratuitous violence on South Park, which I admit is a matter of personal taste. Does that mean I\u2019m not a feminist? Or am I a feminist with a (dark) sense of humor?<\/p>\n As a side note, Warner also cites Tucker Carlson\u2019s comment that, \u201cWhen she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs.\u201d I refuse to believe that a person who is seriously thinking of voting for Hillary Clinton would give any credence to the middle school level insults of an amoeba like Tucker Carlson. Maybe I just put too much faith in people\u2019s intelligence.<\/p>\n Despite how much I tried, I didn\u2019t hate the Sex and the City <\/em>movie. I swear to God, for all my Buddhist friends, for my feminist mother, for my sixteen-year-old sister growing up in a sexist society, I really really tried to hate that movie. I revved myself up to hate it. I read the New York Times review by Manohla Dargis which completely trashed it.<\/a> I did quite enjoy this line, though: \u201cIt\u2019s that awash in materialism and narcissism, a cloth flower pinned to her dress where cool chicks wear their Obama buttons, this It Girl has become totally Ick.\u201d That was very clever and colorful.<\/p>\n But still. Hate it, I could not. I caught myself giggling in spite of myself, and, I\u2019m sorry to say, oohing and aahing with my friends over the beautiful clothing featured in the film. What can I say? I succumbed to fashion awe by way of peer pressure. I\u2019d love to be able to say that I\u2019m free of all that material stuff, but if someone gave ME a free Louis Vutton bag, you can bet I would use it. Come on. Seriously<\/em>. Call me a hypocrite or a hungry ghost, but I would venture to say that everyone living in New York City has something material that gets them. Some people treat themselves to a brand new iPhone or MacBook; for some people it\u2019s good food; for others it\u2019s being into music that no one else has ever heard of – everyone\u2019s attached to something. Maybe Sex and the City<\/em> is just more honest about it than the rest of us.<\/p>\n While I\u2019d like to sympathize with Judith Warner, I really wish people would remember that it\u2019s okay to have a sense of humor that isn\u2019t always sophisticated or productive. I do agree that Sex<\/em> is not a feminist narrative. Yes, it sometimes makes women look like money-grubbing whores. But I think it\u2019s a damn funny show. It\u2019s entertainment. When did we stop being able to laugh at ourselves? I\u2019m really tired of having to explain why I enjoy this show, and having to almost apologize for liking it. Not everything we put into our bodies and minds is good for us. How was that Corona you had after work? Enjoy your Ben and Jerry\u2019s? Let\u2019s be real here. One beer or one bowl of ice cream isn\u2019t good for us, but it\u2019s not going to kill us, and neither is a little Sex and the City<\/em>. I think it\u2019s true that everything\u2019s okay in moderation. Is Sex and the City<\/em> really causing us that much suffering? Is it really a symptom of a misogynist society? I don\u2019t think that Sex and the City<\/em> is ruining feminism. Turning off Sex and the City<\/em> isn\u2019t going to turn feminism back on, just as electing a woman president simply because she\u2019s a woman isn\u2019t going to turn feminism back on.<\/p>\n