Introduction

“You have no idea how many men I have had to sleep with to get this award,” was the opening
line to Kim Cattrall’s Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress acceptance speech, for her
performance in Sex and the City in 2003. Media is a big part of people‘s everyday lives. It
influences both how we see ourselves and the world to some extent. With four women serving as
main characters, and the storyline being based off of their triumphs and failures in interpersonal
relationships, social lives, men, money, and sex, the popularity of this film can be interpreted as a
reflection of the concerns of women in today’s society. Within the personas of each of the characters we
can find the struggle of modern women and how they are affected by the ever-changing role of the
feminine ideal in a fast paced, socially dynamic world. This thesis qualitatively investigates how men and
women are represented in the movie Sex and the City. We analyze how gender roles are represented in
the two movies in order to see how men and women are represented. Whether they are represented as
typically feminine or masculine, which has been the case in previous studies within the field, is worth
being looked at.

Thesis statement. Research has been made on a lot of movies and television shows and this thesis
will be adding to this vast amount of research by analyzing gender representation in the movie
Sex and the City 1 and 2.
Body 1
In order to understand the connections that audience members create with the cast of Sex and the
City, one must first comprehend their basic roles within the film and within their group of
friends. The main character, Carrie Bradshaw as played by Sarah Jessica Parker, is a
selfproclaimed “sexual anthropologist.” However, Carrie is a journalist, or more specifically, she
is a prominent sex columnist. When it comes to describing the troubles of relationships and
intimacy between a man and a woman Carrie is the expert. Carrie’s three best friends are
Samantha Jones, Charlotte York and Miranda Hobbes. Samantha (played by Kim Cattrall) is a
powerful sexually exultant woman who runs her own public relations firm in the city of Los
Angeles. She prides herself in loving sex and intimacy yet she finds even more pride in that she
is self-made, independent, and powerful. Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) is quite the opposite of
Samantha. She is a museum curator, and believes in tradition. In the film she is happily married
to a charming man, Harry Goldenblatt, who compliments her quirky traits and sweet feminine
personality. Her goal in life is to be a great mother, however she struggles to get pregnant and
have a birth child. The last of the four friends is Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), she is a goal
driven attorney who has both a husband (Steve) as well as a son. Despite her role as a mother and
a wife she manages to remain a very prominent attorney, but not without a few struggles in her
marriage. Together this foursome represents four unique interpretations of what it is to be a
female in today’s society.
Body 2
Studies on gender roles in media show that women are underrepresented in movies, and that they
are represented in a different way than men. Men tend to be portrayed as having higher and
longer lasting career status based on their success, while women have lower and shorter career
status based on their youth/looks (Carter & Steiner 2004). The woman is described as being
watched/saved, while the man the one watching/saving (Bell et al. 1995, Miegel & Johansson
2002, p. 158, 165-169). In this thesis the important concept concerning gender theory is the
constructed gender. It is all very interesting that women are positioned as the subordinate gender,
since women are the gender assigned to physically weaker traits or features that describe what
they are like.
Body 3
Throughout the series, Sex and the City, many aspects of gender are explored; from the shows
resistance of stereotypical gender norms to its hypocritical obliging demeanor to the same
typecasts. Sex and the City audiences are exposed to the lives of each of the show’s four strong,
independent, female characters. During each hour long episode audiences witness Carrie,
Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha’s struggles with the importance, desire, and influences of
men, dating, and marriage (Sohn, 2002). And while they each are uniquely different, they all
hold quite different perspectives and beliefs, and because so, act out on those values in varying
manners. In doing so, audiences learn that each character, despite however large their attempts to
resist it, all are inevitably affected by the pressures to become married. It is through these
characters’ trials and tribulations in the department of love which then give birth to and sustain a
witty storyline for each episode.
Body 4
The emphasis lies on sexual freedom, female friendships, independence, and cosmopolitism
embodied by a group of young women who live and work in New York. Sex and the City is said
to be produced from a female point of view and is stressed as a feminine series. The film, lies
somewhat in an inbetween aiming to push for third wave feminism ideals, while using language
that is definite of post-modern feminism ideology. The waves of feminism set the occasion for
the rhetorical images in film and popular culture today, enabling these images to be shown to the
public and popularized. Without the waves and postmodern feminist thought, progression for
females and popular culture, audiences would not be accepting of the strong willed and
independent characters in the film. It is very apparent that the intended audience for Sex and the
City, is females especially those who are goal driven and independent. However, it is not clear
until closely analyzing the details of these characters lives and the foundation of the plot line of
the film that these images of independence and achievement lose their power because males are
blatantly the underlying reason for the ultimate emotional success and stability of the female
characters.
Body 5
Stereotypes and gender biases are themes women have been dealing with for centuries. How
women are perceived by social medial and television have been influencing how they are treated
by men, and how they view themselves when it comes to taking a leadership role in their
organization. According to Omega Institute (2012), “The rapidly shifting landscape of new
media and technology, including reality television and celebrity culture, continue to reinforce
gender stereotypes” (p. 1). This leads to men still growing up viewing women as home makers
versus bread winner. With more women entering leadership roles in the work place they lack the
respect from men due to how these men have grown up to know the typical role of a man and
woman. Men tend to feel belittled due to the gender stereotypes seen on television, and this leads
to women struggling to succeed as a leader with the lack of support from their male counterparts.
Lack of confidence with women in the workplace is also influenced and effected by how women
are perceived in social media and television. According to Steele (2005), “Exposure to
stereotypic commercials persuade women to avoid leadership roles” (p. 276).
Conclusion
Through the rhetorical images in the film Sex and the City one can now see how this new
feminist ideal has been created yet still is very similar to traditional views of what women should
prioritize in their lives. Through the waves of feminism women have come a long way in terms
of representation. They have gained respect and political presence. However, society still
reminds us every day in images similar to those of the women of Sex and the City and in the
media that men will always be the ultimate determining factor. It reminds us that males are the
ones with the most power. Every step we make towards progress away from this view can also be
seen as a step back through contradicting ideas such as the sexualization of women in the media.