It’s called being sexually liberated, ladies.
When Sex and The City first aired, it was praised for it’s progressive take on sex and relationships. However, there were a lot of times when our girl Samantha dealt with some seriously unwarranted criticism regarding her sex life.
Honestly, she was kind of a feminist icon. She liked sex and she was unapologetic about that – and rightly so.
But she was often subject to slut-shaming and some of her biggest critics were her closest friends, who frequently passed remarks and gave her disapproving looks.
There’s a fine line between looking out for a friend and just being flat-out judgemental. The SATC crew were guilty of the latter more often than not.
And, let’s be honest, for a sex columnist, Carrie can be a bit of a prude.
1. The postman
In season five, episode four, Carrie walks in on Samantha performing oral sex on the Worldwide Express guy.
Clearly disapproving of the whole thing, Carrie spends the rest of the episode judging her friend, telling her that she herself would never do something like that.
She then goes on to dish the news to the other ladies and they all gang up on Samantha. It’s super unnecessary, and not to mention, Samantha had recently dealt with breakup – so she’s looking for a distraction. Her friends are kicking her when she’s down and it’s not cool.
2. A forgotten encounter
In season two episode seven, Samantha sleeps with a man she had sex with 15 years ago, forgetting about the initial encounter. Charlotte is absolutely appalled that Samantha can’t remember, while Carrie passes a sly comment judging her for going over “single digits”.
Is it really necessary to comment on how many men a woman has slept with?
3. Charlotte’s brother
The slut-shaming reached all-time-high with this one. When Charlotte’s brother comes to town in season two episode 15, he gets it on with Samantha. Finding out about the one-night-stand, Charlotte is furious and puts the entire blame on her friend instead of her brother.
“Is your vagina in the New York City guidebooks? Because it should be, it’s the hottest spot in town!”
News flash, Charlotte: It takes two to tango.
4. The casual homophobia
In season four, Samantha introduces the girls to her new girlfriend Maria and none of them take it seriously. When Carrie mentions that Samantha was hurt her friends’ reaction, Charlotte says: “Oh please, she isn’t having a relationship, she’s doing this to bug us.”
Sure, Samantha has a lot of flings, but we know Charlotte wouldn’t be saying this if she had introduced them to a man.
This is not the only time the characters dismiss bisexuality, which is very problematic in itself. Carrie previously stated that it doesn’t even exist, calling it a “layover to Gaytown”.
5. Nosy neighbours
We can’t forget the episode where Samantha’s neighbours viscously slut-shame her in the building’s lobby, calling her every name under the sun. After an elderly woman gets robbed at gunpoint, the residents attempt to track down a man seen in the building that night – one of Samantha’s guests. Realising Samantha let him in, they tell her the incident was all her fault for being a “tart” and having too many male visitors.
Of course, Samantha feels guilty, but having the entire blame thrown onto her is tad bit much.
