Four Types of Women

The series Sex and the City (SATC), is a romantic sitcom about four single women in their mid-thirties living in New York City. SATC is about four girls who are best friends who are constantly talking about their sex lives, and there relationship problems. The four characters in SATC are so different and they all have very unique different ways of dealing with their problems. This show gives us four unique representations of women and how each one of them breaks through the traditional gender roles they have.

                The first character Carrie Bradshaw is every woman’s dream she is this energetic New York columnist with amazing fashion sense and has the best and worst relationships. Carrie breaks many of the traditional gender roles that we are used to in this series. For instance in an episode of SATC carries says, “The only thing I've ever successfully made in the kitchen is a mess. And several fires”. She is not the traditional women who cooks and cleans for a man; she is more worried about what she is going to wear to dinner. Carrie also surprised us when her character was the one that would have the commitment issues in her relationships, she was always the one to run and hide when things got too deep in a relationship. Typically men are the ones with the commitment issue but not in Carries case. Carrie is also a smoker for part of the series and she is one for breaking the rules.  But Carrie also follows some of the stereotypes of women, like she is led by her emotions, she strives for acceptance in relationships, and sometimes she can be selfish in relationships. Carrie likes to step out of the box and resist the dominant roles of women and give women the chance to feel free to talk about and do whatever they want.

                Samantha Jones is the firecracker out of the group of friends, she plays this successful business women who knows what she wants and gets it most of the time. Samantha Jones is describes as “Samantha embraces her uninhibited sexuality with a diverse (and large) group of lovers, from wrestling coaches to power bachelors to a studly farmer. Forget wedding dreams; Samantha takes lust over love any night, and she's proud of it” ( HBO). She is not following the traditional gender roles either, usually women who have sex with multiple men, and freak out when they hear the word wedding, are categorized as promiscuous women. She breaks the traditional gender roles and proves that she doesn’t need a man to take care of her ( only in the bedroom) and she comes off as this very independent women who doesn’t have a sensor.

                Charlotte York plays a very different character then the two I describe above, Charlotte is described as “an essentially sweet-natured woman who likes her job well enough, but who harbors romantic dreams of marrying a nice, preferably rich guy and having beautiful children, and who believes there’s one “right” person out there for everyone.” (ZACHAREK). Charlotte’s character is the stereotypical sweet young lady who has a plan for everything and dreams about the day that she will get married and have children. Her character reinforces the dominant roles of women. She tries to live this perfect little life and lets everyone believe that everything is just fine; her character is the role model of how women should act. Charlotte is the nice one that can rarely get mad at anyone and who would do anything for anyone. Her character represents the American woman and how they should act according to the culture.

                Lastly we have Miranda Hobbes who plays this smart, successful, single mom who is proud of her accomplishments, but more proud of the fact that she did it one her own. Charlotte is the well rounded friend who thinks things through before making a big decision. She plays the untraditional women who becomes partners of a law firm, raises a baby, and buys her own apartment; her character is portrayed as the successful independent woman who doesn’t need a man to get what she wants. This is not something that our culture is used to, so it gives women the idea that they can do it to if they put in some hard work. You may think Miranda has it all, a good job, a baby, and an apartment, but she has a hard time finding a good relationship through much of the series.

                After describing these four characters from SATC you can see how each and every one of the characters is different and how each of them at reinforce the dominant roles of women, but they also resist these roles and challenge them. SATC uses these four different characters to show women that its ok to stray from the normative culture and do what makes you happy even if it’s not the “Female” thing to do.