Ah, to see Manhattan in the late 1990s through Bushnell-colored glasses. It must have been a wonderful time. The city was cast in an eternal springtime (meaning no one ever risked slipping on an icy sidewalk or had to worry about heavy winter coats when going out), people still bought newspapers and magazines and men actually went right up to you and asked for your number instead of going home and trying to find you on Facebook or Googling you (and then possibly texting).
Yet even back then, true New Yorkers weren’t fooled by the Manolo-clad Carrie Bradshaw and her posse. The cult status that formed around the show relied heavily on the mythology it imparted to viewers from elsewhere in the United States — and the world — about what it meant to be an “independent woman” in the Sex and the City version of New York City. Here, we’ve conveniently broken down some possible misconceptions the beloved series may have given non-New Yorkers about life in the big city and kindly called “B.S” on a few of them.
1. It may be a tiny island, but it is jam-packed with dating prospects.
You will still have one friend who seems to have dated them all (yet you two will never seem to overlap), but this place is teeming with eligible bachelors! Just throw on your highest heels and strut down those packed sidewalks. He’ll find you, don’t worry. Bonus points for heading out and doing something a little “wild” and “out of character” during Fleet Week, which is coincidentally happening right now.
Verdict: Plausible
2. Motherhood can wait.
When Miranda finds out she is pregnant and tells Carrie she doesn’t actually want the baby, it marks one of the first times in television history a woman is not ecstatic to find out she is with child. This refreshing candor about the female experience showed how societal norms were shifting and malleable. There is no “set age” when a woman should become a mother, just like there is no “perfect age” for getting married.
Verdict: Plausible
3. Everyone has designer wardrobes.
Freelance writer? So what! You can still rent a beautiful apartment on the Upper East Side, eat every meal in an impossible-to-get-into restaurant and wear only designer duds. You may not have health insurance and it’s very unclear how that Con Edison bill gets paid each month, but boy, do you look good! Even your friend, the exceptionally busy lawyer on the partner track, seems to have time to shop for the latest and trendiest togs. She probably has a personal shopper, but then again she can afford it.
Verdict: Preposterous
4. Speak frankly about whether he’s carrying a big stick.
Imagine being a fly on the wall at one of the girls’ Sunday morning brunches. If you were from a conservative Midwestern town, chances are you’d be one shocked fly. These dish sessions showed viewers that women and their friends do speak openly and — at times — rather bluntly about sex, relationships and emotional issues. Some women may choose to share more than others (cough, Samantha, cough), but the women of Sex and the City definitely helped women across America feel more comfortable having certain types of conversations.
Verdict: Plausible
5. Flats are for quitters.
Before Sex and the City, Manolo Blahnik was just an overpriced shoe designer with an odd-sounding name (sorry, but it’s true). Now, thanks to the series, Blahnik and Jimmy Choo are household names and aspirational footwear even for people who don’t have a place to wear $500 shoes. Carrie Bradshaw owned this town in her five-inch heels. She even determined in a season four episode that she has literally spent her life savings on shoes.
While women in NYC do attempt do go about their daily lives in heels, and on the season finale of 30 Rock, one of the reasons Jack Donaghey gave for why he loved Avery Jessup was “She always wears heels because she thinks flat shoes are for quitters,” most of us who commute on the subway every day find it easier in flats. Said flats also do not cost $500, because New York City streets are filthy — and who wants to ruin $500 shoes?
Verdict: Preposterous
6. When all else fails, eat a cupcake.
They may cost a pretty penny here in Manhattan, but gosh darn it, those pastel-colored mini-cakes are wee slices of heaven that cure all sorts of emotional ailments. You may have to spend a little bit longer in the gym (or at the latest fad exercise class with your gal pals that week) to burn it off, but it’s so worth it.
Verdict: Plausible
7. You will see your friends for lunch, drinks, brunch, etc., all the time.
Carrie and Charlotte may have had more free time in their schedules, but how were Miranda and Samantha always available for mid-day picnics in Central Park, lunches at locales not at all close to where they worked and other constant meet-ups with one another? Maybe this makes me sound pathetic, but I’ve worked in the same office as one of my best friends and gone entire days without seeing her. Thank goodness for Gchat, but I can’t really picture Carrie and the girls doing that, can you? And not to sound like a broken record, but eating out in NYC is expensive. There is no way Carrie could ever afford her food, cigarette and clothing budget.
Verdict: Preposterous
8. Everyone drinks cosmopolitans.
Oh, Carrie, as if the nameplate necklace and big flower trends you started weren’t enough, you also had all of America invoking the word “cosmo” in bars like it was some sort of insider thing we should all have been onto for years. No. No one drinks cosmos. They are pink, overly sweet and thanks to SATC, they send the message to people that see you drinking one that you want to be Carrie Bradshaw. So now, even if you actually liked cosmopolitans before the show made them “popular,” ordering them is out of the question.
Verdict: Preposterous
9. No one takes public transportation.
Buses are merely a place for your newspaper column to be advertised (with you looking smoking hot in a “naked” dress), and the subway does not exist. Cabs are the most effective way to get around, both time- and price-wise. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Verdict: Preposterous
10. Gay men in NYC are all ridiculously flamboyant.
It’s great that Sex and the City featured openly-gay characters as the girls’ best friends and confidantes, but did they have to be so over-the-top flamboyant? Stanford Blatch’s wardrobe sometimes looked like a Lilly Pulitzer store exploded on him. Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with being who you are and showing your true personality, but every single homosexual male on the show was a bit too much of a stereotype.
Verdict: Preposterous
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Photos courtesy of HBO.