Sex and the City has landed on Netflix US, meaning many younger audiences are now watching it for the very first time. And I couldn't help but wonder, how would Gen-Z react to the world of Carrie Bradshaw? With all of its nicotine-stained couture, pavement-scuffed Manolos, early aughts girl boss-ified white feminism and relationship red flags, my guess was, they'd be perplexed at best, enraged at worst.
When HBO's SATC hit our screens back in 1998, it was nothing short of revolutionary. It showed women with careers, women with style, women with fierce friendships! It showed women talking about (and having!) sex!
Following the friendships, careers and romances of four women in their 30s in New York City, the show dared to show that women were sharp, witty, career-driven, but also selfish, petty, flawed.
For those of us who came of age with Sex and the City on our screens, the show was something of visual Bible of what life in the big city could be. Carrie Bradshaw, the chain-smoking, Cosmo-sipping anti-hero, was living the dream — and, yes, that often meant making mistakes. She wore taffeta and designer heels in the filthy streets of New York City, dated all of the wrong men, maxed out her credit cards on shoes, lived on takeaway.
Aspirational? Of course not… but nevertheless, we all wanted daydreamed about bashing out our columns while lounging in our studio flats in designer clothes all the same.
For a young generation of Gen-Zers often associated with healthy living and non-toxic dating, I'm not so sure all of this will resonate in quite the same way. Are they ready for the (admittedly) flawed fun of SATC? How will they embrace the cocktails, the cigarettes, the cruelty? Will the was once-revolutionary prove to be a dated relic?
And just like that, tight curls are having a moment.
As one long-time fan commented on X, “Gen Z is about to realise why we do what we do!”
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Well, here's what they think so far:
The lifestyle is deeply unrelatable:
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The men are not only walking red flags, they are no longer considered hot:
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Oh, and what we once thought was peak feminism (Samantha Jones, anyone?!) is now seen as internalised misogyny:
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Carrie is, still, hateable:
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If we're being honest, the list of problematic moments in Sex and the City is pretty long. Let's start with its handling of certain members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Carrie's handling of dating a bisexual man now feels super uncomfortable, particularly her refusal to embrace it and referring to bisexuality itself as a “layover on the way to Gaytown.” She also dumped a jazz musician because he had ADHD – not a good look, then or now. And what about when Samantha dated a woman, and the girls were extremely sceptical and unsupportive?
There's also an entire Reddit thread devoted to Miranda's fetishism of Black men when she dates her neighbour Dr Robert – who honestly seems like a really great guy, but the show's creation of Jules and Mimi – a British TV show Miranda obsesses over that sees a white woman date a Black man – just makes the whole thing feel COMPLETELY not right. Carrie also drops some pretty racist comments when she's criticising the engagement ring Aidan gave her, quipping that she only wears “ghetto gold for fun”. It's painful to listen to and read.
When Samantha moves to a new apartment in the Meatpacking District, she encounters issues with some noisy trans women. The storyline is, again, badly handled, with Carrie's narration describing them as “friendly neighbourhood pre-op transsexual hookers. Half man, half woman, totally annoying". Not OK.
SJP talks to GLAMOUR about internalised misogyny, motherhood and why the self-care movement is “so out of touch”.
How about the time Carrie had the absolute gall to compare the tensions between married and single people to The Troubles in Northern Ireland? Absolutely wild and inappropriate. For posterity, the exact quote was: "Maybe the fight between marrieds and singles is like the war in Northern Ireland. We're all basically the same, but somehow we ended up on different sides." Wow.
There were also more sexually explicit faux pas moments, like when Charlotte encountered a date who kept pushing her head “downstairs” to force her into giving him a blow job. We also see the girls slutshame each other – most memorably when Carrie catches Samantha giving a delivery man a blow job and judges her, even though Samantha supported her during her fateful affair with Big. Double standards much?
The fact that a male character on the show (played by Suits star Gabriel Macht) was filming women during without their consent was completely glossed over with no reference to how wrong (and illegal) that is also says it all.
So in summation, Gen Z are completely likely and within their rights to take issue and raise eyebrows at racist, transphobic, biphobic and just generally problematic storylines and quotes in Sex and the City.
But that said, we can't deny there are some moments that will always ring true:
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And, as ever, SATC remains total inspiration for curly girls!
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After a deep dive into Gen Z's initial thoughts, it's clear that we are in for an era of discourse and maybe a few Carrie-inspired TikTok challenges — and while Gen Z may not initially recognise the very specifically early aughts hedonism of SATC, the show remains just as addictive and relatable for young women as ever.
And a final note — for any Gen Zers out there who can't embrace the chaos of Carrie and co? “You just don't get it.”
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