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13 - Sexual Citizens: Freedom, Vibrators, and Belonging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

By
Brenda Cossman
Edited by
Linda C. McClain  and
Joanna L. Grossman
Linda C. McClain
Affiliation:
Boston University
Joanna L. Grossman
Affiliation:
Hofstra University, New York
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Summary

In Sex and the City, HBO's acclaimed television show about the intimate, erotic, and neurotic pursuits of four single women in New York City, Carrie Bradshaw and her friends are either having sex or talking about sex. While single women have been having sex on television for a long time, what distinguishes Carrie and company is the extent to which their sexualities are a crucial part of their belonging to imagined communities of New York City. Carrie makes a living as a journalist who writes about sex. Samantha, a highly successful public relations agent, is unapologetically sexual in all aspects of her life – refusing the distinction between public and private. Miranda negotiates the tensions of the demands of an asexual profession – she is a lawyer – and her more intimate pursuits. Charlotte is the traditionalist, the one that speaks about sex in hushed tones. Episode after episode explores once forbidden topics, from the etiquette of oral sex and public sex to older women–younger men intergenerational relationships and lesbianism, while Carrie reflects upon the deep inner truths of human intimacy for her column. The intimate public sphere explored in Sex and the City is part of the broader transformations of sexual citizenship, a process of becoming, which transgresses the borders of old and domesticates the citizens of new. These women are strong and independent and unapologetically sexual. But they are also responsible market citizens, impeccably attired, with aspirations of relational and domestic happiness.

Type
Chapter
Information
Gender Equality
Dimensions of Women's Equal Citizenship
 , pp. 289 - 306
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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