Thursday, May 29, 2008

Sex and the Shitty

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," putting on the prude hat today and ranting about something everyone else seems to love.

I am no expert on Sex and the City. I watched two or three episodes and was totally disgusted by it.

Remember, we at "The Gods Are Bored" do not tell you what to think. I suspect opinions on SATC will vary greatly amongst my legions and legions and legions of readers.

Here's what I saw in the little bit of SATC I watched: over-dressed anorexic women behaving like sexual predators.

Why should I pay HBO to watch this stuff when I can see it for free at Snobville High School? The tender young females at Snobville HS are asking boys if they can be "fuck buddies" with no emotional attachment. Word.

This is not feminism levelling the playing field. This is women being encouraged to act like bad men. Most of us don't find it attractive when a good-looking stud shags every pussy he can shag, discarding partners like empty beer bottles. Why should this be attractive in women? In my book, it's not.

Nor did I find particularly poignant the plot device in which the lead character falls for a married man and busts up his marriage so they can have great sex. We never see the wife and kids behind that one. Say what you like about Pagans, but we have moral values too, and this shoe don't fit.

Speaking of shoes, this brings me to my next rant about SATC. Every character is swathed in about $3000 of couture in every scene. Dresses, sunglasses, accessories, shoes, handbags. Never the same outfit twice.

Here where I live, they've been having SATC movie premiere events all week at which women are showing up in all this expensive glam, trying to be more like their heroines.

Gag me with Givenchy.

Why are we honoring women who have so caved to the patriarchy that they act like the worst patriarchs?

Here's a novel idea. Really a novel idea. Why don't we champion the likes of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice? Instead of women becoming hard and predatory, why can't men become gentle and romantic?

Come on, gals. Given the choice between Mr. Big and Fitzwilliam Darcy, who would you choose?

And guys. Would you really want those overdressed skin-and-bones hardass Sex & etc. etc. women for girlfriends? Two things: How much of that expensive clothing would you have to buy, and (cringe) what do you think those gals look like when they're not wearing it?

It's easy enough for me to avoid going to see Sex and the City. It will be much harder to steer my younger daughter through a high school where having a "fuck buddy" is the latest rage.

Hey, Carrie. Go to hell.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, this is one reader in your legions of them who completely agrees with you! (I love your blog by the way, though I rarely comment.)

Nettle said...

I got into a conversation this morning with Mr. Nettle (who recently lost his barber and needs a haircut)on how much more expensive a woman's haircut is than a man's. And then I thought about it. Hair, makeup, waxing, tanning, manicures, pedicures, aerobics classes, designer clothing and accessories that have to be constantly updated - it all has to cost a fortune! How do those people do it? and the time you'd have to invest! I'm all for people looking the way they want to look, and I suppose there are women who actually enjoy that kind of life, so good for them, everyone needs a hobby - but it struck me this morning that a woman putting lots time and money into landscaping her appearance is not putting time and money into all sorts of other things that are so much more interesting and worthwhile. I wonder how much female energy is wasted every day on all those little things that men (and, um, me, most of the time) don't do.

Ali said...

This post made my day! THANK YOU!

I'm not sure when predatory women became the dominant manifestation of feminism in this culture, but it bugs the hell out of me. I feel quite lucky to have grown up deprived of HBO and this type of nonsense!

yellowdoggranny said...

well fuck blogger...
goddess bless you my child..i only watched the show so i could scream 'you buncha ho's and slut's' at the screen...
like i once said about sammantha..."she's been down on everything but the titanic."

Anonymous said...

Fitzwilliam any day. I wanted to see and hear more about him. *sigh*

SATC I saw for only about 2 minutes once. I started to say why it was only 2 minutes but I just can't put it in type. I have to say I sounded like my mother. "They shouldn't be allowed to put that on regular television..." What sad, depressing, and horrible role models. *sigh*

I remember reading something in Gloria Steinem's book Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions about what is really going on when women's shoes get so high and their skirts so tight that they can't walk. Had something to do with pushing us down we are getting too powerful. *sigh*

Luna said...

"Ooh! How dare you vilify the sacred quad of female 30-something angst that is SATC! Now, you shall be shunned by all people who enjoy sex and nice shoes!" she said sarcastically. Your opinion may not be popular, but I think you will find that many people actually do agree with you.

The only show worse than SATC is Desperate Housewives. Yuck, yuck, and I'm not laughing.

Big Tex said...

Chiming in as a guy here, I watched a bit of SATC a few times and could never get into it, and never really understood the appeal. I don't suppose the show was really meant to appeal to me as a guy, so there you go. But the whole show just seemed like a bunch of vapid crap to me, and the characters were unlikeable and unsympathetic. And Desperate Housewives, same thing.

I probably have a different outlook than a lot of guys, but I'm not really into women who act like dickheaded fratboys. But then I don't really like being around men who act like dickheaded fratboys either, so I guess it makes sense. I don't have a problem with people who have an open attitude towards sex per se, but people who look at it as some sort of a conquest thing really drive me up the wall, man or woman. Really, people who have that sort of type-A attitude about anything drive me up the wall.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anne, I thoroughly enjoy you and the bored gods. I've decided to chime in on this one and play advocate for the opposing side.

First of all let me say that I'm glad you at least attempted to watch several episodes before ultimately deciding that the show was not for you. Apparently others feel that "2 minutes" is plenty of time to use as ammo when they climb on their high horse.

Okay, with that out of my system... I have watched the entire series of SATC, and enjoyed it. I enjoy the excess and debauchery of it because it is nothing like my real life. It is entertainment used as a means of escape. But not everyone finds entertainment in the same places, and that is fine.

Are the women of SATC the poster-women of feminism, no. However they serve as an example that women have the ability to claim another role which before was only filled by men. It is an extreme example, but an example nonetheless. The entertainment industry is made of extremes, and there isn't one that should be adopted by any sane real person walking this earth.

Are Carrie and the others role models for todays youth? No, and I don't think they were ever meant to be. The idea of "fuck buddies" wasn't something new that SATC came up with, but it did come up. So are they to blame for high schoolers looking for their own fuck buddies? You could argue that they are, but I'd first ask where were their parents when they were learning about "fuck buddies" while watching SATC?

This is a topic that can be argued forever, but I will put it down here and go on my way, having made at least a few points.

Who am I? I am a almost 30 gay male, who has been with the same wonderful guy for 4 years, and watches SATC and plays violent videogames. I don't do drugs, commit violent crimes, or sleep with every guy in sight.

Have a lovely day!

Anonymous said...

I'm so with you on this.
SATC and it's ilk is exactly the reason i don't have a tv.
Nauseatingly "rich" in every aspect, with nothing of value ...
Hmm ... sounds like what EVERYONE wants.
Shame

Anonymous said...

I had acquaintances who swore that SatC was the greatest thing, ever, so I watched an episode or two. I was *horrified*. Right there in living color was everything that's wrong with America (rampant consumerism, disregard for oaths, disregard for the feelings and lives of others, shallowness, reduction of sex to the emotional level of jerking off, etc, etc.)

Women like that? First against the wall when the revolution comes, baby.

Thank the gods that my teenage daughter really cares more about important things (art, books, religion, food) than I believe she ever will about shoes or clothing. I don't really have any qualms about her traveling through high school, because I know that she and her friends have self-respect, which is what it's all about.

As for fuck-buddies...well, I'm on the fence. I had one of those, back in my single (post-college) days. I liked him, he liked me. We were friends, but would have been awful as a couple. Instead, we had fun together and gave each other pleasure, and that was enough. I'm agin it for high school students, of course.

Maeve said...

Down with SATC, viva la revolution!

I really dislike shows that glamorize a total lack of morals.

High-schoolers having fuck buddies is the cool thing to do now?

WTH!

I fail to understand why people would waste their time and money on things like parties for SATC. I can relate to enjoying beauty-related things, and nice clothes, and that kind of thing; but the moral dreck? Not so much.

Anonymous said...

I suppose it depends entirely on what 2 minutes it was one happened to see. I still can't wash my face enough after thinking about that scene.

sageweb said...

I have never seen SATC,,,never will...it is a barfy show.
Fuck buddies in highschool? Wow, I can't imagine.

Tennessee Jed said...

Anne, very well said.

I like you, you ain't like all the other people here in the trailer park.