“The Drought” By: Jami McGuigan

In the beginning of the episode Carrie says: “New York City is all about sex, people getting it, people trying to get it, and people who can’t get it, no wonder the city doesn’t sleep, its too tired trying to get laid”. Throughout the course of this episode, women are portrayed as sex-obsessed, while men are shown as thinking that sex is not the most fundamental aspect of a relationship. This reversal in assumed roles is interesting in terms of depicting what relationships are all about. 

As exemplified through Samantha’s relationship with her Yoga instructor, she is the one obsessed with sex while he is practicing celibacy. When Samantha makes it very clear that she wants to have sex with him, he says: “the only thing hotter than having sex is not having sex”. After only a few days, Samantha can’t handle the lack of intimacy anymore and starts to ask random men in her yoga class if they “want to fuck”. By showing Samantha’s aggressive side (when it comes to her relationship without sex), she demonstrates the diversity of both male and female ideas when it comes to the level of sexual and emotional expression in a relationship. 

In Carrie’s part of the story, she farts in front of Big which is then followed by days without sex. Carrie tells Samantha about the farting incident and says “it wasn’t a choice, I’m human, it happened”, Samantha replies by saying “no honey, you’re a woman, and men don’t like women to be human, we aren’t supposed to fart, douche, use tampons, or have hair in places we shouldn’t… just go over there and fuck his brains out and he’ll forget all about it, men aren’t that complicated they’re kinda like plants”. This part of the episode portrays men as insensitive, judgemental, and unintelligent. Unlike the rest of the episode, this aspect of the show was a bad representation of the way women are expected to be based on the standards of men.

In another part of the episode, Miranda is being sexually harassed by a construction worker who repetedly says “I’ve got what you want, I’ve got what you need”. The next time she sees him she stands up for herself and yells “what I want is to get laid, what I need is to get laid” and that he is “all talk and no action”. Durring this scene Miranda demonstrates the power, sexuality and control that women have in the world.

When all four women gather in Carrie’s apartment to watch the neighbors have sex, Miranda says to the girls “if I make it to four months [without sex] I’m humping one of you. Ultimately, this episode plays with the stereotypes associated with how men and women feel about sex. The reversal of roles also portrays how meaningless sex can be in a relationship compared to the many other important factors. A relationship is about so much more than sex, and it was interesting to see that shown from a male perspective.