Twenty- Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Women By: Faryn Wegler

The Importance of Age

In this episode, the women are starkly contrasted against the twenty-something women they encounter:

Samantha
•    Samantha fires her 25-year old assistant Nina, who proceeds to steal Samantha's file of business contacts. She says, “These girls in their twenties are so ungrateful they think they’re it!” Samantha gets jealous when Nina plans "The Hamptons Hoe-Down" and people who have never shown up for her parties show up for Nina's.

Carrie
•    At the hoe-down Carrie runs into Mr. Big, who's back from Paris, with his twenty-something girlfriend whom he met while in France. This makes her feel insecure, and results in her throwing up.

Charlotte
•    After meeting a 26-year old guy, Charlotte feels insecure about her age and tells him she's 27. Charlotte then begins to act like a girl in her twenties. They sleep together and he gives her crabs
•    We see a different dimension to Charlotte’s character in this episode; she is usually the more reserved one that believes in true love and the sacredness of sex. However, Charlotte feels the same struggles many women face regarding coming to terms with their age and feels the need to lie about who she really is

Analysis: The fact that Samantha, Carrie and Charlotte view women in their twenties primarily as a threat demonstrates modern society’s obsession with youth. Men are always looking for the next best thing, and the thirty-something women believe they will always need to work harder beat them.

A Different Perspective on Sex

At a party, Carrie meets a 25 virgin named Laurel, who idolizes her. Laurel tells Carrie, “its not that I don’t want to have sex with men…its just previous generations of women have devalued sex so its not even special anymore.” Carrie is dumfounded by the fact that Laurel is saving herself for marriage. In her world, sex is a major part of how she and her friends relate to one another. What would their conversations be about without men and sex? The appearance of Laurel’s character gives a certain “feminist” tone to the episode; it contrasts the unhealthy obsession the other women have with men. Although Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha’s “sexual freedom” may be considered progressive, the idea of always needing a man to feel complete is not.