Guilty Pleasures

I recently decided that I was going to do something that most women do way before they're my age: I decided to watch Sex And The City all the way through. I didn't invite my friends over for drinks and partying while we shared the experience, I chose to watch it alone. Maybe it's backwards, seeing the series after the two movies, but I think I've reached an age where I should stop caring whether people judge me or not.

For YEARS, I've known women who squeal, "I'm a Carrie!" or "I'm Samantha!" or any member of the quartet at the drop of a hat. What is it about these women that's so identifiable? If there was one thing I wish I could identify with them on, it would be their jobs - owning a PR firm, writing a successful column (when you can pay for an apartment with your writing, you're a success), dealing art, lawyering - not their sex lives. Anyone can have sex, you have to work hard to be professionally successful and financially independent. Maybe that's something that other women see too: we all have sex, even if we're too poor to afford fancy shoes.

There are also identifiable points about all these women that I think everyone can find within themselves: Samantha is outspoken in a way we all wish we were, Miranda is all kinds of intelligent, and Charlotte is an idealist and a really genuinely nice person. Yet they are still put into cookie-cutter stereotypes: the libertine, the career woman, the conservative. Maybe that's why there are no "I'm a Charlotte" t-shirts.

So what's so different about Carrie? She's average enough in her lifestyle that she can represent the viewer - she didn't start off the series wearing designer clothes and lavish jewelry, she eats greasy Chinese instead of gourmet cuisine, the first time we even see her we see her fingers smudging out a cigarette into a half-full ashtray, something distinctly un-glamorous and imperfect. She's smart but not a genius, romantic but not a sap, powerful but not overpowering. She is quintessentially average.

I do feel like I'm a Carrie, if I were to be one of them. I mix expensive pieces with flea-market finds, I take a lot of risks when it comes to my appearance, and I am generally a pretty creative person. I had flings, but I eventually settled down and found true love, and I do worry I'm going to be one of those boring married women. I totally identify, and part of that is what made me spend money on those ridiculous movies and 19 slots on my fiancées Netflix queue.

Fierce love to you all,

K