Watching Sex in the City and rethinking feminism

I want to start my post with the last scene of the episode of Sex in the City that we watched in class. In the scene, Carrie and the man who gives her a ride have a short conversation about sex and love. The man then says to her that she has never fell in love. The car stops in front of Carrier’s apartment, and Carrie gets off.   With a glance of hesitation, she asks the man sitting in the car “do you believe in love?”. The man does not answer her; and the car runs ahead. Carrie stands alone in the darkness of the city with her unanswered question. I found this scene inspiring because it sets up one of the main themes of the show: the ambivalence of the meaning of life for thirty-something women in modern society. Also, it refers to the postfeminism trend that the show somehow embraces. 

In her writing, Negra suggests that one of the main traits of postfeminism would be the woman's right in decision-making when she faces options. In a sense, it seems that people assume postfeminism  is an "endpoint" of feminism as Negra mentions when she refers to Projansky. I have to admit that this is what I simplythought of postfeminism

However, reading McRobbie’s article makes me think more deeply about feminism and its achievement in the current context where people are talking about post-feminism, as if feminism has achieved it goals. In the article, she points out the historical and social relation between feminism and consumer culture through her examination of the effect of media on enhancing consumerism among young women and teenage girls. Her main point here is that through ads media injects the dangerous idea into women that consumption is a sign of every woman’s independence. High-salary women, like the main characters in Sex in the City, spend money on whatever they want--for example, four hundred bucks on a pair of shoes--as a way to prove their independence. McRobbie alerts readers and fans of this show that while blindly spending money on products advertised in media, women fall into another “trap” of patriarchal power, given that the media institutions are mostly controlled by men.

In addition to financial independence, women also gain the sexual equality. In the episode, Carrie wants to write about women whose sexual tendency is like men in the sense that they only want sexual fulfillment rather than romantic satisfaction. By testing herself, sleeping with the guy for fun or rather for “her research,” she is almost pleased with the idea of a new type of women who are equal to men in terms of the way they experience the freedom of sexuality. In this sense, it seems that feminism with its main focus fighting for equal rights for women achieves its duty through the ideal image of a modern woman like Carrie--pretty, upper-class, financially independent, having her own career, and sexual liberated (like men).

                McRobbie’s particular reference to Carrie’s “infantism” (her high-school student-like vocal, her habit of looking herself into the mirror) also reminds me of an interesting detail in the episode where she meets the man.  Rushing out of the building where Carrier has just made love with the guy she talked to at the restaurant, she bumps into the man.  He picks up her purse falling on the street; she takes it and quickly turns her body, walking straight. She then uses her hands adjusting her dress in the backside in a sexy manner which can be read as a way to attract his attention. This is a POV shot; Carrie is objectified by the man’s look. In fact, she becomes the source of erotic pleasure, the bearer of the look which illustrates Mulvey’s gaze theory in the reading we read a couple weeks ago. Later, it is this man that makes her reconsider her attitude toward sexuality and love. This point resonates with McRobbie’s analysis of Carrie’s infant characteristic that she needs to be taught by men. Although I am not anxious about the trend of post-feminism at the level that McRobbie takes and be perspective about post-feminism, I believe that her alert should be taken into account seriously.