Sick of Sex and the City?

In just over a week's time, gaggles of giggly women (and some men of course) will become infected by Sex and the City: the disease, I mean movie. The second film taken from the vastly popular series opens at cinemas on Friday 28 May.

Four middle-aged, modern, Manhattan minxes or four middle-aged, moral-less, Manhattan muttons?

For fans, entering the fashion fantasy lifestyle of Carrie and co. is going to be one of the highlights of 2010, because, well, real life just ain't that exciting. So what is it exactly that makes so many of us go weak for these women?

It's a drama in designers. Real life and love issues are carefully coated in beautiful attire, hearts are poured out into only the best designer shoes. The show combines women's love of sharing and solving problems with fun activities such as shopping and of course, sex. It's harmless and helpless escapism.

Both tragic and triumphant, we empathise on some level with every man problem, body worry and career path dilemma. We relate to the emotions that characters go throughand, when we see the ladies go through those same emotions, we somehow feel at ease because let's face it, we all have a Mr Big in our lives.

A problem shared is a problem halved and by the end we take pleasure in admiring or judging the on screen characters, just as we may do our own friends.

This is a show about four inspirational women in the twenty-first century who are fiercely empowered to be whatever they want to be. It's a celebration of womankind and female friendship and what's more, it brings us together with endless themed parties, screening evenings, fashion shows and even cupcakes – as seen on this very website.

Carrie is a quick-witted trend setter, Miranda, a flame haired, second wave feminist. Charlotte is the romantic home-maker and Samantha is every woman's feisty alter-ego.

Yet for some reason, they're not what we'd want our daughters to aspire to be like, are they? And then I got to thinking...

With the characters now in their 40s and 50s, the show is still pushing hard to be sexy, and for some it's become more akin to Smut in the City. Having been through more men than they have Manolos, the show's depiction of female sexuality borders on disturbing.

Lead character, Carrie Bradshaw, is most men's idea of a nightmare girlfriend. She nags, is never fully satisfied, talks far too much, is self absorbed, neurotic and spends too much money on frivolous fashions.

Carrie is someone who was no doubt bullied at school and is still suffering with image issues. A once feminist Miranda has now succumbed to fashion and family life, a bit like Charlotte who is nothing more than a prissy little rich girl. And then there's Samantha – sexually liberated yet, like the rest, generally miserable.

The show promotes nothing but shallow lifestyles and pretentious social climbing. Far from the independent modern women they claim to be, the four are actually emotionally and financially dependent on the men in their lives. Yet so many women pander to this supposed sisterhood and worryingly buy into all the promotional overload.

The ongoing debates about Sex and the City and what it represents have probably become just as overwhelming as all the hype around the movie itself. It's a wonder that the show should even be analysed so deeply; it's supposed to be a fictional comedy after all.

Whether you like it or not, it certainly isn't going out of fashion any time soon as cinemas prepare for Sex and the City mania next week.

Four middle-aged, modern, Manhattan minxes or four middle-aged, moral-less, Manhattan muttons? Either way, the girls are most definitely back in town.

Are you excited for Sex and the City 2?

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