Sex and the City’s Daughters: The Representation of Women in Cashmere Mafia, Gossip Girl and Hart of Dixie.

Abstract

My dissertation is an examination of the repercussions and afterlife of the series Sex and the City. This project situates Sex and the City in its context and analyses its significance as an example of Chick Lit and as an HBO product, as well as a series that challenged the presentation of women on television. The aim of this research is to reach conclusions on how other series have responded to the challenges started by Sex and the City, whether they go beyond the established limits or, on the contrary, still fall into conservative notions of femininity. The methodology involves textual analysis within the framework of cultural and gender studies in order to reach conclusions based on the interpretation of the texts under analysis and on the use of relevant secondary sources that support the findings. Results seem to suggest that television series aimed at women, despite being targeted as products of female empowerment, relentlessly promote patriarchy and sexist ideas also present in our current society.