Jezebel
When I began conceiving of Jezebel, one of the first "Don'ts" on my list concerned one Julia Allison, sex columnist, media figure and self-promoter extraordinaire. Not only was Julia amply covered by Jezebel's big brother site Gawker, to me, she represented everything that was wrong with young women in the 00's. Called "Scary Sadshaws" by former Gawker editor Emily Gould, these ladies worship at the altar of Manolo Blahnik, regard writer Candace Bushnell as some sort of saint, and, of course, take instruction from a certain HBO series that bore no similarity to how life is lived by the majority of single women. Scary Sadshaws are NYC's version of the stars of Girls Gone Wild, except that Patrick McMullan is their Joe Francis, and they substitute luxury goods for bare breasts. In my mind, they were not only ruining New York, but ruining what it means to be a serious young woman with ambition in the turn-of-the-century America. They were ruining everything for all of us.
The edict against Julia was lifted once — in a stunt carried out during New York Fashion Week last September — but for the most part, no mention of her was made. Readers (most of them, no doubt, New Yorkers) wrote in unsolicited after the blog launched to request that we not mention her, which only served to underscore that I'd made the right decision in keeping her off our roster of blog-worthy media and cultural personalities. Except when I spotted her and her (admittedly adorable) white dog from afar at some media clusterfuck, in my mind, it was (almost) as if she didn't exist.
The thing is, Julia Allison and her sisters in conspicuous consumption and shameless self-promotion do exist, and it's getting harder and harder to ignore them. Their latest assault came via the NY Times' "City" section, which devoted some 2,000-plus words (and multiple four-color photographs) to Julia in a piece titled "Channeling Carrie" yesterday. My reaction to the piece was not unlike the expression shown on a woman shown standing behind Julia in a photograph taken at her 27th birthday party in NYC's West Village: a mixture of curiosity, uncertainty, discomfort and mild disgust. (Or maybe I'm just projecting.)
In the article, Julia practically crowns herself the new queen of New York narcissism: "If Carrie Bradshaw were coming to New York today," the Times quotes her as saying, "she would be me." To a Times reporter interviewing her on video for an accompanying web feature, she strikes a more humble note, explaining that being "compared to a character who has inspired a lot of women by opening herself up and questioning the issues that concern not just single people in their twenties and thirties but of all ages, that's a compliment."
Maybe so, but here's the question that no one seems to be asking regarding both Sex and the City and the Scary Sadshaws it has spawned: What important issues did the series identify and illuminate? What barriers did it break? What did the characters ("Carrie & Company") ever do for anyone outside of themselves? What, praytell, was so damn groundbreaking about a group of narcissistic rich white women with a love of shopping and gossiping about their sex lives? (Despite what Candace Bushnell thinks, the themes of no-strings-attached sex, female friendship, conspicuous consumption and social-climbing had been amply investigated long before she came on the scene.)
I'm willing to admit that it's possible the problem isn't with the Scary Sadshaws but with me — perhaps, as Julia asserts, I can aspire to be both "serious and thoughtful" while also being "shallow and frivolous", although I don't see how I'd have the time — so last night, I went online and spent $300 on a box-set of every episode of Sex and the City ever produced. (It comes in a suede cover in a hue of hot pink not unlike the plastic case covering Julia's white MacBook.) I've decided to watch all 94 episodes between now and the premiere of the Sex and the City movie on May 30 — around 12 episodes a week — in the hopes that I can embrace my inner Carrie Bradshaw and figure out what all the fuss is about (perhaps I'll even learn to like pink!). At the very least, the next time I see Julia, we'll have something to talk about...although Candace Bushnell can still kiss my middle-income black ass.
Channeling Carrie [NY Times]
Web And the Single Girl [NY Times]
Earlier: Before Sex & The City, Talking About Sex Was Practically Illegal
Julia Allison Asks: What About Fashion Makes You Want To Hurl?
Comments
Oh goodness gracious, Anna. This takes the Magnolia cupcake. Best of luck, don't hurt yourself, be careful and don't forget to have plenty of scotch on hand when the Cosmos become too much.
You're a braver woman than I.
12 episodes a week!?!
You are officially the bravest person I know, narrowly beating out my 4th grade friend Heather, who looked into the mirror and said "Bloody Mary" three times.
Godspeed, Anna. Godspeed.
I find it pretty funny that Emily Gould came up with the Scary Sadshaw monkier, seeing how she and Julia Allison are BFFs.
And Anna, why not let us know each week what episodes you're watching? I still have all of my DVDs of SATC and I'm not ashamed to say so.
Wow, Anna. EVERY episode? Way to take one for the team!
Can't stand "Scary Sadshaws" and believe me, there are plenty of them outside of NYC (Chicago Wannabees aplenty). Several years back, I ran the new members program for the Junior League of Chicago, and the "Scary Sadshaws" were the types who, while having an All Provisional Meeting on their community service projects, would tell other Provisionals that they were only doing this to get their picture in "Chicago Social". Toots, you can get you picture in "CS" by just going to the parties, and you needn't be a member. They were always the ones who would wear Gucci loafers and fur coats to Site Visits at a local teen moms' shelter. Boggles the mind, I tell you, and gives those of us who were committed to community service that much more difficulty in being taken seriously by the organizations with whom we were working.
"If Carrie Bradshaw were coming to New York today," the Times quotes her as saying, "she would be me."
Reading that sentence made me want to hurl.
People say that shit in real life? WIthout a hint of irony or feeling self conscious about being the biggest losers ever and looking like assholes in front of the rest of the city? She's not even cute (yeah yeah i know i shouldnt say shit like that, but whatever)
Anna, you are going to turn your lovely mind to liquid goo watching all that SatC trash. There is nothing to figure out sweetie. You know that already! As we like to say "there is no spoon."
Can you just imagine a massive Jezebel convention where we all watch SATC and ANTM and drink more than any liver should be forced to handle and make witty, snarky comments to each other in person?!
That just blew my mind.
As an ambitious young Midwesterner who came to NYC to, y'know, build a career and a life and hobbies and friends and do normal things, I actually don't mind the Sex and the City wannabes.
Why? I am more interesting and employable than they are.
I have all the DVD's too. They are burnt copies, but they work just the same. I like the show, I think it has a lot of heart. I still cry in the episode when Miranda's mom dies. So sad.
i can see why people don't like the show, but I don't see why people get all stabby about it.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who hated Sex and the City. While all my friends were watching Carrie & Co yak about the men they slept with and the shoes they wanted to buy while SJP's voiceover made inane comments about friendship, love, blah blah blah, I was going on rants about how empty their lives were and how if that was how single women really lived in New York City, I never wanted to a. be single and b. live in New York City.
Good luck watching the series. . . I hope you come out on the other side with your intellect still intact.
@Le Kangourou de Kataroo is the REAL white lobster.: I am RSVP'ing right now.
Um, outside of Gawker I have no idea who this chick is, seriously, I only know her name in regards to how they make fun of her, but then again I don't live in New York, so I pretty much don't exist for people like her.
Dude, you totally could've bought a bootlegged version of the box set for like a 1/6 of that. I hope that was hyperbole on your part.
great post.
fact is, those women didn't break any barriers. they might have elicited sympathy for women like Miranda or highlighted single parenthood or horrible breakups, but i never felt like i'd learned anything at the end of an episode. what's more, hearing that narrating Carrie Bradshaw voice full of cliche ("Maybe what he'd said was true. Were all men like vicious sewers in the New York City streets?") is so painful because she never actually stumbles on any meaning. she just asks rhetorical questions that don't push any issue any further.
so should sex and the city justify julia allison's existence? i think the sad fact is, that's a pitiful question to have to ask about your role in the world to begin with.
Wow Anna, God be with you.
NO JULIA ALLISON ON JEZEBEL! NO! NONE! NEVER! I REFUSE! NO NO NO NO NO NO! NO! NO! (reaches for squirt bottle) NO! BACK TO GAWKER! BAD! THAT IS A NO!
@ineffable.me: Yeah, my whole body kind of lurched.
this is only hard to ignore if you live in new york. maybe you should go to vermont for a week or two. i promise you would come back with a renewed sense of the total irrelevancy of both julia allison and SATC, the long-cancelled and never particularly interesting television show.
My best friend told me she bases every relationship decision on what Carrie would do. It was over the phone, so I couldn't physically smack her up the side of the head. I truly pity her boyfriend.
@katieb aka ghanima: she doesnt exist for the rest of the world and you should be lucky to be included in such a group. I love NYC but theres so much bullshit that comes with living here. haa
Oh noes. julia has infiltrated Jezebel!
I'm going to curl up in the fetal position in my happy place now.
I bought that box set a while back when the show ended…. and I can't bring myself to watch any of it. I was one of those people who enjoyed the show when it was one, but since then, I have absolutely no patience for it. Maybe it's the fact that I've grown closer to those women's age & find it almost a little sad that they didn't seem to mature much during the show (with the one exception of Miranda).
So this is not Seinfeld without the laugh track? If not, why not? If 1% of the NYC population of women behaved like Scary Sadshaws, what percentage of magazine editors would have to drink the koolaid in order for me to begin caring? Assume I read 3% of the possible fashion/person/public masturbation articles available. Extra credit: conspicuous consumption is to inconspicuous consumption as Oprah is to "blank".
My wife has always been a big SATC fan, and I bought her the boxed set for Christmas a few years back, but she never watches them.
My first wife was big into it ad I sat through the first couple of seasons thinking it mildly interesting, then watching it plunge straight off a cliff as it got more formulaic week by week. I couldn't get into the characters, though I have a soft spot for Charlotte and I think Miranda was the most realistic of the four, given that her career was the most "grounded."
I can see where there's a lot of ground for dislike, given that they really never settled the questions they brought up from episode to episode and spent an awful lot of time combing over old ground.
WOOHOO! I love you Anna. I thank you for not covering Julia. I feel that Gawker's coverage only encourages her more.
I hope you make a post about the episode where Miranda freaks out at her friends and is all "Why do we only talk about men?! We're intelligent women with interesting jobs! We should be able to talk about something else!" But then it is later revealed the Miranda only feels that way because she's not over her ex-boyfriend. Terrible.
PLEASE. NO JA COVERAGE. Honestly, I love jezebel because it makes me think. JA makes me want to bang my head against the wall. I can't do both at the same time.
@langtry:
I hate the Chicago wannabe's. You're in the midwest you idiots!
Ha, I'd like all the DVDs. I'll buy your used copies in June, Anna!
I've managed to go until now pretty much not knowing who this girl is, but this article is horrifying. I mean, I admit to liking SATC as total escapist frippery, but...nobody ACTUALLY would want to be Carrie, right?.....right?
I hate the materialistic bullshit that SATC and its ilk have brought to every goddamn facet of people's lives. No amount of designer crap is going to make up for the fact that you are shallow and narcissistic and obviously overcompensating for some lack of substance. Seriously, buy Manolos if it makes you happy, but stop shoving this conspicuous consumption shit down everyone's throat.
I thought that Jezebel was a Julia Allison-free zone. Sometimes I would amble over to Gawker or, more lately, Valleywag, and feel so happy and slightly superior that this blog seemed Teflon-like to Julia Allison and her myriad...um...charms? I should have known this place would eventually succumb to that particular socially transmitted disease. This is a sad, sad day for me. That said, I am running from this thread as though it were chasing me with a sharp Jimmy Choo stiletto.
12 episodes of SATC in a week sounds like the Torture Tape Experiment from Chunklet Magazine. Please do intermittent status reports to let us know how you're holding out, and whether Crarrie's yelp/squeak/scream-thing can melt your brain faster than 3 straight hours of Billy Ocean songs.
And I LOVE Sex and the City. Seen every episode multiple times. And I can still recognize that JA is fucking stupid. Sure, she's making the big bucks by being super stupid but at least i can go to sleep at night content that i am not some troll. In the end she's no different than ashley whatsherface dupree.
Shoot, you will enjoy yourself. It is a good show. The problem, I once read, is while Sex and the City is a comedy, a lot of people think it is a documentary.
@katastic: *kisses and hugs you tight*
I just want a beer now, and it's only 10:45 am. This gives me such a pain in my heart.
@BowlingForDollars: I still want that box set.
It's very amusing to watch the first episodes, which were made before the show had a giant budget. Bad lighting, more realistic wardrobes, and those talking head segments! I'll take "I had to wonder . . . " over peeps talking into the camera any day.
SatC didn't break any barriers, or illuminate any issues, the characters were totally in their own little fantasy world--their own fantasy New York!--but I loved it.
And Anna, do yourself a favor... make up a drinking game. Makes the episodes go by quicker.
Other editors: Will someone be checking in on Anna during this experiment to make sure she isn't drooling on herself after her brain leaks out of her head? This just seems to dangerous to do on one's own.
Seriously, guys, I know this is a post about how you don't want to post about her, and why-is-this, and should we really judge her and what does taht say about us, but that woman single-handedly made me leave Gawker. I am sick to the death of her, and she is ubiquitous. Undeservedly. I mean, the fact that she's on here is really fucking disheartening to me. She doesn't need the attention or the publicity. You're just encouraging it, and I am sick to the death of it. NO. PLEASE. NO.
@sarahrose: I'm with you. I like watching SaTC when it's on and nothing else is, it's frothy and funny, but ultimately it's not like I learned anything from it. With the possible exception of Samantha, the characters aren't independent ladies who don't need men. Men are all they talk about, all Carrie writes about. Honestly the idea of going to New York to become like Carrie--obsessed with jerks and shoes--actually makes me slightly ill (that or the hangover I'm still nursing at nearly 6pm).
Wow, best of luck, Anna. If you're like me, you'll start out being amused and entertained, but by the time you hit season 5 or 6 you'll want to slap every character repeatedly, yell at the television constantly, and need to do crosswords or something while you watch just to distract yourself from that stupid narration.
I will, however, be at the movies on May 30, with my best girls and a lot of vodka. Let's face it, I can't not.
@BeAgrestic, katastic: I think we'll be ok. I too was a nervous when I first spotted this post, but Anna seems to have addressed our concerns and it sounds like this isn't going to be a regular thing (fingers crossed). And it's more about the larger trend of JA-types rather than her personality specifically. And the tone to this piece is way different than the "ZOMG look what stupid shit JA's doing now" pieces on Gawker.
However, if this does become a regular thing I'm going to have to figure out how to impale myself on my keyboard.
@billybobnyc: or a "how-to-live" guide.
I have the series also, and watched them at roughly that rate when I first got into it, I think one season short of when it ended. I remember spending a whole August in our apartment in Boston--it occurred to me that if I said "the city," as I think of it now, people would assume I meant New York--and alternately crying and being fascinated and thinking how I'd underrated the series.
But it didn't make me want to move to New York or to emulate anyone in the show. That part, I don't get. In fact, I think it caused the demise of whatever residual affection I had for New York from the Seinfeld years. The thing about it is that it's a religion, loving New York in whatever way that you love it. And I don't believe. I never will, and I count it as a win when it doesn't devolve into antipathy. So I find the believers rather tiresome and try to avoid them. Since they aren't seeking me out either, everyone's happy.
@langtry: They have invaded