History Series / SexAndTheCity

* InterracialAdoptionIssues: Charlotte and her husband Trey are both white New Yorkers. Charlotte struggles to get pregnant and she begins researching other options. She puts her and Trey's names down to adopt a baby girl from China. She even tries to learn Mandarin for "her" (= the hypothetical baby's) sake. Charlotte says it's good they're both dark-haired so people won't notice immediately she's adopted and that they'll look fairly alike. Trey's insufferable mother Bunny is appalled.

%%* HeartIsWhereTheHomeIs: Big vs. Aleksandr.

** In "An American Girl In Paris," Big tells Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha, "You three are the loves of her life. A guy is lucky to come in fourth."

** Charlotte is still married to Trey when Brady is born. In the year following, she divorces Trey, gets together with Harry, converts to Judaism, marries Harry, and they have already started the process of trying to conceive together by Brady's first birthday. It's not impossible that could happen, but that's a lot of relationship to stuff into a one-year timeframe.

* PrenupBlowup: Trey springs a prenup on Charlotte late in the wedding process, which is considered pretty bad form. The agreement contains an unusual clause that, in the event they divorce, gives Charlotte an increasing percentage of $500,000.00 for every year that she and Trey were married. Charlotte negotiates with Trey's mother to increase the payout to One Million Dollars. ("I'm worth a Million", she says.)

** After six seasons, two movies and a sequel series, viewers know surprisingly little about Carrie's past. It's never mentioned where she's from[[note]](her high school boyfriend mentions he's visiting Connecticut with the implication they grew up there, which is where Creator/CandaceBushnell grew up)[[/note]], if she went to college[[note]](she mentions once that she was "caught in the boy's dorm sophomore year" and that she "did the 'date the bisexual guy'
thing in college")[[/note]], if she has any family[[note]](if she does, none came to her wedding in the movie)[[/note]], or how she became a writer. It took 24 years before viewers knew her name is [[https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/-just-now-know-carries-full-name-rcna9897 short for Caroline]]. One episode reveals she hasn't seen her father since she was a small child and was raised by a single mother, and that's about it. ''Series/TheCarrieDiaries'' answered a few of these questions (she's from Connecticut), but contradicts major details of her past established in ''Sex and the City'', like having her raised by a single father with her never-before-mentioned sister[[note]](In ''Sex and the City'', Carrie once jokes about being mistaken for her sister but the joke has the implication she doesn't actually have one, and in another episode she mentions her father left her and her mother, with no mention of a sister)[[/note]] after her mother died, so it probably isn't canon to the main series.

* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Miranda went to Harvard Law, Charlotte went to Smith (a Seven Sisters college, which was essentially the Ivy League for women until the Ivies went co-ed). It has been mentioned that Samantha went to college, but never said which one. Carrie's education is a bit nebulous, she implies she went to college once when she mentions having lived in a dorm. A tie-in novel states she went to Brown, though this apparently isn't canon as the sequel series ''The Carrie Diaries'' contradicts this by having Carrie plan to attend [=NYU=], but later turn this down for a job.

** After six seasons, two movies and a sequel series, viewers know surprisingly little about Carrie's past. It's never mentioned where she's from[[note]](her high school boyfriend mentions he's visiting Connecticut with the implication they grew up there, which is where Creator/CandaceBushnell grew up)[[/note]], if she went to college[[note]](she mentions once that she was "caught in the boy's dorm sophomore year")[[/note]], if she has any family[[note]](if she does, none came to her wedding in the movie)[[/note]], or how she became a writer. It took 24 years before viewers knew her name is [[https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/-just-now-know-carries-full-name-rcna9897 short for Caroline]]. One episode reveals she hasn't seen her father since she was a small child and was raised by a single mother, and that's about it. ''Series/TheCarrieDiaries'' answered a few of these questions (she's from Connecticut), but contradicts major details of her past established in ''Sex and the City'', like having her raised by a single father with her never-before-mentioned sister[[note]](In ''Sex and the City'', Carrie once jokes about being mistaken for her sister but the joke has the implication she doesn't actually have one, and in another episode she mentions her father left her and her mother, with no mention of a sister)[[/note]] after her mother died, so it probably isn't canon to the main series.

** After six seasons, two movies and a sequel series, viewers know surprisingly little about Carrie's past. It's never mentioned where she's from[[note]](her high school boyfriend mentions he's visiting Connecticut with the implication they grew up there, which is where Creator/CandaceBushnell grew up)[[/note]], if she went to college[[note]](she mentions once that she was "caught in the boy's dorm sophomore year")[[/note]], if she has any family[[note]](if she does, none came to her wedding in the movie)[[/note]], or how she became a writer. It took 24 years before viewers knew her name is [[https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/-just-now-know-carries-full-name-rcna9897 short for Caroline]]. One episode reveals she hasn't seen her father since she was a small child and was raised by a single mother, and that's about it. ''Series/TheCarrieDiaries'' answered a few of these questions (she's from Connecticut), but contradicts major details of her past established in ''Sex and the City'', like having her raised by a single father with her never-before-mentioned sister[[note]](In ''Sex and the City'', Carrie once jokes about being mistaken for her sister but the joke has the implication she doesn't actually have one)[[/note]] after her mother died, so it probably isn't canon to the main series.

* NoBisexuals: Samantha refers to herself as a lesbian when she becomes involved with a lesbian artist, despite the fact she significantly enjoys sex with men as well. In a couple of episodes, they break up and she's back to dating men, without ever expressing interest in a woman again. Probably more a case of IfItsYouItsOkay.

* TheArtifact: The first season's episodes usually included montages of extras talking directly to the camera, supposedly answering Carrie's questions for her column and allowing the writers the opportunity to pad the show out a little with throwaway lines. By the second season, the characters could more effectively carry each episode, and they began reducing those scenes and got rid of them as a narrative device by the end of the season.

** Carrie has a few moments where she could be considered a horrible friend. She kicks Samantha out of her room ''while she's taking a bath'' and shoves her off into another room down the hall just she can have sex with Big. When Samantha gets a chemical peel and ends up burning off a layer of her face, she still attends Carrie's book release party and Carrie makes fun of how she loos. Carrie also yells at Charlotte for not giving her money after she spent all her own money on shoes, never listens to her friends when they talk about their personal lives, and can come off a bit stalker-ish when it comes to Big, spying on he and his mother when they go to church. Not to mention breaking Aidan's heart ''twice.'' Carrie is also judgmental of Samantha's sex life on several occasions.

* MysteriousPast: After six seasons, two movies and a sequel series, viewers know surprisingly little about Carrie's past. It's never mentioned where she's from[[note]](her high school boyfriend mentions he's visiting Connecticut with the implication they grew up there, which is where Creator/CandaceBushnell grew up)[[/note]], if she went to college[[note]](she mentions once that she was "caught in the boy's dorm sophomore year")[[/note]], if she has any family[[note]](if she does, none came to her wedding in the movie)[[/note]], or how she became a writer. It took 24 years before viewers knew her name is [[https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/-just-now-know-carries-full-name-rcna9897 short for Caroline]]. One episode reveals she hasn't seen her father since she was a small child and was raised by a single mother, and that's about it. ''Series/TheCarrieDiaries'' answered a few of these questions (she's from Connecticut), but contradicts major details of her past established in ''Sex and the City'', like having her raised by a single father with her never-before-mentioned sister[[note]](In ''Sex and the City'', Carrie once jokes about being mistaken for her sister but the joke has the implication she doesn't actually have one)[[/note]] after her mother died, so it probably isn't canon to the main series.
** Samantha too. All we know about her is that she was raised by a single mother and has two siblings, and indirectly mentions she went to college when she says she was living in a dorm when she had an abortion. In the movie, Carrie mentions Samantha used to work as a bartender at [=CBGB=], and the (probably non-canon) ''Carrie Diaries'' states she's from the Florida Everglades.

* ProductPlacement: And how. Absolut asked them to create an entire subplot involving Samantha getting her boyfriend on an enormous advertising poster in Times Square, labeled as the "Absolut Hunk". Not to mention the obvious fashion show that the series became during the final seasons and the movie spin-offs.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: After Miranda contracts chlamydia, she tells Steve he needs to be tested, but assures him, "men are just carriers". This is completely false. Men can have chlamydia--or any STD--just as easily as a woman. If anything, it's ''women'' who could be seen as "carriers", as they are often asymptomatic and therefore completely unaware that they even have the disease, resulting in them unwittingly passing it on to a lover--this is demonstrated in the fact that Miranda didn't even know she had it until she went for a check-up.
* ArtisticLicenseSports: Charlotte's King Charles Cavalier Spaniel is purchased because it has "one leg shorter than the others" and shown at a Westminster-like dog show in that episode, without training, while in heat. There's a lot wrong here, starting with the fact that estrous is an immediate disqualification from dog shows. The idea that an unevenly hocked dog with no prior experience, an amateur handler and a disqualifying (as well as obvious and terribly disruptive to the other dogs) medical condition could win any sort of legitimate major dog show is as accurate as saying Carrie Bradshaw could enlist and play for the NFL. The only thing remotely justifying about it is that the judge was enamored with the handler -- but even that wouldn't have helped her get all the way to the show ring. Although, from what her previous owner said, she'd had extensive training and been entered in dog shows before, but never managed to win.

* TrueLoveIsExceptional: Charlotte first married Trey, a handsome, charming WASP doctor who was everything she'd ever thought she wanted in a husband. But they weren't happy together and ended up divorcing. She ends up with Harry, who's HollywoodHomely, socially awkward, and Jewish.

* TrueLoveIsExceptional: Charlotte, who thought Trey was her prince charming but ended up finding true happiness with Harry.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Carrie's continuous mooning over and getting back with Mr. Big is an example of this. Miranda starts dating a guy who is a verbally abusive, bossy asshole in public, which she hates, but also a bossy asshole in the bedroom, which she loves.

** Completely averted when Carrie cheats on Aidan with Big, as she and everyone else on the show agree that she was not in any way justified in doing it.
** Played straight in TheMovie when Carrie reacts to Big's temporary cold feet like he left her at the altar (even after he had changed his mind to go through with it), going so far as to chew him out in the middle of the street and have a HeroicBSOD over it. Her reaction may seem over-the-top to some, but considering all the things Big put her through over the course of the TV series and him almost standing her up was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. Carrie could have seen the situation as a panic attack, and stayed on the line to calm him down. Instead she saw the situation as an abandonment -- an instant confirmation of all of her worst fears. She dropped the entire relationship instantly and cut off all communication. It seems unfair to many viewers, when you compare it to Big's "abandonment", which lasted for 60 seconds and consisted of calling Carrie and trying to talk.

** Charlotte is still married to Trey when Brady is born. In the year following, she divorces Trey, gets together with Harry, converts to Judaism, marries Harry, and they have already started the process of trying to conceive together by Brady's first birthday. Not quite a mathematical impossibility, but certainly that's a lot of relationship to stuff into a one-year timeframe.

* TheBeautifulElite: As far as middle aged single Manhattan women go, they're pretty good finds to say the least.

* CampGay: Stanford and Anthony. They get married in TheMovie.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Carrie moves to Paris with Alexsander despite only having been with him for a few months, not speaking the language, and without a job. She ends up neglected by him as he's consumed with his work and sitting around doing nothing all day.

** Many critics felt the series in general had a double standard. Had the show been about four men who have countless one-night stands and dump their partners afterwards for the same, sometimes nitpicky, reasons the women in this show do it would have caused an outrage among feminists. Also, for a show that is praised for talking about sexual taboos it does enforce a lot of stereotypes about gender too, being that all men should be strong, fearless and [[BiggerIsBetterInBed well-endowed]].
** As well, for a show geared towards women, there was a very bad example of a DoubleStandard rampant in film and television. Throughout their on-again, off-again relationship, any pursuit of Big by Carrie--leaving a few things at his apartment, wanting to meet his mother, saying, "I love you"--was made out to be pathetic, clingy, etc., and was always "punished" somehow, usually by Big freaking out and pulling away from her, sometimes even outright breaking up with her. But after Big married Natasha, he flat-out stalked Carrie for several weeks--calling her constantly, lurking outside her building waiting for her to come home, continuing to lurk until her boyfriend left, sneaking into the building and practically trying to push his way into her apartment, only stopping when she warned him that her boyfriend was coming back, following her to the hotel she was staying at, following her into the elevator, then grabbing and kissing her repeatedly. Throughout all this, she repeatedly and explicitly tells him to leave her alone, and in the elevator, continually pushes him away, telling him "Fuck you" (essentially, "''no''"), before finally succumbing to his advances. While it's undeniable that Carrie certainly could be stalkerish with Big, her behavior was always portrayed negatively and typically resulted in her being dumped, whereas Big's harassment and virtually forcing himself on her was made out to be sexy and romantic and resulted in him getting her back.
** To a lesser extent with Steve and Miranda. From the moment their one-night stand is over, she makes it clear that this is all she wants. He responds by constantly calling her, showing up at her place--at one point, threatening to make a scene if she doesn't let him in--and overall, repeatedly ignoring her numerous requests that he leave her alone. This is never made out to be bad, despite Miranda's obvious annoyance with his persistence, just a case of the "Wild" guy trying to win over the "Uptight" woman and get her to let her defenses down.

* EveryoneCanSeeIt: By the series finale, Miranda will have finally realized that she's in love with Steve. Even after they've had a baby together and an on/off relationship, she comes to terms that she loves him back. Only problem is that she just can't bring herself to use the word "love". It takes seeing Steve bring a "1" candle for their son's first birthday for her to confess her love to him. Albeit with them both inside of a laundry room and their respective partners in the other room. After confessing and Steve reciprocating does Nadia the nanny nod attentively.

* FairytaleWeddingDress: Any wedding on the show is more than likely to have one. Except for Miranda's spur-of-the-minute ceremony, which was small and simple to the extreme.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Miranda got pregnant and went for an abortion, but decided to keep the baby at the last minute, though it is mentioned in the same episode that Carrie and Samantha have both had abortions in the past (and Carrie, while shown not to regret her decision, says she still doesn't feel "normal" about it even years later). Miranda was actually sitting in the doctor's office before deciding not to go through with it, despite the uncertainty of her relationship with the baby's father, and declaring, "I can't have a baby. I could barely find the time to schedule this abortion." (Of course, the Doylist explanation is that Cynthia Nixon [[WrittenInInfirmity was actually pregnant and her getting an abortion would have defeated the point of writing it in.]])

* InterracialAdoptionIssues: Charlotte and her husband Trey are both white New Yorkers. Charlotte struggles to get pregnant and she begins researching other options. She puts her and Trey's names down to adopt a baby girl from China. She even tries to learn Mandarin for "her" (= the hypothetical baby's) sake. Charlotte says it's good they're both dark-haired so people won't notice immediately she's adopted and that they'll look fairly alike. Trey's insufferable mother Bunny is appalled they consider adopting a child of different ethnicity.

** Carrie has a few moments where she could be considered a horrible friend. She kicks Samantha out of her room ''while she's taking a bath'' and shoves her off into another room down the hall just so she can have sex with Big. When Samantha gets a chemical peel and ends up burning off a layer of her face, she still attends Carrie's book release party, but all Carrie can do is mock her appearance! She also yells at Charlotte for not giving her money although she spent it all on shoes, never listens to her friends when they talk about their personal lives and can come off a bit stalker-ish when it comes to Big, spying on he and his mother when they go to church. Not to mention breaking Aidan's heart ''twice.'' Carrie can be a bit judgmental of Samantha's sex life, as well.
** Also, in the second movie, she starts a fight with Big because ''he bought her a television.'' Seriously.
** Miranda has her moments too--she can be quite horrible to some of her boyfriends. In particular, she treats Skipper like crap before finally dumping him, then decides she wants him back the second that she sees that he's happy with someone else. After they sleep together, she decides this is the perfect time to tell him she doesn't want to be monogamous. When he rightfully gets angry and tells her off, declaring that he's sick of her jerking him around, she reacts with astonishment and tells him he's overreacting. She blasted Carrie for constantly letting Big do this to her, yet is completely oblivious to the fact that she's done it to someone else.

* LadyInRed: Samantha wears tight red dresses very often.
* LadyKillerInLove: On the sparse times where Samantha pursues a serious relationship.

** The episode "Was It Good for You?" is about Charlotte becoming incredibly insecure about her sexual prowess when the GuyOfTheWeek ends up falling asleep on top of her during sex. He claims he's just overworked (he's a doctor) but the damage is done and Charlotte is convinced she's terrible in bed and even takes up [[FlexibilityEqualsSexAbility tantric yoga lessons]] to 'improve'. When Carrie discusses this with Samantha (who's a LoveableSexManiac and a SexGoddess) she's surprised to learn that Samantha thinks that being good in bed is ''incredibly'' important and that it defines a person's character, Samanthat is also pretty convinced that Charlotte is in fact bad in bed, just by the way she moves.

*** Carrie eventually gets called out by Natasha in 'What-Goes-Around, Comes-Around, when she tries to apologise to Natasha over lunch, but Natasha instead hammers home the point that she ruined her marriage.

** Charlotte is still married to Trey when Brady is born. In the year following, she divorces Trey, gets together with Harry, converts to Judaism, marries Harry, and has already started the process of trying to conceive together. Not quite a mathematical impossibility, but certainly that's a lot of relationship to stuff into a one-year timeframe.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Miranda to Steve in the series finale.

* BlindDate

* ChildrenAreAWaste

* ConvenientlyCommonKink

* CostumePorn

* DoomedNewClothes: Carrie's pink tutu, and the dress she wears when she falls in the river with Big.

* EroticEating
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Samantha's plan for making Smith a star.

* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Except Charlotte's first husband Trey.

* FagHag: Carrie and Charlotte. Carrie's close friend Stanford is a recurring character. She once referred to him as "my gay husband" when she was hanging out in clubs with another gay guy.

* FourTemperamentEnsemble

* FurAndLoathing: Just the movie.

* HeartIsWhereTheHomeIs: Big vs. Aleksandr.

* HollywoodCalifornia: Not nearly as cool as BigApplesauce.

* {{Housewife}}: Charlotte after her first wedding.

* TheILoveYouStigma: Carrie once dates a recovering alcoholic who is extremely excited to experience sex without beer and loves it to bits. He says he loves her way too early and Carrie wants to slow down. He doesn't take it too well and relapses.

-->''"I'm sorry. I can't. Don't hate me."''

* LivingMacGuffin: Big. He may as well be a briefcase!

* MySisterIsOffLimits: Gender switched, with Samantha and Charlotte's brother. Also gender switched with Samantha and Adeena's brother.

* NiceToTheWaiter
* NoBisexuals: Samantha refers to herself as a lesbian when she becomes involved with a lesbian artist, despite the fact she significantly enjoys sex with men as well.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: The only way for a last-minute hook up with Big to work in the show was for "The Russian" to inexplicably become a selfish neglectful jerk with violence issues. It's established pretty early on that Aleksandr and Carrie have nothing in common, and when Carrie naively goes to Paris with him, (as well as out of stubbornness), Aleksandr constantly leaves her by herself while he works.

* [[GayBestFriend Pet Homosexual]]: Stanford and Anthony. Stanford does have his own occasional subplot though.

* ReadyForLovemaking

* RetailTherapy: They love going shopping.

** Carrie.

* SceneryCensor: When Sarah Jessica Parker was pregnant in the fifth season

* SouthOfTheBorder: Charlotte screws up on her "don't drink the water" plan.

** Maria does one of these half-deliberately towards the end of her relationship with Samantha.
** Carrie.

* TerribleIntervieweesMontage: In TheMovie.

* ThreeWaySex: Usually with Samantha.

* UnlimitedWardrobe

* I'llBeinMyBunk: of a fashion. The girls buy the prim and proper Charlotte her first vibrator only for her to become a recluse, staying home masturbating all the time, prompting them to stage an intervention.

* MysteriousPast: After six seasons, two movies and a sequel series, viewers know surprisingly little about Carrie's past. It's never mentioned where she's from[[note]](her high school boyfriend mentions he's visiting Connecticut with the implication they grew up there, which is where Creator/CandaceBushnell grew up)[[/note]], if she went to college[[note]](she mentions once that she was "caught in the boy's dorm sophomore year")[[/note]], if she has any family[[note]](if she does, none came to her wedding in the movie)[[/note]], or how she became a writer. It took 24 years before viewers knew her name is [[https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/-just-now-know-carries-full-name-rcna9897 short for Caroline]]. One episode reveals she hasn't seen her father since she was a small child and was raised by a single mother, and that's about it. ''Series/TheCarrieDiaries'' answered a few of these questions (she's from Connecticut), but contradicts major details of her past established in ''Sex and the City'', like having her raised by a single father with her sister (who was never mentioned in ''Sex and the City'') after her mother died, so it probably isn't canon to the main series.

* TriangRelations