What do these shows about girls and sex have in common?

A comparison of Sex and the City (1998-2004), Girls (2012-2017), and The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021-2024)

Photo courtesy of HBO Max/Wikimedia Commons

Every generation of needs it’s own show focusing on female friendships. The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021-2024) is the most recent.

As a girl in college, I have almost completed a “trilogy” that I have created in my head which is a combination of shows that have the same two overarching themes: womanhood and sex. These shows are Sex and the City (1998-2004), Girls (2012-2017), and The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021-2024). I am still in the process of finishing Sex and the City (1998-2004), but I have watched the other two in their entirety. 

An important note in this comparison is that I have watched all three of these shows within the past two months with my roommate— also 21-years-old, a girl, and someone who is anxiously awaiting graduation because being an adult is scary. This is an important detail to include, as I believe anyone who is in their early 20s needs to watch at least one of these shows to ease their nerves about adulthood. Of the three shows, only The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021-2024) has a group of main characters who are actually in college, as the title points out. 

The first thing that these shows have in common, besides their obvious titular similarities, is their portrayal of the female friendship. Far too often shows and movies have a stereotypical portrayal of this friendship type; either they are best friends forever and will be friends no matter what, or one friend sleeps with the other one's boyfriend and they are eternal enemies. These tropes are boring and overdone, and I am sick of the inaccurate portrayal.

All three shows depict complications with the friendships, with friends going through periods of struggle, but ultimately coming out the other end with apologies and the ability to rebuild their friendship. This is a realistic friendship! It is not uncommon for a pair of girl friends, or even a group, to have some problems and go through a rocky period, but they have the ability to forgive each other. 

Another similarity between these three shows is the distinctive natures of main characters themselves, especially about the long-term goals of these characters. In each of these shows, there is a group of female characters and they each have their own goals and aspirations for life. Some of them focus on marriage, like Charlotte from Sex and the City (1998-2004) or an unexpected musical career like Marnee from Girls (2012-2017), and some just want to have fun and good sex like Bella from The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021-2024). 

Something else I noticed while watching these shows is the different financial statuses that are portrayed in the characters. While some are more dramatic than others, each show has at least one character who is the broke friend, portrayed as hardworking and appreciative, and one character that is the rich friend who is well off, does not have to worry about things like rent, and the majority of whose money comes from their family. This trope is slightly different in Sex and the City (1998-2004), as the stereotypical friend with money is a hardworking lawyer who appreciates where her money comes from and recognizes that potential spouses and friends may be on a different financial level. 

Something that these shows do not have in common is the time period in which they were created. With The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021-2024) being the most recently released, it generally has less harmful stereotypes than the other two. This is especially true for characters that are not heterosexual; in contrast, Sex and the City (1998-2004) contains at least one problematic joke or character plot per episode. This is especially evident in some of their recurring gay characters, who exist mainly for comedic relief. 

There are even more similarities between these three shows from the characters, their jobs, or romantic partners. I highly recommend watching at least one; any one of them is a fun watch with friends.