Sex And The Tinder Generation

Could the Sex And The City girl gang ace the fastpaced rules of Internet dating today and embrace the new-fangled norms of living in New York City? We dive into the post-Tinder era to find out what it takes to be in a successful relationship

To celebrate 20 years since Sex And The City exploded on to our screens, we asked you about your sex lives, and you answered. We learned that more than half of you have sex at least once a week, and 87 per cent of you believe that sexual compatibility is vital for a successful relationship. The two biggest revolutions to have happened in the dating world over the last two decades are the rise of dating apps (44 per cent think dating apps have made meeting dates easier, while 31 per cent think that apps have made it harder), and the #MeToo phenomenon (35 per cent agree that #MeToo has made them view previous sexual encounters in a new light). Our favourite stat? More than half of you believe in the concept of ‘the one’… ahh, Carrie and Big forever!

Meanwhile, Jean Hannah Edelstein, New York-based writer and Guardian ‘Dating After #MeToo’ columnist, wonders what Sex And The City (SATC) would look like in a postWeinstein, post-Tinder dating landscape.

There’s an episode in the third season of Sex And The City when Carrie Bradshaw discovers the Internet. It’s 2001, and her new crush, Aidan, connects with her on AOL Instant Messenger. She’s alone in her apartment when her laptop pings to let her know that he’s come online. She dives to the floor: “Can he see me?” she hisses.

When it came to sex, Carrie wasn’t naive, but when it came to technology, she was an innocent babe. Twenty years after Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda debuted, it’s impossible to ignore the show’s impact on the way a generation of women learned about sex and dating. But it’s also impossible to deny how much of the show is now an anachronism.   I couldn’t help but wonder if Carrie and Co would be able to hack it if they were dating in 2018?