Sex and the City: 10 Things About Samantha That Would Never Fly Today

Samantha Jones was the most confident, brazen, and outspoken of her friends on Sex and the City, and her brash and fearless personality was looked up to by women everywhere. She memorably told the world in the first season that she was determined to have it all — a successful business, a fabulous lifestyle, and sex like a man. She accomplished all of these things and along the way, behaved in a manner that wouldn’t go over well today.

Samantha had a habit of being incredibly superficial, callous, and remorseless in her pursuit of her goals. From body-shaming men to her abhorrent treatment of members of the trans community, she wasn’t always as liberated as she thought she was. In fact, she was downright mean.

10 DUMPING JEFF BECAUSE HE’S SHORT

Jeff Fenton had all the qualities Samantha liked in a man. He aggressively chatted her up at a bar, bought her a drink, informed her he had a successful hedge fund, and invited her on a luxurious ski trip all in under five minutes.

When she realized he was shorter than she expected and bought his clothing in the “boy’s department,” she dumped him, despite the fact that he was handsome man with a wicked sense of humor, and they had amazing chemistry. Dumping him over something he had no control over was insensitive.

9 BEING INSENSITIVE ABOUT CHIVON

When Samantha dated popular and successful record producer Chivon, she adopted certain characteristics that made her look crass and oblivious. She started wearing African-inspired prints, speaking Ebonics, and treating his sister derisively.

Samantha couldn’t understand why his sister had a problem with her aggressively going after her brother, especially when she threw around lines like, “I don’t see color, I only see conquests.”

8 HER TREATMENT OF TRANS SEX WORKERS

When Samantha can’t sleep one night, it’s due to a trio of rowdy trans sex workers getting off work for at around 4AM. After a few verbal altercations with them, Samantha throws a bucket of water on one of their heads.

The entire episode surrounding the ordeal was problematic regarding the treatment (and references to) the trans community, but Samantha’s slurs and overall behavior were particularly offensive.

7 BODY-SHAMING HER BOYFRIEND

When Samantha started dating James, she thought he was perfect. He was charming, good-looking, and had a successful job as a lawyer. Unfortunately, one thing mattered above all else: his penis size.

Discussing the matter with her girlfriends and her therapist, Samantha penis-shamed him mercilessly. Today, the comicality of penis-shaming is under scrutiny, and is seen as a form of body-shaming, making Samantha’s remarks even more distasteful.

6 SEXUALLY HARASSING HER ASSISTANT

While it could be said that Samantha was only doing what any of her male counterparts would do in her situation, the fling she had with her male assistant can be seen as sexual harassment now, especially with how she goes about it.

After several verbal fights with her assistant, she realized she was turned on by his cutthroat personality. She fires him over his insolence with the phrase, “the bad news is you’re fired, but the goods news is I can f*ck you,” then proceeds to pin him down for an afternoon delight without his consent.

5 HER DISMISSIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS POLITICS

When Carrie started dating a local politician, Samantha had this to say about politics in general,”I don’t believe in the Republican party or the Democratic party. I just believe in parties,” effectively dismissing Carrie’s interest in politics altogether.

In the current highly politicized climate, it’s uncertain whether or not Samantha would have been given that sort of line. It might be considered too flippant, even for her

4 HER OFFENSIVE PUBLIC DISPLAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

In Sex and the City 2, the girls get flown on an all-expenses-paid luxury trip to Abu Dhabi courtesy of Samantha’s connections with a prominent businessman. The hormones Samantha takes to counteract the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause get confiscated at the airport, leaving her miserable with hot flashes.

Not only is she uncomfortable in her own body, but she’s encouraged to be more covered up out of respect. Eventually all the restrictions become too much for Samantha, and in a crowded section of Old Abu Dhabi, she writhes around on the ground showering herself in condoms, all the while screaming about sex and flipping the gathering crowd off.

3 ENCOURAGING WOMEN TO EXCHANGE SEX FOR MONEY

In the first season, Samantha heartily encouraged Carrie to accept money from a visiting man as compensation for a one-night stand, explaining that it was “only fair” for women to use their feminine wiles to gain power, influence, and money.

This was definitely Samantha’s modus operandi, but today her methods would look like internalized misogyny, and viewers would much more likely think Carrie should leave the money on the night stand.

2 DUMPING MEN FOR PETTY REASONS

Samantha had a habit of dumping men for the most superficial reasons, often for aspects they themselves couldn’t change. This led her to being unhappy and alone out of a well-concealed fear of commitment, but her partners suffered in the meantime.

Samantha always found something about her partners that she didn’t like, and used it as a reason to cut things off. These superficial reasons included their age, penis size, financial stability, and on one occasion, their breath. These days that sort of shaming would be handled in a different way, and paint her partners in better lights.

1 NOT GETTING AN STD TEST

For modern woman like Samantha, an STD test seems like the sort of thing she’d get fairly regularly. However in Season 3, the girls learn that she’d never had one, despite all of the sexual  partners she’d had.

These days, it would most likely be Samantha’s character who would be the one having great sex and encouraging her younger friends to get their health checked out. Instead, she comes off as an older woman who’s out of touch and risking her partners’ sexual health.

About The Author

Kayleena Pierce-Bohen
(1344 Articles Published)

Kayleena has been raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones from the crib. A film buff, she has a Western collection of 250+ titles and counting that she’s particularly proud of. When she isn’t writing for ScreenRant, CBR, or The Gamer, she’s working on her fiction novel, lifting weights, going to synthwave concerts, or cosplaying. With degrees in anthropology and archaeology, she plans to continue pretending to be Lara Croft as long as she can.

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