Shifting Gender Roles: Sex and The City and Girls

After watching "Boys, Girls, Boys, Girls" (Sex and The City) and "Vagina Panic" (Girls), it is evident that the idea of gender roles has been changing drastically. The episode of Sex and the City was released in 2000, where the Girls episode was released in 2012. The main difference is how much more in control of themselves the women seem. The characters in the show Girls are portrayed as independent women who have no issues making their own decisions about their lives, and love lives in particular. In Sex and The City, it is clear that these ideas of independent women are just starting to be formed. For example, the character Miranda is struggling with the idea of her boyfriend moving into her apartment. It is clear to her that she is not the stereotypical women. She doesn't like to cook, she likes to be able to lounge around and watch TV, and she doesn't like to do the laundry. When the idea of having a man in her house is brought up, she gets defensive about it, because she knows she doesn't fit into that gender role. But he boyfriend doesn't have an issue with it. This goes to show that the idea of women being the homebodies who take care of the house work is a gender role that is changing fast. All of the women in both of these episodes display some kind of personal independence. It seems as though (and I have never really watched Sex and The City), that all the women live alone, and have jobs that help them support their lifestyles. They are breaking out of the gender norm. The character Samantha is her own boss. She runs her own business. She is in charge and she doesn't take any slack from anyone. The characters in Girls mimic this kind of behavior as well. They all seem to be stable on their own, but this is more accepted than it seems in Sex and the City. It is more of a modern show, and it really depicts the way that the gender roles have progressed in 12 years.