Sex and the City made me leave my loveless marriage

In our new column on pop culture that prompted people to upend their lives, a reader reveals how a sex scene from the HBO comedy made her realise her own love life was lackingI had always avoided watching Sex and the City. I thought it looked a bit girlie for me. It was only during lockdown that I finally got round to seeing it. I found the first few episodes entertaining, but didn’t really connect with any of the storylines. I was the same age as the characters, but I had been in a relationship for four years, so Carrie’s disastrous dates felt far removed from my own experience. I saw the show as no more than a guilty pleasure, something to do while my boyfriend played PlayStation in the other room. I certainly didn’t think it would end my relationship.It was Charlotte who got me hooked. Specifically her relationship with Trey, her sexually repressed husband. There was so much nuance to the scenes between them. The show dramatised the uncomfortable, shameful parts of a relationship like I’d never seen before on TV. My boyfriend and I had moved in together that year, and he seemed to have completely lost interest in sex. I played it down to friends, saying I had gone off sex too – but I hadn’t. I told myself what was happening between us was a natural progression out of the honeymoon stage, but it hurt me deeply every time I tried to be affectionate with my boyfriend and he turned me away. Continue reading...

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