Candace Bushnell brings Sex to campus

Author who inspired ‘Sex and the City’ chats up new novel
Hurricane Productions brought Candace Bushnell, author of several books that inspired the HBO series Sex and the City, to UM to talk about and sign copies of her recent novel, Trading Up.
Bushnell started by dispelling stereotypes that have been frequently associated with Sex and the City.
“Sex and the City is not a high class porn, because they do a lot more than have sex,” Bushnell said. “They eat and sleep too, which they never do in porn.”
During her presentation, Bushnell explained some of the socio-cultural trends that have inspired all of her works. For example, Bushnell says she has noticed men hitting on women just because they were models and wouldn’t even speak to those who weren’t, even if they were more attractive than the models.
Bushnell says her new novel was written with similar situations in mind.
“The book explains in subtle little ways that women act that men don’t notice,” Bushnell said. “Girls sleep with men to get gifts and such, even intelligent respectable women.”
Many of her fans appreciate Bushnell’s honesty and frank way of writing.
“I like the show because all of the things that happen are so true and it’s funny,” Julie Castelli, freshman, said.
In fact, Bushnell says that a man once approached her and said, “You are the only one that depicts women as being as bad as men.”
“There is nothing fake about neither the book nor the show; all the characters are as crazy as my friends if not milder,” Bushnell said.
Students present enjoyed the event and appreciate the efforts of Hurricane Productions to get the writer on campus.
“The presentation was very interesting and entertaining,” Meera Bhutta, senior, said. “Hurricane Productions should do more events like this one.”
According to Bushnell, the upcoming season of Sex and the City will be the last, primarily because the actors are growing out of the age group that was originally meant for the characters.
“I’ll probably end the show by having them all get married,” Bushnell said.

Abhishek Shah can be contacted at ablashek@hotmail.com.