In the midst of my hoop earrings and Narragansett Beach sunburn, I decided to see Sex and the City 2 for the second time with my mother this past weekend. Although I saw it opening night with a large group earlier in the week, watching it a more serious atmosphere then the estrogen-filled AMC Lowes in Georgetown, I had a revelation to me that didn’t occur the first time around; “OMYGAWD, this movie is slightly offensive”. And I’m not talking about the erection that Samantha’s Danish lover had in the chicha lounge. No, as liberal as I’ve always considered the film, Sex actually dabbled in the annoying, naïve Americana flare that’s almost as bad as George W. (I haven’t heard of that name in months) creating a “homeland security” branch of the US government (did he REALLY have to call it “homeland”, Mr. Tejas USA 2008?). With a large theme of the of the movie poking fun at Middle Eastern culture, their constant confusion by burquas and Arabic pronunciation pissed me off to no end. Though I love ethnic jokes, these were not executed in the intelligent way that surrounds most of the sitcom’s humor:


• Miranda’s foul pronunciation of “shukran”: It sounded like a New York Jewish mother saying shoe-kraaaaaaan at the Middle Eastern market. It’s not that hard to roll your ‘r’s and say a two syllable word.

• Samantha’s declaration of her love of sex: While I’m sure there isn’t a person on Earth who doesn’t agree with her, it’s entirely inappropriate to dry hump the air in front of a crowd of twenty Muslim religious leaders and throwing condoms in their faces. There’s nothing feminist about this; it’s just disrespectful to their religion that lays in a culture of thousands of years. Period.

• Poking fun at the head scarves: “I just don’t get the head scarfs”, Carrie scoffs, as if someone just vomited in front of her. They take it even further, ignorantly watching a Muslim woman eat French fries, lifting her face scarf for every bite, not understanding the point.

• Dressing inappropriately: I love belly shirts and cleavage, but when I was in Morocco, I was wearing a Lauryn Hill-esque head wrap and my mother’s polo shirts. Though I can’t hate on Samantha for dressing sexy at their gated resort (Miranda was a bit too up tight to yell at her), it’s entirely inappropriately for her to be walking around the market place in short shorts and stilettos.

• Carrie talking to the shoemaker like he was deaf: Although I’m sure she was trying to annunciate with English being his second language, he wasn’t hearing impaired. She spoke to him as if he was mildly retarded, and enough to make her be perceived as a pompous American.

Though I did take offense to these flippant gestures to the Islamic culture, the movie is still worth seeing. I’m already saving up money to have Liza Minelli perform Single Ladies at my wedding, if that tells you anything.