The iconic and suc­cess­ful HBO series Sex and the City (SATC) changed the way women approach life, love and fashion.

Like most women, I am a huge fan and con­stantly try to choose among my friends which one of us is Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, or Miranda. It’s fun to go out with your girl­friends and talk about men and sex, and after the show ended, guys knew that we talked like them too.

Although SATC is an awe­some show and rev­o­lu­tion­ized people’s atti­tudes about love and sex, the show is like that girl­friend who gives really, really, really bad advice about relationships.

Every per­son has a friend that gives bad advice about love. Not because they want to, but because they don’t know any bet­ter. This per­son is the friend who tells you that a guy is going to call you even though it’s been three months. This per­son is also the friend that tells you that kiss­ing is not cheat­ing. This friend is also deluded enough to tell you to re-date a com­plete idiot or jerk because he or she is just play­ing hard to get.

I know I sound like a hyp­ocrite but I am still real­is­tic enough to real­ize the major­ity of sex­ual escapades and rela­tion­ships in that show are com­pletely fac­tious. Unfortunately, most women will con­tinue to believe SATC has all the answers to their lack lus­ter love lives, dat­ing ruts, and end­less ideas that women can change men.

For exam­ple, the series hero­ine, Carrie Bradshaw has a tor­rid on/off romance with Mr. Big. There’s noth­ing uncom­mon about this how­ever, here’s where it gets tricky. Carrie and Big’s rela­tion­ship lasted for ten years. During this time, Big gets mar­ried to a young model whom he cheats on with Carrie. Carrie gets in engaged to Adian and breaks up with him twice and then she even­tu­ally runs off to Paris with a Russian artist. Like most cheesy loves sto­ries, Big fol­lows her to Paris and brings her back home to the Big Apple.

In the fea­ture film Carrie and Big plan to move in together and wed. However, Big gets cold feet on their wed­ding day and stands her up at the altar. After months of being apart (for obvi­ous rea­sons) they ran­domly see each other in the apart­ment he bought for them and while dis­re­gard­ing logic fall into each other’s arms and get mar­ried at the cour­t­house. The moral of the story is: if you wait half your life, the man of your dreams will even­tu­ally come around.

Even though I enjoyed every minute of the Carrie and Big saga, this is the most ridicu­lous story I’ve ever heard. In real life, this romance would have been over in six months, two years max. Most peo­ple would agree that no one is worth all that work.

Another exam­ple of really bad advice is Miranda, the red­headed cyn­i­cal Harvard lawyer love story. Miranda has a one night stand with Steve, a bar­tender. Like Carrie and Big, the two have an on/off rela­tion­ship. During their third go round, Miranda gets knocked up with Steve’s baby. The two even­tu­ally get mar­ried and live some­what hap­pily ever after until Steve cheats on her in the movie. After ther­apy they get back together. The moral of this story is: It’s okay to date and marry beneath social sta­tus and never mind adul­tery, when love is involved.

This story is a load of crap. Not only is Miranda dat­ing under her caste, but also she allows her cheat­ing hus­band to return to her with com­plete for­give­ness. I have three syl­la­bles for that: Bo-lo-gna!

The truth is, women can­not change men and wait­ing for a man to change will take an eter­nity. Woman should lis­ten to their instincts more often when it comes to men and not a tele­vi­sion show that seems to have all the answer. Fairy tales do come true, how­ever women need to weigh the pros and cons and deter­mine if their happy end­ing is really worth the fuss. SATC is fic­tion, not a ver­sion of the truth.