'Sex' writer talks on campus

"When I asked my roommates to go out to a pub or something they responded, 'We don't go out without dates,'" she said. "One girl even said she was going to sit in the room and cry, because she didn't have a date for Friday and Saturday."\nShe said the college experience was pivotal in her life. It inspired her to change the world and how women were allowed to behave. \n"From that point on, I vowed I would show the world women could go out with each other and don't need men to go any where," Bushnell said.\nThe audience agreed, and showed it by cheering and clapping in response to her statement. \nBushnell couldn't help showing off her fashion sense, which also influenced the show and its viewers.\n"I have on a pair of Manolo Blahniks, just so you know," she said, sticking out her foot so the audience could see.\nSophomore Briana Rauen said the show has had a big influence on fashion, because it introduced people to designer labels they wouldn't normally know about. \nFreshman Stephanie Sobic said Sarah Jessica Parker inspired her to wear aviator sunglasses.\n"I rocked the aviator sunglasses because Sarah Jessica Parker wore them on the show," she said.\nSobic said she was interested in what Bushell had to say and shared stories about her favorite episodes before the lecture.\nGill said if she could ask Bushnell one question, it would be, "How close is 'Sex and The City' to her own life?" \nGill didn't have to wait for the question-and-answer portion of the talk to find out. \n"All my friends were like Samantha, the most independent character with the strongest libido," Bushnell said. "Even my Miranda, the most career-driven and practical character, was like Samantha."\nShe explained she created Carrie Bradshaw, her alter-ego, when she started to write her sex column for the New York Observer as a way to disguise herself when her parents read the column. She also revealed that Mr. Big, Carrie's romantic interest in the show, was actually a real man in her life. \n"The show was about me and my friends," Bushnell said. The column became popular because everyone thought it was about them and it was."\nBushnell's ability to relate to her audience catapulted the book and show, 'Sex and the City,' into an instant success.\nBushnell recalled her experiences of growing older and looking for love in New York City and the impact of the sexual revolution on women and relationships.\n"What happened during the sexual revolution created a change in men," she said. "They did not want to commit. They would date you, live with you, but they wouldn't marry you." \nBushnell said the women in the '80s and early '90s faced a lot of changes, because they were some of the first women to actually make their own money and support themselves. She said women couldn't find the one thing they were promised -- marriage and children. \n"Single and in your 20s is normal dating," she said, "but the mid-30s and single you should worry. For women, not being married and not knowing if they would get married was scary."\nThough her adventures were sometimes painful and full of rejection, Bushnell gained valuable knowledge and was very generous in sharing it. \n"Men will come and go, but girlfriends last forever,'' she said. \nBushnell attributes womens' new openness about sex and relationships to the strong bonds built between single girlfriends. She said married women are loyal and single women don't mind sharing dirty details. \n"Anytime you give women power, money and status they go out and have sex like men," she said.