“Sex Change and the City” is, without question, the most significant* anthology of our time

Are there countless examples of racism, transphobia, biphobia, you name it on “Sex and the City,” the HBO romantic dramedy that aired from 1998 to 2004? You already know the answer if you’ve watched, rewatched, maybe even re-rewatched its 96 episodes, two feature films and the reboot sequel, “And Just Like That...” One might then ask themselves, would dissecting every one of the show’s faults be all that, ahem, enjoyable? The publishers of a new “Sex and the City” themed anthology have the correct answer: it would be way more fun to instead speculate about which one of Carrie Bradshaw’s friends should start HRT. (Miranda!)

“We’re trying to make sure people are enjoying themselves through the entire book, which is different from most other anthologies,” says Tuck Woodstock, a Brooklyn-based journalist, educator and creator of the award-winning Gender Reveal podcast. “Anthologies are usually curated around, what’s the worst thing that ever happened to you.” There’s none of that kind of thing here in “Sex Change and the City,” out November 6 from Girl Dad Press. 

Woodstock and co-editor Niko Stratis — ESC KEY .CO’s seventh Power Lunchees — cite a quote by “Sex and the City” actor Kim Cattrall when I ask them about their curatorial approach. 

As Cattrall famously told The Guardian in 2019, “I don’t want to be in a situation for even an hour where I’m not enjoying myself.” Cattrall, of course, played Samantha Jones — or as Woodstock puts it, “the only one on the show who seems to have a flirty, fun attitude to sex and life.” That became the thesis statement for this sprawling collection. 

And it’s clear that the 46 LGBTQ+ writers and artists published in this volume are having a flirty, fun time. This is admittedly a weird thing to write about a new anthology. Truly, “this is a very horny, laugh-out-loud anthology” is rarely the kind of sentence uttered by anyone who actually reads anthologies, which to Woodstock’s point, often go deep into personal traumas or esoteric academic subject matter. 

Indeed, “Sex Change and the City” is often more entertaining than its source material. It’s sure to appeal to devoted fans who have found themselves cringing at many of the showrunner’s choices while still empathizing with the characters. It’s also fun to read if you hate what the writers did to Samantha — who, Woodstock corrects the record, is “a beautiful transsexual woman.” 

More generally, this is also the most fun anthology since, well, the last time that Woodstock and Stratis published an anthology. 

It’s no wonder then that Girl Dad Press itself began as a joke on the trans corners of social media. 

Their first anthology, 2024’s “2 Trans 2 Furious: An Extremely Serious Journal of Transgender Street Racing Studies,” was themed around “Fast & Furious.” It was, for the record, extremely unserious. But like “Sex Change and the City,” it still delivered sharp cultural criticism, personal essays, comics, and more. It struck a chord with audiences, going on to win a Lambda Literary Award. 

At the awards reception, another icon of independent publishing, Casey Plett of LittlePuss Press, texted Stratis that Woodstock was about to give his acceptance speech. Stratis, a culture writer based in Toronto, could not attend the event. Instead, she watched a live-stream video of Woodstock’s speech. That was when she knew this needed to become official. “We talked the next day to start the press,” she tells me. “All the other nominees had links to official websites with official biographies and information. We did not. That was how we started it.” 

“[Girl Dad Press is] still very much a bit. But any bit that’s committed to will eventually destroy you,” Stratis says.

How, in particular, does running an independent press destroy you? That was one of many questions I had for Woodstock and Stratis, who joined me for a fake lunch in the lead-up to the launch of “Sex Change and the City.” When we lunch at a meme restaurant that no longer exists, Woodstock explains that Girl Dad Press currently has negative $16,000. Meanwhile, there are 1,400 copies of “Sex Change and the City” in his apartment, which the United States Postal Service is refusing to pick up. 

“Look, all I want to do is get 'Sex Change and the City' into the hands of perverts across the country,” Woodstock explains.

And that’s what we, the perverts, want, too. “Everything about our lives is dire but every time we write a thing about ourselves, it doesn’t have to be why we deserve human rights,” says Stratis. “We kind of lose all sense of our humanity in the process. We deserve to be silly, horny, funny and stupid. If we lose that, we lose everything.”

As Woodstock puts it: “Maybe when everything is going to hell, you might as well take a quiz to find out what ‘Sex and the City’ quote is your queer breakup style, right?” After our Power Lunch concluded, I took the quiz. I, of course, got this Samantha quote: “I love you too … but I love me more.”

There's only one rule to Power Lunch: we are granted the power to lunch anywhere in the world, but the Power Lunchee(s) must pick only one place where we will virtually gather. This rule is now in effect.

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JD: Wow, both of you made it! I’ve never had the chance to say both of you yet in the context of a Power Lunch before since you two are the first dual Power Lunch for this website. Where in the world are you right now?

TW: I’m in Brooklyn, making iced coffee.

NS: I’m in the “office” in my loft in Toronto, with some water at my desk. It’s not really a separate room, though. 

JD: For beverage transparency, I’m sipping lukewarm tea in London. So, where do we want to go for lunch? We can go anywhere, any place and any time.

TW: I have made us this reservation, but I have not told Niko. I want Niko to guess the spot. You’re going to know right away.

NS, laughing: Oh, I don’t know. Do I know?

TW: You absolutely know!

NS: Is it … GarfieldEats?

TW: It is GarfieldEats!

NS: Ah yes, the ill-fated GarfieldEats, a Garfield-themed pizza restaurant in Toronto, which is funny given Garfield is a lasagna-loving cat. They did have lasagna. But it was bad. It’s closed now, anyway. 

TW: Niko and I have never been to GarfieldEats together, but we have each had experiences there. 

NS: My partner and I got delivery from there once. The pizza was really bad, too. Really bad. 

JD: You’re really selling it. Often, I end Power Lunches wishing we’d actually gone to the restaurant we pretended to go to. But this time I’m honestly really happy this is a fake lunch.

NS: My partner got sick immediately.

TW: Bad pizzas but they’re in the shape of Garfield’s head.

NS: One of the pizzas is named the Garnivore. 

TW: And it did have a great slogan: “Love me, feed me, don't leave me.”

NS: Which for the record, is different from what Garfield actually said: “Love me, feed me, never leave me.” Either way, it’s very dyke-coded.

JD: OK, so I guess we’re getting some Garfield head-shaped pizzas. While we wait for the pizza that will — thankfully — never arrive, I’m curious, how did you two meet? 

TW: We met on the trans internet, where we started out posting and now we’re making books together.  

NS: We’ve actually only ever met once in person.

TW: And when we did meet, it was for about one hour and we were recording a podcast. Very much in the style of people whose jobs are being very online. 

JD: And to that point, Girl Dad Press started as a bit of a Twitter joke with your “Fast & Furious”-themed anthology — “2 Trans 2 Furious: An Extremely Serious Journal of Transgender Street Racing Studies” — that then went on to win a Lambda Literary Award last year. Tell me about how this whole project came to be; when did the bit stop being a bit? Or is it still a bit?

NS: Girl Dad Press actually started after the Lambda Literary Award ceremony. I did not go to the award ceremony. But I got a text from Casey [Plett at LittlePuss Press] that Tuck was accepting the award for Best LGBTQ+ Anthology. I got a live-streamed video. We talked the next day to start the press. All the other nominees had links to official websites with official biographies and information. We did not. That was how we started it. So, it’s still very much a bit. But any bit that’s committed to will eventually destroy you.

TW: And the bit is destroying me!

JD: Pray tell: What, in particular, is destroying you? 

TW: Oh, well, three things in particular are destroying me right now. Girl Dad Press currently has negative $16,000. I have 1,400 copies of “Sex Change and the City” in my apartment, which was never supposed to be the plan — I was not supposed to have this many books in my apartment. And for whatever reason, USPS is denying me pickup and they also don’t want me to show up with several hundred books I need to mail to people who ordered the book. 

Look, all I want to do is get “Sex Change and the City” into the hands of perverts across the country. 

NS, laughing: Advice to people thinking about starting an independent press: It’s not worth it?

TW: Truly! I was on a podcast recently and they asked me a question something like, what advice would you give? And my advice is really, make a zine! Do yourself a favor and just print a few pages off. Staple them together. Mail them to people — for cheap! You’ll be much better off.

NS: As Tuck said, there’s a lot to running an independent press that you couldn’t fully think through at the start. Once you get into the brass tacks, there’s a lot that goes into making and distributing books you wouldn’t really think about. It takes so much time and effort to do this independently. 

TW: And that’s the transexual book industry! But the good news is that I get to make a very good anthology with friends new and old! 

JD: And it is a very good anthology! I've been devouring the advance copy of “Sex Change and the City,” which is full of at once hilarious and genuinely cutting cultural critique. It opens with that Kim Cattrall quote: “I don't want to be in a situation for even an hour where I'm not enjoying myself.” Which feels like a thesis statement?

TW: Totally. We’re trying to make sure people are enjoying themselves through the entire book, which is different from most other anthologies. Anthologies are usually curated around, what’s the worst thing that ever happened to you. 

So, it’s a thesis statement for how this anthology is curated. It’s also a thesis statement for my life. I’ve quoted it before in real life, once to another Power Lunchee, Mattie Lubchansky, when I was leaving “Sunset Boulevard” at intermission. Mattie was like, “you’re leaving?” and I was like, “I don't want to be in a situation for even an hour where I'm not enjoying myself; Kim Cattrall.”

JD: I very much relate to this energy, which feels especially timely. It makes me wonder, Why “Sex and the City”? Why now?

TW: “2 Trans 2 Furious” emerged from a bunch of dolls posting about seeing “Fast & Furious” for the first time. And I was like, we should bring all that together into a zine. Then we had so many great submissions that we decided we needed to release a 160-page book. 

For our second book, we wanted something similarly in the zeitgeist but also a timeless text. And “Sex and the City” is a timeless text. 

Since I live in New York, and since many of our contributors live in New York, we’d also noticed a lot of “Sex and the City”-themed events popping up recently. For example, there’s a script in the book that comes from a completely unrelated “Sex and the City” event. With “And Just Like That...,” there’s been so much going on in pop culture again around the show, too.

JD: And then just like that … “And Just Like That...” got canceled. The anthology is coming out right as this whole SATC extended universe implodes. How does that coincidence feel?

TW: When it was cancelled, I felt immediate pressure to start promoting the anthology. It honestly would’ve been extremely convenient for us if they could’ve kept it going for one more season. 

JD: You've got other compelling and hilarious takes from more than 40 contributors. What was the most surprising thing you encountered in editing this? Were there any pieces that rattled assumptions about the show?

NS: I did appreciate how many people wanted to fuck Steve. There were a few select characters that contributors wanted to fuck — or put on HRT. 

TW: I was watching the show for the first time as submissions for the anthology were coming in, so my entire perception of the show was shaped by other queer and trans people as I was watching it. It allowed me to see all these new dimensions. 

JD: Tuck, to your point, you wrote an intro describing “Sex and the City” as like viewing the “straight people zoo.” I think that is hilarious and a smart analytical framework. On that note, one thing that strikes me about the show is how it's simultaneously beloved and reviled by queer and trans audiences — like, many of us have watched it obsessively while also knowing it was often terrible to us. How did you see contributors navigating that tension?

TW: I went into the show with an anthropological lens because it’s so far removed from anything I could relate to that it’s funny to me. But then I was really surprised by how many pieces submitted for the anthology were empathetic to the characters; as in, I see myself in this purportedly cis character. 

Certainly, there are shitposts in the book. But there are also a lot of pieces sincerely relating to the show. Trans people contain multitudes! 

NS: It’s also worth noting that the elements of the show people are relating to are the core emotions of being human and have nothing to do with the overt moments of representation, which are often humiliating. We certainly have no rule that things have to be about gender and sexuality, and if anything, we were not really interested in those obvious takes. 

JD: Some of the most entertaining moments in the anthology pertain to Samantha Jones, who was infamously not on “And Just Like That...” (aside from one brief cameo). Your anthology has multiple contributors arguing Samantha should start HRT, there's that Lubchansky comic about her. What is it about Samantha?

TW: The first thing we must say is that Samantha is a beautiful transsexual woman. Second, she is the only one on the show who seems to have a flirty, fun attitude to sex and life, which is strange in a show called “Sex and the City” how little of that there is from most of the characters.

NS: Yeah, Samantha’s certainly got this energy about her of, do I want to fuck this person? Or do I want to be this person?

TW: But something that bothers me is that the writers gave Samantha the most racist plotlines. I want to reject those moments in the show as not canonical Samantha. 

JD: This whole conversation has me thinking back to this line in the introduction: “I do sometimes wonder whether it’s imprudent to expend resources on another goofy anthology when everyone is, you know, suffering,” Tuck writes. Then you observe that maybe the answer is that we don’t need to choose: “We can organize mutual aid networks and share weird, hot, silly, queer art.” Yes! I mean, we’ve got to try and counter the doomerism somehow, right?

TW: You can hear me in the intro kind of talking myself into this — god, did I try! It does feel absolutely insane to put out a trans joke book at a time when everyone feels bad all the time. Yes, certain transphobic people are so obsessed with us, but then we can become completely too focused on that. But maybe when everything is going to hell, you might as well take a quiz to find out what “Sex and the City” quote is your queer breakup style, right?

NS: That’s it. Everything about our lives is dire but every time we write a thing about ourselves, it doesn’t have to be why we deserve human rights. We kind of lose all sense of our humanity in the process. We deserve to be silly, horny, funny and stupid.  If we lose that, we lose everything.

That was the feeling I had every time I got to dive into edits. It was something I really looked forward to. We had so many amazing submissions. It was a nice break while I was working on my memoir [“The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman”]. When things felt much heavier, I’d get into edits for the anthology and would think, we need more art like this. 

JD: Tuck, is it fair to say that’s the vibe you’re riding through the “Sex Change and the City” book tour, which sounds like a coast-to-coast blast? 

TW: Let me controversially say, book events can be boring. But people are really looking for community hangout time right now, so that’s one thing I’m really committed to: making space for more hang-outs. 

If the event is in a bookstore, then we’re planning a hang-out afterwards within a few blocks. But not all of the events are in bookstores. Most notably, there’s our New York event on November 11 that we’re co-hosting with LittlePuss Press, which coincidentally is releasing another zine-adjacent book set in the ’90s, “Gendertrash From Hell.” So we’re throwing what is first and foremost a party: Sex Change from Hell. 

JD: Lastly, I don’t know, have we heard from Cynthia Nixon?

TW: We have not heard from Cynthia Nixon, but I do kind of want Nixon’s trans kid to pick up a copy. 

We don’t need Sarah Jessica Parker to get a copy. A friend was trying to get SJP a copy and I had to ask them to stop. 

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JD: Given the restaurant is GarfieldEats, skipping dessert seems like a good idea?

TW: Well, we should add, GarfieldEats does have dark chocolates. 

NS: Also in the shape of Garfield’s face!