Sex in Another City

Like the lonely girl who didn’t get to go to the prom, I sat home this weekend watching a chick flick. No, I did not attend BEA. No, I did not see the bright lights and big city of Los Angeles. I shunned all books in protest, wiping my tears on a bone-and-ivory vintage Yves St. Lauren drape blouse. Didn’t sleep. Didn’t eat. (Unless you count reading this month’s Vogue, which fed me more than food itself).

Meanwhile, while I was wringing my hands – hands ensconced in Zac Posen distressed leather gloves - Samantha was relishing BEA's past. The place? BEA Manhattan. The crowd? Literati. My heart? Breaking. I mean, wasn't I the writer here? Why did she get to go mingle with all the hot literati? And, she went back in 2005! I never went! I was just about to go affix a nasty Post-It note to her high-rise loft door, when I remembered: I had a movie to see.

So that night, with the girls on-hand and Manolos on-foot, I was off. The theater was packed. Perhaps not quite the crowd at BEA, but then, this crowd was holding Cosmos, not galley books. (Take that, Samantha). True, there was nary a Y chromosome in sight - but then, who wants those eye-rolling, buzz-killing, one-thing-wanting men to ruin a perfectly good Ladies Night, anyway?

With the lights low and music cuing, I was happy as a Derek Lam. Here we were, out on the town! Four girls as fearless - and fierce! - as they come. And yet - as I looked around at the sea of pink, glitter, and Vera Wang clutches, a sea that was still just a drop in the bucket for BEA's crowds, I couldn't help but wonder: when it comes to sex, are books the new black?

Barbara Walters recently revealed her steamy affair with Senator Edward Brooke in her memoir Audition - not on TV. Prince just released 21 Nights - a book, not an album - and I don't think I have to tell you what he did on each of those nights. It seems that sex is between all the covers these days - and I don't mean just chick lit.

So during two of the biggest events of the year - BEA and Sex and the City film release, both held on a single, fateful weekend - it's clear that sex sells. But when the pink book is closed, the martini is put down, and this monologue finally comes to an end - the real question will be, "will sex continue to sell?"

Judging from the impressive Amazon rankings of this hardcover, movie tie-in book, it would appear so.