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Not every television show or film is universally beloved. In fact, some are considered by popular culture to be gauche, out-of-touch or downright terrible. Defend Your Likes is a place where Decider writers will defend their critically (or socially) unpopular favorite shows and films.

While it was on HBO from 1998-2004, Sex and the City was nominated for over 50 Emmy Awards, 24 Golden Globes and was hailed as a revolutionary comedy series. However, at some point, Sex and the City became a joke.

I don’t know if people started to mock it when its watered-down version hit syndication or when its cheesy film sequels came out. But by the time Girls debuted, a generation later in 2012, it was considered a mere punchline.

Smart people aren’t supposed to like Sex and the City. The thing is I love Sex and the City.

The only acceptable reason to like Sex and the City is for nostalgia’s sake. You’re supposed to roll your eyes and cop to liking it when you were young. However, I like it more now as a 29-year-old entertainment writer than I ever liked it in my misbegotten youth.

I firmly believe that Sex and the City is a great television show. Even when it starts to lose its original satiric bite in favor of the schmaltzy story lines of its final seasons, the show is well-written, emotionally engaging, and endlessly enjoyable to watch. You can pick any episode in any season and be entertained by great performances and at least one thought-provoking moment.

In the past three years, there have been countless think pieces on the state of female characters in television. These range to arguments as to why people hate Skylar White to why it’s great the girls of Broad City are feminist heroes despite their flaws. These essays include endless debates on whether or not New Girl, Girls and 30 Rock have advanced or set back feminism with their portrayals of modern women. We even want to know why with all the boobs on Game of Thrones, we don’t get much in the way of females on the show enjoying sex. In 2014, critics want to see flawed female protagonists. We want our television to ask if women can have it all. We want women to be self-possessed, and not sexual victims. Sex and the City gave us all this and more sixteen years ago.

It’s easy to write off the show as an endless montage of sex scenes and puns, but every episode tried to tackle an emotional or political issue that the modern single woman must face. What does it mean to have sex like a man? What does gender even mean? Is sex power? Is it amoral to accept money for sex? How much does your relationship with your parents affect your romantic one? And finally, what is a happy ending?

As a heroine, Sarah Jessica Parker‘s Carrie Bradshaw provided a bridge between the plucky sitcom girls of yesteryear (think Mary Tyler Moore and Marlo Thomas) and the complicated women-children of Girls. Carrie is a successful New York writer with a great big heart, but she manages to do some truly horrible things in the name of love. Some fans and critics are still horrified by the way she treated Aidan, but her faults are what make her a three-dimensional character. She’s not perfect. Nor are any of her friends. And speaking of her friends…

The casual viewer might think that Sex and the City is all about women obsessed with men. It’s not. It’s a show that’s about women who love women. The show is a deep ode to female friendship. Over the course of six seasons, we watch as Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha explore their sexuality and evolve as women. There are job changes, engagements, break ups, divorces and children. There are miscarriages, real estate purchases and a cancer diagnosis. They lose mothers and gain self-respect. They squabble jealously – never over a man – but over opportunities. Through it all, they don’t ever rely on their lovers for emotional support. The four women cling desperately to each other.

Sex and the City is a love story. It’s about four women in love with the city of New York and four women who are in love with their own sex. Meaning, the sex referenced in the title, Sex and the City, isn’t merely the act of sex. It’s a state of being. It’s how we separate ourselves and reconnect as people. It’s life.

You don’t have to give Sex and the City a rewatch in the year 2014 (even though it’s easy to stream on HBO Go and Amazon Instant Video). I’m not asking you to like it. I’m just saying that if you’re asking me to renounce six groundbreaking seasons of television because the spin-off movies were bad, well… In the immortal “written on a Post-it” words of Jack Berger: “I’m sorry. I can’t. Don’t hate me.”

Stream Sex and the City on HBO Go and Amazon Instant Video.

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Photos: HBO