Welcome to our newest series! During the third season of Mad Men Feministing writers will offer some of our thoughts on feminist moments, scenes, and themes in the new episodes in order to start a discussion about these topics in our community. *WARNING: Lots of spoilers follow.
The opening dream-like sequence
I was struck in the opening moments of the episode by the intense sexism that defines Dick Whitman's back-story and the degree to which Don Draper seems to be aware of this. Here is a man who is a proud misogynist, yet the past he rejects is shaped by the treatment of women as objects for sexual pleasure and reproduction, patterns Don has repeated. --Jos
Previous flashbacks for Don have often revolved around his father and a sort of hyper-masculine cruelty and neglect. These flashbacks were really centered around the women of his past, childbirth, bodies, and, as Jos said, sexism. I wonder if this is setting the tone for a shift in some of this season's "births." --Courtney
Betty says of Sally, "She's taken to your tools like a little lesbian."
From the beginning the show signals this season will deal with shifting gender roles as well as homosexuality. Betty's joking did not downplay the fact that she sees Sally's use of a hammer as aberrant behavior. --Jos
I actually wondered about Betty's comment, was it anachronistic? I got the impression from previous seasons that homosexuality is perceived as a perversion, not really as lifestyle/sexuality. (Remember when the Russian guy at Sterling Cooper guy who comes out is called a pervert by folks around the office?) And therefore it would be weird for Betty to reference it so casually. But maybe I'm wrong. I need some schooling from a gay-rights historian! --Ann
I was sort of thrown off by Betty's joke as well. There was certainly an edge to it, but even the fact that she would joke about it made it seem less pathological than I had thought it might sit in her mind at this time, in this place. --Courtney
I totally felt like it seemed anachronistic too. But maybe, like Jos said, it's more of an indicator of what this season will be bringing to the table in addressing gender roles and homosexuality. Perhaps they're looking to show changes in attitudes and some progression as the show moves forward through time - between Betty's comment, Sal finally getting a little booty and Don not outing Sal. (Though not that much time has actually gone by in the show...) --Vanessa
Tentacle porn and "the man who imagined her ecstasy."
One of the first signals that sexuality will be more overt this season came when Bert Cooper's exoticizing fascination with all things Japanese took a pornographic turn. Of course the men of Sterling Cooper are still more fascinated by the male gaze than female pleasure. What interests Cooper is the mind of the man who would create such an image, re-inscribing the objectification of women represented in the painting. --Jos
That was a wild moment! So disconnected, so exoticized. It seems to underscore the ways in which female sexuality are pulsing underneath so much of Mad Men, but it is male sexuality that is always on the surface. --Courtney
Mr. Hooker the male secretary and gender roles. Joan says, "He's repellent. He reminds me of a doorman."
The gendering of roles in the business world is beginning to shift, making everyone uncomfortable. We've watched Peggy begin to take on roles considered male and now we are seeing Mr. Hooker in a traditionally female role. He is uncomfortable being there and Peggy and Joan are uncomfortable with his presence. Mr. Hooker challenges the gendered order of things, and even though Peggy has herself resisted these structures it still disgusts her to see a man in a place she thinks he does not belong. --Jos
I think they're setting up an interesting dynamic with Mr. Hooker -- he's basically a secretary, but thinks it's beneath him to be treated as such. I half expected Joan to dominate him the way she does all of the other new secretaries. But apparently gender trumps job title in this situation. --Ann
I saw Peggy's resistance to Mr. Hooker as more centered around her need to control everything after the totally out-of-control experience of having an "illegitimate baby." I feel like she's just holding her breath all day long, trying to make sure everything is done exactly perfectly, and his presence shakes up that sense of control. --Courtney
It could also potentially be the threat that Mr. Hooker may pose to Peggy's position; after all, she started as a secretary and had to struggle to get where she is at - as a male secretary, it would be much easier for him to enter more of a position of authority (with the possibility of replacing her, particularly considering Campbell and Cosgrove's recent promotion.) --Vanessa
Sexually suggestive ads.
Suddenly it's all double entendres to a degree we have not seen before. Sex in ads is much more overt. Still not stated outright, but it would be hard to miss the obvious phallic bottle and flasher's raincoat. --Jos
Yes -- up to this point, it was "happiness sells." This is the advent of "sex sells." --Ann
Finishing a bag of Fritos is "unladylike."
Mmmmmm. Fritos. --Ann
Instructions: take a snack bag of Fritos, open it, fill it with copious amounts of shredded cheese and steaming chili, and eat like the hungry lady you are. So delicious. --Courtney
Don: "I've been married a long time. You get plenty of chances."
As my colleague Dana Goldstein (the person who got me into Mad Men) pointed out, it's clear Don is recommitting to his relationship with Betty because, up until this point, he has chosen to have affairs that are about more than sex. He's been in relationships with smart women (especially Rachel and Bobbi) who look nothing like Betty. This episode, however, marks a departure: he is having a one-night stand with a woman who looks a lot like Betty. It's still cheating, of course. And Don is still a jerk. But in his own twisted way, it's progress toward being more committed to his family. --Ann
Super fascinating points Dana/Ann. I knew there was something different about this one, but I couldn't put my finger on it. It was almost like Don was admiring her as a young, frivilous fascimile of Betty. Gross, but true. --Courtney
Sal's sexual encounter and getting outed to Don.
This episode gave us a very different sort of moment of seduction in a hotel for Sal. In the past we have seen longing stares, hands brush. Here we have raw lust with hardly any of the careful posturing. The sexual liberation Don flirted with in the Village is slowly making its way into the mad men's world. The fear is starting to shift for Sal, from being found out to being crushed by the weight of living a lie. But with one line of copy, "Limit your exposure," Don shoves Sal back into the closet. --Jos
I was SO excited that Sal was finally gonna get it on. Damn that fire alarm! After the shock registered on Don's face, there was a debate among my viewing crew as to whether Don would let this pass or not. But if we've learned anything about him, it's that he's pretty damn good at keeping secrets. So I don't think Don will out Sal -- or even mention the incident. It's hard to imagine the scene on the plane ride home where Don asks Sal, "Hey man, so you're gay?" It would never happen. --Ann
Such a hot scene! Yes, definitely a forewarning that this season is dealing with sexual identity in a big way. I predict a big, show-stopping explosion of some kind...not Don outing Sal, but something more jaw-dropping and bold, maybe initiated by Sal himself. --Courtney
I almost felt like, Don was letting Sal know, I know what it is like to hide who you are, with his line about limiting exposure as well. --Samhita
The new assistant Mr. Hooker says, "This place is a gynocracy."
Best. Line. Ever. Hardly true, but it speaks to the intense discomfort Mr. Hooker feels with any degree of female power, especially since his "position" already makes him feel vulnerable as it lessens his perceived masculinity. Joan is in charge of decorum in the office, a role she handles brilliantly, and this bit of power in female hands is too much for Mr. Hooker. --Jos
Can this be the new Feministing tagline? --Ann
I second that! --Vanessa
I'm just waiting for Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh to hear about this phrase and start using it to describe our federal government. After all, there are more than like two women in powerful positions. --Courtney
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Mad Men Mondays? My world has been officially rocked. Huge ups to this idea.
Props to Jos for this amazing graphic!
Thanks to all. This is really great - kind of like 'television without pity' for those of us who want some feminist analysis with our snark.
I know people who love Mad Men but I've never seen it...but then again I never saw an episode of the L Word, the Sopranos, Entourage, and maybe saw 2 episodes of the Wire because I was visiting someone who was watching it at the time. Nothing against just never tuned in.
Did anyone else get the idea that Sal went back to, um, "close the deal" with the bellhop, and that's why he was late for his meeting the next morning? He sure seemed to have a spring in his step . . .
I didn't even consider this possibility. Great find. I almost never miss stuff like that.
It's very plausible, though Sal's fear that Draper's found out might mean it did not happen. Still, it's a solid theory.
I thought Sal Romano couldn't catch a break, but perhaps he did.
One thing that hasn't been discussed that I found really interesting was the opening scene with Joan and her fiancee in bed. Joan was trying to initiate sex and be on top, and he was having none of it. You really get the idea that he is completely uncomfortable with her sexuality, but even more so with his own. Plus in last season's rape scene it seemed to be his punishment for Joan's past sex life (specifically with Sterling) and for having more experience than him. and now he is shaming her for enjoying sex too. i thought it was all heartbreaking. but obviously really interesting as well. i really hope she doesn't marry him, but i'm pretty sure she will.
As for the comments about Betty's "lesbian" comment being anachronistic, I don't think so. No, she wouldn't have meant it the way we mean it now. It was a slur for women who were less feminine, gay, too masculine, weird in any way.
A long time ago I drew a picture of a women with short hair. My grandma (who also had short hair) said, "Oh, sissy, she looks like a lizzy." She went on to say it was "in the eyes." If my gramma was saying it, it was an old word and an old meaning.
And YAY for Feministing having Mad Men Monday!!
Betty's comment was far from anachronistic. People in the 60s were well aware of homosexuality, and how it was being quietly accepted in bohemian circles. A lot of literature---and remember, Betty's portrayed as a reader---from the time made specific references to Lesbians (always capitalized then). In fact, one of the most popular books at the time would have been Mary McCarthy's satire of the New England upper class that Betty comes straight out of, "The Group". One of the characters in that book moves to Europe and becomes a Lesbian, if I remember correctly. And the rest of them are titillated and scandalized by it. Pop psychological "explanations" for homosexuality were popular then, too, and most of them centered around the idea that women could easily be thwarted from their destiny of expressing a mature sexuality through childbirth.
Matthew Weiner has a degree in literature and a fascination with the literature of the era. I guarantee the lesbian reference comes straight from a very realistic understanding of what was considered common knowledge in the 60s.
Love this post.
Also, there were non-subtle references to lesbianism in movies, too. The Children's Hour comes to mind, and that has a lot of uncomfortable stereotyping and pathologizing of lesbianism, but also indicated that the audience wasn't ignorant of it. Remember, the Kinsey report had been out for a decade.
About finishing the bag of Fritos and being unladylike: I took it to mean she threw up in real life, but the storyteller didn't want to say as much (since even mentioning vomit at a dinner table would be unladylike). It seemed to me like one of those situations where a person is tipsy and starting to tell a story, and she catches herself in the middle and realizes she shouldn't be telling it.
Tara: They meant it then as what it means now. It's not like homosexuality was discovered in the 60s. People weren't stupid. They were just judgmental. There was also a lot of pop psychology about how many women, not just lesbians, rejected their femininity. Freud's theory of penis envy was still widely believed at the time. That's one reason the Feminine Mystique was such an earth-shattering book, because Friedan revolted against the idea that penis envy was the source of housewives' problems. But even Friedan was a hard sell on gay rights.
I know that homosexuality has been understood for a long time. I'm saying that when my grandmother used it (as I've discussed it with her since then) it didn't necessarily mean that she understood it the way you're referring to. As an Appalachian woman who never passed sixth grade, I highly doubt she was reading up Freud or Friedan. Nor was she a housewife.
I am, however, well read enough to have already understood the mid-century sexual politics and the role of various psychoanalysists in them.
My point was that the word has been tossed around in various forms for a long time, generally implying female deviancy or perversion in some sense. Others were asking if it was anachronistic; I said it wasn't.
That was the first (well technically second but I don't remember the other episode at all) Mad Men episode I ever watched and even though it's soooo dull I cannot tear my eyes away from it. I've started watching season 1 today. There's just something so thrilling about the show.
Also I love "This place is a gynocracy" and Mr. Hooker. And it was interesting for me to watch because I assumed that Sam WAS out and HAD had encounters before and I'm shocked that it's never happened before.
How do you know how your grandmother was using it? Occam's Razor says she was using it the way it was used. Did she indicate that she was unaware of female homosexuality?
I'm not trying to pick. I'm just curious how you concluded that her usage fell out of the 20th century norms.
"This place is a gynocracy" is now in my fb favorite quotes as well as my current fb status and twitter update. Love it!
Random thought: Before the 1920s, secretaries were usually male...
Sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but I have seen a few episodes of this show, including the third season's premiere, and I find it completely overrated. Every women's blog is talking about it, but I fail to see what all the fuss is about. IMHO, Don Draper is NOT television's most compelling male character...nor is he the sexiest or the most alpha male. Not by a country mile.