While most recaps focus on the entire aspect of a show, this one’s going to be a little bit different. As this is a feminist blog deconstructing images and portrayals of women in pop culture, why spend an entire post rambling on about the men of Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Price. Instead, these recaps will focus on the women of Mad Men – the main ladies: Peggy, Joan, and Betty, and any new additions or guest stars – hence the title “Mad Women.”
Peggy (and Joyce) This was the second big episode for Peggy this season. After the departure of Kinsey, I was wondering if the progressive social side of the 60′s would just be tossed by the wayside, so I’m glad they brought that aspect back. I’m curious where her friendship with Joyce is headed; I feel like Joyce is interested in her. The “he doesn’t own your vagina” “No, but he’s renting it” exchange was great. She also confronted the ”real art” vs. mass media attitudes that started to show up during the time (and that still exist today.) I can’t decide if I like Joyce or not, but I think she’ll be a good friend for Peggy to have, if only because I think we’ll see Peggy explore the social progressive movements of the time in very direct ways. I like seeing Peggy waver back and forth between being progressive, and being conservative to meet the expectations of the time. I wonder if she’ll find feminism via Joyce? I think that would make for great storyline.
We saw Peggy playing with Dr. Miller’s engagement ring (further confirming her “I want to get married” statement from the last episode) and I loved her reaction when she saw Don looking at her. She had another another great exchange with Don’s secretary, and while her “You should get over it” line seemed pretty harsh at the time, I later realized she likely felt frustrated that while she spent time as Don’s secretary, and moved up, this young woman ended up sleeping with her boss, and being mad that he didn’t care.
Peggy’s awkwardness at finding out about Trudy’s pregnancy is exactly what I would’ve expected from her. She showed herself to be incredibly gracious and mature, in congratulating Pete. (Despite the fact that Pete is a little weasel, I feel like they should totally be together.) I found the final shot when she’s leaving the office, and they look over at each other to be really sad – I feel like Pete really likes her (loves her maybe?) but that’s something I don’t ever see happening on the show. I felt like it was a great contrast as well – Peggy walking out of the office for lunch with all the young, hip, casual people, while Pete stood in a suit, talking to a bunch of old white men in suits.
Oh, and her peeking over the window into Don’s office was one of the funniest moments I’ve ever seen on the series.
Skinny jeans are just the latest item in a larger cumulative force that is turning babies, toddlers and children into miniature adults, in large part through overt sexualization.
Last year a training video from Gamestop was leaked online. It treated female customers as a rare “species” and taught new employees how to handle these bizarro customers in the form of a safari-like-adventure training video, on how to handle these “creatures.” Of course what’s hilarious is that as the first type of female customer is explained, we’re told they don’t like to be “condescended to or ignored.” Personally, I find it a little condescending that a.) this video was made in the first place, and b.) GameStop trains their employees by referring to female customers as “creatures” and “species.” I suppose no one at the top thought to take into account the fact that *gasp* women might actually work there? Apply for jobs there? Might know to speak to a female customer the same way they would speak to a male?
Obviously not – training tip number one? How to handle a woman who enters the store and looks like “a deer in headlights.” An employee approached her, and she hears his introduction as the noise of adults on old Charlie Brown cartoons. She doesn’t understand his gamer “lingo” and of course she does the logical thing and turns and runs. Because that makes total sense. I don’t know shit about make-up, but if I stroll into a Sephora and an employee introduces the store, and herself, I don’t fly into a panic and start moving for the door. Apparently he flew into some gamer-jargon tirade, which we’ll never know the content of, obviously it was too complex for her to just ask “I’m sorry, I’m just looking for this game.” Luckily, they replay the scenario where the give the “subject the comfort to admit her lack of knowledge.” They turn a “hunter” (someone who wants to buy only one thing) into a “gatherer” by offering her a subscription to Cosmo – because WHAT LADY CAN TURN THAT DOWN AMIRITE?
When women are surrounded by attitudes in gaming that they’re stupid and completely out of place, it makes it little wonder that they’re not really interested in joining the community. And it’s especially unsurprising that once we do, we’re continually annoyed by the messages we’re surrounded by.
Today, when we go to the market or Target or even the convenience store we are asked 9 times out of 10 if we would like to add a donation to our purchase to save the whales or feed the children or save little Timmy’s music education program. That’s pretty new. (There have been donation boxes for as long as I can remember, but this is still pretty new). It is an easy, near effortless way to make a contribution to an organization that is working to make someone, somewhere’s life a little better while buying our (toxic) laundry detergent or tonight’s (genetically modified) dinner. NGOs have learned how to make it easy on us. Add on a dollar, send a text, etc.
This simple action makes us feel good. But, I’m really not concerned about whether or not you feel good about yourself when you’re buying your (paraben infused) shampoo; I’m concerned about what’s in our shopping carts at the time of said purchases…..
American women hold 60% of the personal wealth in the United States, influence 85% of the purchasing decisions, and are the number 3 market in the world! Bigger than Japan! And even in 2010, American women do more than 90% of the shopping for our families. There are countless studies and market research companies that are trying to understand how to get and keep the “voting” dollars of American women. We all know that fashion magazines are mostly advertisements….you have to flip through 30 ads in a Vogue before you get to the table of contents!
That being said, with the simplest of our daily purchases we are casting a ballot. We are by default acknowledging and approving of the business strategies and practices of the companies that we are buying from. Wal-Mart? Archer Daniels Midland? Monsanto? McDonald’s? Chevron? Or, god-forbid, BP?!
It may not seem very “feminist” to tell women that they have the collective buying power of an entire nation. Is that really a way that we want to have “power?” But, really that is a huge, huge power to wield! We have the power to make or break entire product lines and corporations by utilizing a collective sense of ethical consumerism! I know, I know – it sounds like a lot of work & responsibility. But, to help you out on your own research journey – here are a few websites: Ethical Consumer (U.K. based, but as so many corporations are now global they have some really great information), Treehugger, Knowmore.org, and BrandKarma (a new site with great potential).
I hope that the next time you go shopping you will consider the global impact that your seemingly tiny, insignificant decisions are making on other people, in other places, that are probably far less fortunate that we are.
According to Fridkis, the word “feminist” conjures up a lot of negative images. That I don’t disagree with. (A good way to test this theory is by telling your male boss that you’re a feminist). What I do disagree with is just about everything Ms. Fridkis asserts thereafter. I am a feminist who is offended by a lot of bad behavior – none of them include the shaving or not shaving of armpits, the wearing or not wearing of high heels, or calling god a “he” (as I believe that what we call “god” is both masculine and feminine and both aspects should be appreciated and honored). And, the founder of this here feminist site is an adherent to the regular mani/pedi.
But, the way that Ms. Fridkis dismisses feminism’s validity in this post-modern, “post-feminist” society is offensive. Yes, feminism has some baggage, and yes, it is a fractured movement. It has history. And, the requirement of the movement and the activists in it are always changing. To use feminism to gain a personal sense of freedom, then throw it out and attempt to negate its power and efficacy as a movement and in the lives of others is offensive. To truly be feminist, Ms. Fridkis should have continued the struggle and fought to change the negative connotations that she freely admits are associated with the word.
For most feminists being a feminist is not “an act of defiance” as it was for Kate; it is a self-identification that defines the ways in which they live their lives and informs the way that they struggle for equality along-side activists from every social justice movement be it gay rights or racial equality. It becomes a part of you that could no more easily be extracted than a healthy part of your body.
Feminism’s work is not done. 21.6 Million American Women have an eating disorder; 1.5 Million American Women will be the victim of domestic violence this year; 0.03% of the CEO’s of Fortune 500 company’s are women (that’s 15 of 500); Female members of the United States Military stop drinking water at 7 p.m. to reduce their chances of being raped. And, those are simply a few of the obvious problems HERE. Globally, the work that is to be done to improve the lives of women is limitless. The very least of their concerns is body hair or what to call god.
So, Ms. Fridkis, I don’t really mind if you don’t want to be a feminist, but please don’t continue to disseminate the fallacious message that feminism is dead and expendable. It invalidates the life-altering experiences of your sisters and the work that remains to be done here at home and globally.
After being repeatedly bullied by boys at her school, Cleo’s mother went to LAUSD‘s Gender Equity Commission for help. The GEC’s director, a tiny woman “who took no shit,” stepped in. She was the type of woman who didn’t ask, she told people how it was going to go and became Cleo’s first feminist mentor. She gave Cleo her first public speaking gig at a panel for what she later learned was a published study on girls, what we know as How Schools Short Change Girls.
While that was her last formal brush with feminism, this impressive early introduction is rare and, without a doubt, played a pivotal role in Cleo’s development as a girl and her later identification as a feminist. Early introductions to feminism, not just diluted versions such as donning t-shirts emblazoned with the marketing slogan “Girls Rock,” are not usual among young people. That’s why self-identified feminist Ruby, the 7 year-old featured on Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party, and Cleo are such extraordinary stories. In my line of work as a Women’s Studies professor at a community college, I find that most young women and men come to feminism after there is much to repair.
Cleo answers the question, “what if young girls were given women’s history and a feminist sensibility early in life?”
“Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem featuring Rihanna is certainly not the first song to discuss domestic violence and intimate partner abuse. From the first recording of “Banks of the Ohio” – a 19th century “murder ballad” in which a man drowns his girlfriend after she refuses to marry him – in 1927 by Red Patterson’s Piedmont Log Rollers to Lesley Gore’s outright “You Don’t Own Me” released in 1964, the “Golden Oldies” are rife with lyrics discussing sexism, abuse (Both physical and emotional), and domestic violence. More recently, I recall from my own adolescence the music videos of Paula Cole’s “Where Have All the Cowboy’s Gone?,” Jewel’s “Foolish Games,” and – what might be seen as a precursor to “Love the Way You Lie” – Shawn Colvin’s “Sunny Came Home.” Released in the later 90s, these songs and their accompanying videos may be seen as the mainstream’s cooptation of the Riot Grrrls’ brand of music and feminism.
While most recaps focus on the entire aspect of a show, this one’s going to be a little bit different. As this is a feminist blog deconstructing images and portrayals of women in pop culture, why spend an entire post rambling on about the men of Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Price. Instead, these recaps will focus on the women of Mad Men – the main ladies: Peggy, Joan, and Betty, and any new additions or guest stars – hence the title “Mad Women.”
Joan As I stated last week, Mad Men has been dealing with some progressions of the 60s, in indirect ways. And while no one uttered the word “abortion” in the opening scene, the show tackled one of the biggest, and most important issues of the time. I got the feeling from her conversation with her doctor, Joan isn’t really interested in starting a family with Mr. Asshole – and the writers confirmed to the audience that he has indeed, joined the army. My opinion on where Ms. Holloway is coming from is that if or once she has children with him, there’s no going back, there’s no getting out, she will have to leave Sterling Cooper Draper Price behind, and be stuck with him forever.
