Mad (Wo)Men

Mad Men show description:

Set in 1960s New York, the sexy, stylized and provocative AMC drama Mad Men follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell.

I work in advertising. It is an incredibly thrilling, corrupt, perverse, twistedly beautiful industry to work in. At times I love it, other times - not so much. I have a very "old school" boss. Actually "old school" does not accurately describe him, but if I have learned anything from Dooce, it's to keep your blogging description to a minimum when it comes to bosses and companies. So for the purpose of this post he is "old school".

Anyway, my "old school" boss has been encouraging all of us to watch the AMC series Mad Men. I have been meaning to get around to it for over 6 months and then I found out that Comcast was making it entirely too easy and offering it "On Demand". So sense I was still recovering from my birthday celebrations I decided to have a quite stay home weekend with my TV.

I watched the first episode and at the end of it I was in a foul mood. The way the men treated the women! The way the women allowed themselves to be treated! The arrogance! The Good Old Boys clubs! The cheating bastards! Calm yourself, I thought. You can't judge the show off of just one episode. So I continued to watch. I watched 12 episodes this weekend. I had made myself a "to do" list for the weekend, luckily Watch Mad Men was on it, otherwise I wouldn't have accomplished a thing! I think it was after about the 3rd episode I decided that I was officially hooked. I stopped being mad at the show and instead reflective and greatful. I started thinking about my Grandma ("Hi Grandma") and what it must have been like to be a young woman in the late 50's early 60's. I guess if it is all you have known, you wouldn't really know to be offended. Now days womens rights are pretty much established. Sure there are still some "old school" people out there who haven't fully embraced them, but for the most part we are treated as equals and better yet, we are finally aware of our own worth! We know that anything a man can do, we can do, and a lot of the times we do it (gasp!) better. I wonder if I would have survived back then. I am such a stubborn independent free thinking woman now...would I have been capable of being a passive-aggressive "whatever you think is best dear" type of woman? The thought sends chills down my spine and makes me so greatful to the women who fought the system and helped form the world into the place it is today! Thank you strong independent women! Thank you Grandma! Thank you Mom! My hat is off to you indeed!