Mad Men vs. Blog Men

My wife and I are done with Galactica. Now it’s time for Mad Men. We’ve watched one episode and we like it already.

Why? One thing the show does is beat you over the head with the acceptability and pervasiveness sexism a half century ago. The world of Mad Men is a world where men are so firmly in charge that women instruct each other in the art of servility.

After the show, my wife said straight out that it’s a powerful reminder of what she never could’ve achieved if she were born fifty years earlier. And what I get out of it is to seem like a wonderful husband.

Coincidentally, I had dinner on the table for my wife when she came home from work this evening. (Yes, I cooked it. I didn’t order in. Admittedly, it was just hamburgers. But good ones.)

As it so happened, I was still wearing my apron when we sat down to watch the show. In the show, one character made a derisive reference to women wearing aprons. Unlikely as it sounds, I became an instant feminist icon, at least within the four walls of my own home.

Clearly, the show has an agenda. It is determined to remind us of the bad old days. But why? To settle old scores? Or is there something more interesting going on?

(Don’t tell me. I want to find out for myself.)