The Gendered Relationships of Mad Men

Mad Men, set in New York City in the 1960s, follows the professional and personal lives of the employees of Sterling Cooper, a small advertising firm on Madison Avenue. The main character, Donald Draper, is no stranger to womanizing, infidelity, and dishonesty. In the beginning of the series, Don is married to Betty, a stay-at-home housewife, who takes care of their two children.  In later seasons, Betty and Don get divorced due to Betty's boredom and unhappiness in their marriage, and Don's absence (emotionally and physically).  Don eventually remarries his secretary -- a much younger woman, Megan.  Throughout the series, Don is continuously unfaithful to his wives, almost always having another woman on the side.  Unlike the other men in the series, he doesn't engage in "one night stands" with multiple other women.  Instead, he maintains one woman for a long time and then moves on to another mistress.

The episode that I am examining here ("Man with a Plan") is from Season 6.  At this time, Don is married to Megan, but is sleeping with another woman, Sylvia.  Sylvia is also married and lives in the same apartment building as Don and Megan.  In fact, Megan and Don are good friends with Sylvia and her husband, making the situation even more difficult and calling for further "sneaking around."

The episode begins with Sylvia calling Don at work telling him to "Come over here now."  She also adds, "I need you. Nothing else will do." He says that he has work to do but finally tells her that he will meet her at a hotel at 12:30.

In the next scene we see her, Don knocks on the door to Sylvia's hotel room. Immediately when she opens the door he begins kissing her and lays her down on the bed.

The scene fades out, signaling that they are going to have sex.  This scene is a relatively normal one for Don and his mistresses, until Don tells Sylvia afterwards that he wants her to "Crawl on her hands and knees until she finds" his shoes. With a surprised expression, Sylvia does so.  He then says, "I want you to get undressed and get back into bed." Expecting that he will join her, she does so. He does not.  He leaves the room telling her not to move.

Throughout the day, Don calls her giving her instructions about how she "will wait there" for him, "not knowing when he is coming back," and is clearly told not to answer the phone again.  In the beginning, she seems to enjoy his dominance,  finding it to be a fun game.  He has a dress from Saks delivered to her.

When he finally returns, she asks "Where are we going?" To which he responds that they aren't going anywhere and "Why would you think you're going anywhere? You are for me. You exist in this room for my pleasure. Don't ask any more questions. Take off your dress." When he leaves again this time, Don takes her book with him so she doesn't have anything to do while he is gone other than think of him.

The final time that Don returns to the room, Sylvia is done with the game, telling him "I think it's time to go home." He tells her that "It's over when I say its over." What's interesting is that instead of becoming angry, Don pleads with her to stay. He becomes vulnerable, not wanting her to leave him.

There is obviously a lot going on in this episode. The big thing that I kept thinking about was the portrayal of traditional masculine/feminine gendered roles.  Specifically the notion of men as "dominant" characters and the woman as "submissive." This episode perfectly captures what Ivory talked about in her study, "Gendered Relationships on Television: Portrayals of Same-Sex and Heterosexual Couples."  In the article, she talks about how women are traditionally "seen as passive, nurturant, and dependent, and men are seen as aggressive, competitive, and independent" (Ivory, 2009).  She also discusses how "maleness" is all about "authority, status, competence, and influence, and femaleness signals lack of authority, low status, incompetence, and little power and influence" (Ivory, 2009).  This Mad Men episode obviously follows this idea and these stereotypes of men and women.  Don is portrayed as the one who has a life and is busy and is in a high position of power at work.  He is the one who is independent of Sylvia, who waits around for him all day in a hotel room.

Although, I find it interesting that at the end of the episode the role reverses.  Sylvia takes a stand against him and says that she is done with whatever game he is playing.  It turns the situation around in that he is begging for her to stay, showing just how "independent" he actually feels.  But this is just one scene out of a 47-minute episode.  This is consistent with findings in Ivory's study that male partners tend to exhibit a significantly higher level of dominant behaviors per scene than female characters do (Ivory, 2009).

I believe that overall, this episode of Mad Men reinforces the traditional stereotypes of women as a literal "side piece" to men in high positions of power, status, and influence.  As Don even says, Sylvia is there for his pleasure and enjoyment only.  She is dressed provocatively, is obviously (up until the end) unauthoritative, and when she does talk about something other than him, it is about her son and husband.  On the other hand, Don embodies characteristics of dominance, power, and (up until the end) independence.  

Citations:

1. Holz Ivory, A., Gibson, R., & Ivory, J. D. (2009). Gendered relationships on television: Portrayals of same-sex and heterosexual couples. Mass Communication & Society, 12(2), 170-192. doi: 10.1080/15205430802169607 

2. Man with a Plan [Television series episode]. (2013, May 12). In Mad Men. New York: AMC.