Mad Men Mondays: People know she’s just an angry woman with a big mouth

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.
Marketing Diet Cola to women.
I thought this was a great selection of a product for exploring what I think will be some of the major themes of season 3. Change was a big focus of the episode, which included foreshadowing of a major change in the U.S. occurring on the date of Roger’s daughter’s wedding, November 23, 1963. Patio (wow, what a terrible name) marks a major change in how soda will be marketed, but the men of Sterling Cooper are resistant to selling a product by appealing to anything but the male gaze even when the soda’s meant for women. Now diet products marketed at women are ubiquitous and in this episode we got to see some of the first moments of this shift in the marketing world. Most of Peggy’s coworkers think she gained and then lost a lot of weight in season 1 without knowing the true story. So as a character she is perfectly situated to express the need for a new approach to marketing Patio while also having a very complicated personal relationship to conversations about the product. - Jos

Different reactions to Ann-Margret in the opening of Bye Bye Birdie. Ken calls Peggy a “prude.”
Random fun fact: Both Vanessa and I were in a theater production of Bye Bye Birdie back in the day.  She was Ursula; I was Rosie.  Yes, we sang.  So I had no in-depth feminist thought surrounding this sequence besides me getting all excited and singing along. - Jessica
I couldn’t have been older than twelve the last time I saw Bye Bye Birdie. I remember finding it fabulous and oddly disturbing. I like to imagine I had a look on my face similar to Sal’s reaction to Ann-Margret. If the show makes it to 1969 and Stonewall can Sal please be a drag queen? - Jos

Don: She’s throwing herself at the camera. It’s pure, makes your heart hurt.
Peggy: No one seems to care that  it speaks to men, not the people that drink diet drinks.
Don: It’s not about making women feel fat. This is, “Look how happy i am that i drink Patio. I’m young and excited and desperate for a man.”
Peggy: I don’t mind fantasies but shouldn’t it be a female one?
Don: Peggy I know you understand how this works. Men want her. Women want to be her.
Peggy: if that’s true…
Don: It is. I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. …
Don: Leave some tools in your toolbox.
Don has expressed this sentiment before but I think Peggy is starting to make the point that female desire can go beyond wanting to conform to male desire. Don also responded with condescension when Peggy said “sex sells” last season but he seems to have come around to that one. This episode was about change, and Don has always been resistant to the new and strangely nostalgic given the fact he’s run away from his past. - Jos

Peggy performs Bye Bye Birdie in the mirror.
This season is moving so fast. In two episodes we’ve gone from “sex sells” to the impact this has on Peggy’s body image, self esteem, and performance of gender and sexuality. Also, Elisabeth Moss is amazing. - Jos
I get second hand embarrassment for TV characters all the time, and this was no exception.  But I loved the idea of Peggy as a young woman mimicking a young woman mimicking a girl.  (As in her description of Ann Margaret as a 25 year old who acts like a 14 year old.) - Jessica
This scene was as brilliant as it was disturbing. - Vanessa
Said of New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable: “People know she’s just an angry woman with a big mouth.”
Funny how things don’t change much… - Vanessa
Joan says of getting pregnant and having children: “Greg has made it perfectly clear that come July 1 and he’s Chief Resident I better watch out.”
I cringed when Joan said this; it reminded me of her then-fiance raping her on the office floor.  Ugh. - Jessica
I had the same reaction. Looks like Mad Men is engaging with the idea of trauma. - Jos
Yes, agreed. From looking at the previews for next week, it looks like this season is going to delve into their relationship a bit more too. - Vanessa
“And we’re near the UN so there’s plenty of Africans.”
Random factoid: Embeth Davidtz, the actor who delivered this racist snark, grew up in South Africa. - Jos
Betty drinking, smoking, and possibly having an eating disorder while pregnant.
I’m scared to look online and read reactions to Betty’s substance use and eating habits in this episode. I can’t help imagine she’s being vilified all over the place. I think a nuanced approach to Betty’s pregnancy is essential. I don’t want to ignore the importance of fetal health, but it’s also important to recognize the lack of knowledge about these issues at the time. I also think there’s still a discussion to be had about Betty’s depression surrounding the pregnancy and how much of a choice she had about what to do when she found out she was pregnant. - Jos
In my little notes I sent to myself while watching this episode, her smoking/drinking/not eating kept coming up again and again.  It makes me think about what the reaction would be today if someone like Betty was drinking or smoking while pregnant.  (The not eating I doubt would bring much scorn- she’d probably be lauded for “carrying well.”) - Jessica
Peggy’s hook up.
I’m not sure how I feel about the guy looking like a younger Pete Campbell. I was so into Peggy being over Pete after that brilliant scene the two shared in last season’s finale. Peggy seems to be aiming for an emotional detachment that mirror’s Don’s. I do like that she proved her own sexiness to herself without feeling a need or responsibility to become emotionally invested with the guy. But I couldn’t help question if Peggy feels she needs her sexuality validated through the approval of a man or if she was proving to herself she can get hers and it can be about what she wants, not just what men want. It was telling that she didn’t correct the assumption she was a secretary. I’m glad Peggy’s now insisting on condom use and that she knows there are ways to have fun without having penis in vagina intercourse. What a clear pre-AIDS moment that the absence of a condom means getting pregnant is the concern, with seemingly no focus on STIs. - Jos
Jos, I didn’t even think about how he looked like Pete – but you’re right!  I was pysched to see Peggy take control of her sexuality, not only by asking about contraception and doing “other stuff” besides intercourse – but also with what seemed like a deliberate decision to go out and find a guy to mess around with.  It feels like she’s testing out the waters of what her authentic sexuality would might look like.  And while I had the same thought about Peggy not correcting him when he said something about typing, I thought her “I work on Madison Avenue” line before she left him in the morning was a definite way for her to exert and display some power. - Jessica
The subway!
Did anyone else notice the subway being used a way to talk about class?  (Some random dudes telling Joan they don’t see girls “like her” on the subway; the various subway and train shots as related to Peggy)  My partner thought it was a little heavy-handed, but I liked it. - Jessica

At the Maypole dance Don watches the teacher, caresses the grass.
Moments like this remind me of just how incredibly creepy Don Draper can be. Simultaneously nostalgic for a nonexistent past and ogling the teacher while sitting next to his pregnant wife. - Jos