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Ahhh… the 1970’s. Creative women are being wasted and exploited at every turn. Meredith, Don Draper’s secretary, is intent on decorating his apartment with no pay – even though he offers to pay her cash. “Nonsense,” she says, “I love it.” Who says we can’t or shouldn’t be paid for doing what we love. God knows Don earns a handsome living for doing what he loves.
And poor Joan Harris doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Her only options are to be screwed and keep her job or be screwed and lose her job. She apparently wouldn’t have stood a chance in court. Sexual harassment wasn’t even a thing yet.
And then there’s Peggy Olsen, a Copy Supervisor who is given a desk in the typing pool, and sent flowers like all the “girls” coming over from SC&P. She spends days in a darkened empty office back at the old agency waiting for someone over at McCann Erickson to figure out who she is, and to get her an appropriate office. And even if they get it right physically, she doesn’t seem to stand a chance psychologically. “No one at McCann is going to work for a girl,” says the VP, Ferg, who is pressuring Joan to “show him a good time,” if she wants to keep her job.
It reminds me of my early days when I thought I would be an advertising copywriter. The year was 1981 – about 11 years after the end of the Mad Men series. I went to interview after interview and learned it was, if not impossible then highly improbable that I would get hired into a copy department. One guy I interviewed with had a blow up/blow job doll in the desk chair of his assistant. He pointed to her and said “that’s who you’ll be replacing.” He made sure I understood it was a joke, by winking and poking his tongue into his cheek rhythmically and moaning a little. We all laughed.
Another guy who interviewed me had a bar for a desk. He pointed out that it was highly practical because on Wednesdays and Fridays they had happy hours. To get good creative, he said, “things have to get sloppy, before they get tight.” On the word tight he shivered a little and pulled in his shoulders and then said, “mmmmm…” No sexual overtones intended.
Mind you I was an ordinary 22 year old girl in a cheap, new business suit, stockings and pumps, just trying to show my portfolio. And these were both married 40-something guys. They were the extremes. But, everyone, everywhere expected me to type. So I learned to type. But when I finally got a job – in a design firm as a receptionist – it was because I stopped trying to be what they were looking for. When the guy asked me: “Do you type?” I wearily answered, “yes, I fuck too. But neither for money.” He hired me.
Which brings me to the new Peggy. Everyone loves the new Peggy. By the time she got over to McCann-Erickson to claim her office, she entered triumphant – smoking, wearing sunglasses and carrying erotica under her arm. Where only a few hours earlier she was wringing her hands and making concessions, now she was TAKING UP SPACE. She had come upon the only possible way for her to be taken seriously at McCann. She went in like a creative. Breaking rules and expectations, seeing to her own needs. And how did she get there?
It started in the empty SC&P offices, where Peggy hung out with Roger Sterling, drinking. In a great scene, Roger is playing an organ and Peggy begins roller skating around the office. At one point, Roger offers her a valuable print of “an octopus pleasuring a lady.”
Peggy says, “I can’t hang that. You know I have to put men at ease.”
Roger’s response? “Who taught you that?”
Indeed. Where and when did that become the recommended modus operandi? Creative people need to stretch out – things do need to get sloppy before they get tight, whether or not there’s alcohol or sex involved. Don disappears when he needs to. And Peggy shows up. She appears.
We’ll see how it plays with her new employer in the series finale of Mad Men.
Creativity and gender are very important to me – because my research shows that men and women need different things to be creative.To read more about creative gender differences, get my recent ebook: Sex, Lies & Creativity.