proposal for paper

Today my friend came home from a weekend at Ohio State and told me about a new T.V. show she started watching with her friends there. She was so appalled by the sexism in the episode she watched that she wanted to have me watch it to see for myself. It is called “Mad Men” and is set in the 1960’s. Most of the scenes deal with sexism in the workforce: The women as the subdued and simple-minded secretary, and the male figure with all the power. This particular episode had a scene about a woman going to the gynecologist to ask for birth control and his reaction as a man of the 1960’s. He does not tiptoe around her feelings and almost makes her feel bad about being a non-married or single woman and using contraceptives. From his insensitive and powerful manner to her acts of insecurity and weakness in this scene, I decided this would be perfect for my paper. I am interested in this episode and show for many reasons. One is that although I can contrast today’s portrayal of woman to that of the 1960’s, I can also find many things that both time periods have in common when it comes to the media’s idea of gender and sexuality. Specifically in the workforce, woman are still trying to take their stand and find their place and this show really highlights how far they have come and how they used to be treated. The gynecologist scene is what really sold me. I for one would feel completely uncomfortable if my “lady doctor” treated me the way he did her in this scene and find it so funny the way he reacted to her use of contraceptives compared to how one would react to that today. Times have changed with sexuality and gender roles in so many ways but it also remains the same in many ways as well. It will be interesting to compare and contrast the two.