Question regarding the lifestyle depicted in Mad Men (spoilers possible)

Cafe Society
1

I’m sure there have been threads about the series Mad Men on AMC, but Mad, Men, and AMC all have three letters so I don’t know how to search for them. I’ve been watching the series on DVD so I’m a little behind the times.

My question is about the lifestyles depicted in the series, was the office environment as horrible for women as depicted? I know there was endemic sexism but I think the only man on the show who doesn’t keep multiple misstresses is the closeted homosexual and sometimes the behavior transends mere boorishness to sexual assault. Are there dopers here who remember working in offices during the period of the show and if so how do their experiences compare to the show? I realize of course that this show is essentially a soap opera, but how far off the mark do people think it is?

I was born in 1966 and pretty much entered professional life in the 90s. By that time, things had pretty much settled into where they are now. I remember my oldest sister (12 years older) talking about men having Playboy magazines in their offices when she first started working and it’s like she’s talking about another planet. “They had what in the office?” I do remember my mom being able to smoke everywhere when I was little and there are photos of her pregnant with a smoke and a highball from back in the day.

How about the rest of it, how far off is the depiction of 1960 office life in America?

2

Well, I’m not quite in that era, being born in 1953, but I can attest to sexism in the office when I went to work in 1971. There was a lot of it. As a young girl I was ogled quite regularly, and it got a whole lot worse in '78 when I went into the very male-dominated field of marine design. Men conspired with the supervisor to get me seated near them, and there were centerfolds and hootchie-mama calenders on all the walls. Drugs and alcohol were normal lunch fare, and the language was very rough. It took a thick skin to work in that environment, and today’s pampered employees crack me up!

3

Here’s a thread I started on it - there are some good comments that address your question here.

4

Thanks all. The show lurches from cracking me up, to depressing me. One of the most depressing things that I suspect the show got right, is how invisible black people are to the white people.