"Mad Men" vs. Angry Women

When I began reading Friedan's "The Problem That Has No Name," I immediately thought of the TV show, Mad Men. The show depicts a suburban New York housewife who, throughout the episodes, begins to question her life, her happiness, as well as her relationship with her husband, Don Draper. "She was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question: 'Is this all?'" (Friedan 59). For Friedan, the everydayness of women's lives evidences an emptiness of value. In the show, every woman is literally trapped at her own house, cleaning, cooking, self-pampering, and more or less "taking care of" her children. However, even once among friends, the women would put on an act as if everything was fine, especially reiterating that her and her husband's relationship was perfectly alright. I wonder how many women felt a tremendous relief and self-understanding after reading Betty Friedan's book. That would have been pretty cool.

At first, Giard kind of bothered me for some reason because she was encouraging the stereotype that "kitchens were once again the centre of women's lives," as Betty Friedan would say (60). Consequently, she shattered the idea that women's work, even something considered as basic as cooking, was meaningless.

Giard's reading also highlights some relevant points from previous readings we have done, including the concept of an inescapable everyday dullness. "When the job one has or seeks in vain is often no longer what provides social identity, when for so many people nothing remains at the end of the day except for the bitter wear and tear of so many dull hours, the preparation of a meal furnishes that rare joy...of fashioning a fragment of reality" (Giard 323). Everyone has their vices...Making a soufflé is more productive than most.