A Preliminary Study of Sexist Language in Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men through the Female Characters of Betty Draper, Joan Holloway and Peggy Olson

Abstract

This paper examines instances of sexist language in relation to three female protagonists in Matthew Weiner’s television drama Mad Men: Betty Draper, Joan Holloway and Peggy Olson. It argues that the sexist practices depicted in this TV series, both domestically and at the advertising agency itself, have a strong effect on the configuration of the identity of these three female characters: ‘the Jackie’, ‘the Marilyn’ and ‘the Career Woman’. Since Mad Men is set in the 1960s, the paper also devotes some thought to how sexist titles of address, such as Mrs and Miss, have been affected by language reforms and consequent shifts in language use, and how the series is perceived in this respect by its contemporary audience.