Joan Holloway Is My Hero

You need to watch Mad Men. First of all, you can play a game that is beyond enjoyable, which I like to call WWJHD (What Would Joan Holloway Do?). Who is Joan Holloway, you ask?

THIS is Joan.



Anyway, Joan is a ball-busting, take no prisoners beyotch, and she is as feisty as she is fabulously dressed.

Joan works as an office manager on Madison Avenue, home of the ad men who "created" advertising. The scene is the early 60s, thus the fabulous fashion.

The most shocking thing about this witty, beautiful show is seeing the stories your mother told you about come to life. From the stale, still life of the housewives, relegated to ironing and cooking and not much else out in the 'burbs, to the young working girls, stuck as ass-candy for the working men, this show is a glimpse into our past in a way I've never seen portrayed before. This isn't suffrage and petticoats: this is our mothers, on the job, not very many years ago.

When you watch the interactions on this show (sample: Male Boss to New Secretary: "You should show us you have a waist, honey, and a little leg wouldn't hurt." ), it seems shocking to think of how far we've come. We had a woman run for president this year, and 40 years ago, a woman couldn't be anything other than a secretary without a major fuss. A divorcee was completely ostrocized. A wife had dinner on the table every night and wouldn't ever ask where her husband had been for the last 3 nights. Doesn't it seem CRAZY that Hillary made a bid for P.O.T.U.S. not 45 years after this sort of behavior was par for the course? And isn't it fantastic that it can seem crazy to young woman today?

So, for historical perspective alone, this show is amazing. Plus it has great acting, sets, writing, directing, and compelling characters. Which brings me back to Joan. Joan is sex on a stick and she's a smart cookie. She knows how to work the system.

Tao of Joan

"Any one who you have to convince to be with you isn’t worth convincing."

"All ex-lovers deserve a second chance, with somebody else."

"If you want the girl next door, you should go next door."

"Unlike most girls I know, I succumb to male pressure only when I can get pleasure out of it. The boys around the office tend to feel a little threatened by that."

“I refuse to sit under these damn awful lights during my lunch break. That sandwich is making me sad. Let’s go.”

Brilliant, no?

I like to believe that, in this situation (the situation of being a secretary in a chauvinistic, ego-driven workplace in Manhattan), I'd be a Joan. I know my sassy mom was. She once told me that her boss told her, as a matter of business, that she'd need to give him a BJ. She did NOT oblige. So she had to quit. Another boss had her running errands with him, from meeting to meeting, and then asked her up to one "meeting," which was just a room with a mattress on the floor.

Eww.

Mad Men airs on AMC, Sundays at 10/9. You can get the first season on DVD. Click here for the official site. WATCH!