Currently Reading

#WeAreTrayvonMartin

Sadly, the hoodie now occupies the same space racially that the mini-skirt occupies in gendered narratives that blame the victim of sexual violence. In a society that tells us that we deserve the violence because of our fashion choices, or that we need to stop “crying wolf” over racial injustice, or that we “complain” too much about racism, the tragic irony is that you ain’t even heard the half.

Perhaps this is why I never bought into the Mad Men hype.

Gloria Steinem calls it the Mad Men Effect: wherein a show is so steeped in nostalgia and impeccable set pieces that the sanctioned workplace and cultural misogyny becomes just another part of the artistic rendering of the era. Are we so bewitched by the clothing, flagrant indoor smoking and brown-boozed cocktails that we overlook politics and behavior that we would in no way tolerate in contemporary programming or—god forbid—our own homes and offices?