Were men really like this towards women back in the day?

I couldn't watch this show when it initially aired because the rampent sexism and misogynistic BS was so realistic. I am glad I was eventually able to set this aside and enjoy the show for the supurb acting and stunning depiction of the time -good, bad, and ugly!

The workplace was like this into the early 80s I think. Then HR departments came along and ruined all the fun :) Kidding. But yeah, from what I've read and asked people from that generation, this is accurate.

Just saw an interview with the woman who was assaulted by Trump on an airplane in 1978. It really struck home with me. Back then, you just didn't report such behavior. The chances of anything happening was nil. She emphasized how much this had affected her. You just extracated yourself and went on with your life, trying to make a living.

maggimae83

Yes.

I thought Mad Men was a bit more nuanced that this characterization. The wives get pissed, people divorce. A lot of the women didn't work, so they were supposed to fill a role. I just don't recall seeing very many extremely one-sided relationships on the show. Almost feels like it's implied that life was unequal back then, but MM isn't proof of it, imo.

When this show was on I worked for an all male owned and run advertising agency as their creative director, the only other females in the company were secretaries and assistants. The guys idolized the show and wanted to run their own company the same way. They were also all part of the Maharishi movement where men were spiritually superior to women. I got my position by making them money off of my good ideas but I never would have lasted if I didn’t behave submissively to them. Any sign of overconfidence or what could be perceived as dominance and there was an immediate reaction of ‘know your place’ and letting me know how lucky I was to have my position. It was very stressful. I constantly felt the pressure that I needed to work harder than everyone else just to be accepted in the boys club which is actually what they called themselves. I sat through countless meeting where telling crude jokes about women was the norm and I was expected to wear skirts and leave my hair down and long even though that made me a target for sexual harassment that I was meant to take as compliments, which, I did, because it was easier that way.

There were some benefits to that old school mentality, you become a commodity, women are valuable and very influential to men, especially one that is sweet and strokes their ego. If you play the game well, people love you and you become ‘invaluable’ to the business.

Just a perspective on what it’s like for one woman in big city America.

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Last night there was a PBS documentary on the Apollo space program, and one of the interviewees was a woman who'd been the first woman to work at Mission Control at NASA's Houston space center, which was a big deal at the time.

She talked a lot about the boy's club atmosphere and uncongenial work environment... and summed up her experience by saying "It was a lot like 'Mad Men', that show got it right".