Exploring Betty Draper: revealing ongoing gender issues
Exploring Betty Draper: Revealing
Ongoing Gender Issues
In the late 50s and early 60s, the American
Housewife was a thing. I want to analyze the character of Betty Draper, to be
sure if things have completely stopped being this way for women today. Of
course, things have changed for the better, but some cruelties were imposed on
us during that time that still linger.
Betty, like most of the women at the time,
is trapped and oppressed. She is not an exception and will keep it that way. while
other characters' arcs expand and grow, she will change her husband for someone
better, but that’s about it. She is not a heroine who overcomes difficulties
but working hard or anything like that, she is exactly the product of her time.
Validation through the male gaze
Emmy-winning costume designer of Mad
Men, Janie Bryant says in an interview “It was all about the facade of
perfection. Betty worked so hard at it. She is the ultimate WASP. I just loved
how pretty Betty was. And she’s such an interesting character because the
outside is rooted in perfection and beauty, and the inside is crumbling,
because she’s paid so much attention to the exterior, and did not really have
that soul-searching moment. Everything was based on what she looked like, and
that can never be fulfilling.”[i]
As it was then, it is now, and many women
still rely on male validation. Not just psychologically, sometimes whether you
get a job or not depends on how you look. Female beauty continues to be a kind
of superpower. A privilege that gets you better jobs, better husbands, and
better treatment from people in general. If we
haven't had the genetic blessing of being born beautiful, we have to fake it.
Wearing high heels that destroy our feet and spine, applying a lot of makeup to
our faces, and spending fortunes on clothing. We spend money and time on that.
A lot of money and a lot of time.
In “The Art of Being a Well-Dressed
Wife”, originally published in 1959 and reissued in 2011, Saks Fifth Avenue
Designer lays out one guiding principle for women: "Remember it's your
husband for whom you're dressing."
The male gaze still dominates most of
advertising. Oh, advertising, precisely. If there's one thing that hasn't
changed much in 75 years, it's that women continue to be objects of decoration
to sell stuff.
The happiness drugs
She was unhappy to the point of becoming
physically ill and getting into a risky car ride with her hands numbed and the
kids in it. So, Betty is sent to the psychiatrist. He says about her TO HER
HUSBAND: "She seems consumed by petty jealousies and overwhelmed with
everyday activities; we're basically dealing with the emotions of a child
here." So, hysteria or just plain stupidity.
We know these terms now: depression,
anxiety disorders, mood disorders. In Betty´s time, it was just hysteria or
infantilization. And it was just for the ladies. Still is to this day. Clinical
depression is more common in women than in men. This gender disparity in
depression rates is a very well-documented phenomenon. Of course, depression
can affect individuals of any gender. However, women are diagnosed with
depression at approximately twice the rate of men. We are no longer stuck in a
kitchen, but that still happens. (Please go see a doctor if you are not feeling
fine).
In “The Feminine Mystique” Betty Friedan
wrote about 50s women: "Sometimes, a woman would say, ‘I feel empty
somehow . . . incomplete,’" or she would say, ‘I feel as if I don’t
exist.’ Sometimes she blotted out the feeling with a tranquilizer”.[ii]
The name of the tranquilizer was Miltown,
which has muscle-relaxing effects and acts as a sedative similar to
intermediate-acting barbiturates. This substance has a high addictive potential
and dangerous side effects. Now we use clonazepam, diazepam, lorazepam. I won´t
name more drugs, as they are legal, and you can still get them with a
prescription.
Back to Betty: The only time she seems to have
had enough is when she shoots at the pigeons that belong to their neighbor. He has threatened to harm Polly, the Draper family dog if Polly ventures into his
yard This threat leads to Sally having nightmares about Polly's safety, and
Betty being fed up.
But that's just about it, that´s all the
rebellion she can, in an otherwise flat character arch. That seems to me much closer
to the reality for the women then. And perhaps now. Not all of us are super
strong, capable of everything to change the world and ourselves.
She continues being insecure, depending on men
for almost everything from money to approval.
I am not saying that things have not changed
at all, but have we really come a long way? Are we nearly close to being equal
to men? I would love to hear some opinions on this matter.
Is so good!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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