Definitely shows are worth thinking about--I took a whole course on the evolution of the sit com and how it reflected/challenged the status quo. There is a reason why some shows take off and some don't. There IS a reason why people are obsessed with particular shows (and people, for that matter), and I think it is totally relevant. In fact, I don't think we talk ENOUGH about the ways that music and television influences us, and how we relate and interact with that which we digest.

I would ask, "Why do we find Mad Men sexy?"

One possibility is that we, Americans (even those among us who consider ourselves everyday people) secretly long for a time when society was supposed to make sense. Men and women wore their uniforms, businessmen and wives wore their uniforms. There were rules to break. Real life was on the line. The stakes were higher in important social ways. There was a concept of "public" life that cleared the way for a rich and sometimes naughty "private" life. When a generation lost innocence, there was actually something to lose. We were naive then. We are no longer so.

Another uncomfortable possibility is women viewers actually imagine themselves being objectified by Don Draper, by power and confidence, by a machoism that rarely exists anymore, and it actually sparks something within us. Has "liberation" actually made us less feminine in some basic way? We are biologically programmed to want dominant men, and let's face it, many people find it a turn on.

Can there be depth of experience if there are no rules to break?

You can't imagine how embarrassing it was to watch MSNBC with my mother-in-law last night and hear Rachel Maddow discussing "teabagging" and its sexual connotations. Each time I hear an anchor repeat this phrase with a little glimmer of self-satisfied "hipness," I become uncomfortable. In fact, it makes me sick. My mind can only wonder what it will be next. Must they pervert the meaning of everything? Can you imagine journalists of the 60s and 70s sayings such things during their newscasts?

My mother-in-law told me she doesn't want to know what it means (thank goodness, because I didn't want to explain it, either). But that's the difference between my generation and my parents' generation--I think sometimes my generation fails to see the beauty and necessity of omission.

Ursula,

So well said. I have been making this case for personal responsibility to my social circles for what seems like forever. The most "pro-woman" thing you can do is admit that women (except in cases of rape) have the most important CHOICE ever--whether or not to have unprotected sex with their partner. Holding a woman accountable for that choice is also quite pro-woman, and pro-equality.

This speaks to the welfare state, too. Sadly, in my business, I see the Federal Government paying more than $1500 a month in rent for people who have criminal histories, drug records, and multiple children to live rent-free in Section 8 housing. There is absolutely no incentive, no boundary, no parameter that prevents them from behaving badly--and certainly the most important one--personal responsibility--is left completely out of the conversation. Our society has decided they are victims, and in order for us to be "pro-them" we have to support their victimhood. How empowering is that?

Thanks for your post.