Leggy Blonde

I spent a significant amount of time doing three things this weekend: sitting in coffee shops, working, and watching Mad Men. As Cultural Studies majors I feel we are taught to find connectedness in everything, so it must follow that ideas began swirling and became obsessed with watching how people sat. Mad Men evoked an extreme interest in the robot that was the ideal 1950’s woman. Whether a wife or a secretary, she sat pin straight, legs tucked and ankles crossed and hands below the table or exposed with a dangling cigarette. I became entranced with the idea of this feminine pose and watched people, specifically women, from all economic backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, and circumstances enter and take their seats. Many who were reading would hunch slightly over their book, elbows on the table, but their feet would often be set together beneath the table or tucked under their chair. Some women would cross their legs, torsos straight or extended forward, leaning on their knees, always ankles daintily swinging on their crossed leg. Some would sit in the said Mad Men pose of perfect posture, ankles crossed and tucked to the side or directly beneath their seats. This body practice has a widely held, perhaps unconscious production of meaning to both females and males. In each episode of Mad Men the context of the poses and postures of the female characters are meant to be interpreted as stigma of the decade on acceptable female body practice and thus character, both being condensed and submissive. The codes and conventions we spoke of behind productions of meaning are evident in the body language of feet together, tucked away, mannequin posture, and a continued statement in the first two episodes of the show to “expose your strong points” (in reference to Peggy’s ankles) all imply or explicitly state correct behavior for females from a fellow females actions and advice in lieu of a males demand. My question is what do shows, media, and images such as Mad Men do to these codes? If we can recognize the intended message of female submissiveness and skewed ultra-femininity are we noting it as wrong, but simply a part of the diegesis of the show, or are we taking this on some level as a tradition still well and alive in our cultural codes of gender? I look beneath my seat to find my ankles crossed and tucked and have to ask myself when and where this came from…