Gender, splitting and non-recognition in Mad Men

The world of Mad Men is one in which life lived on the surface and repression dominates the scene. A superficial reading seems to suggest that the classically gendered subject-object split characterizes Mad Men: women in the series appear devoid of desire, while men possess power, sexuality and agency. But despite its blatant sexism, Mad Men's rendering has turned traditional 1960s American culture on its head. There is no subject-object split in Mad Men because men do not have access to the subject position; they, as much as women, remain objects to themselves and their partners. In the absence of mutual recognition, serotics ultimately fails. © 2011 Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.