If you watch “Mad Men” then you know about Sheila, the cashier from New Jersey who was Pretentious Paul Kinsey’s girlfriend this season on Mad Men. Now that the season is over, I thought about their short-lived relationship. If you didn’t watch the show, then you may find all this boring, but bare with me.
The interesting thing about the relationship was not just that it was both an interracial and interclass relationship. Paul worked as a creative in advertising agency and Sheila probably made even less than whatever minimum wage was in 1962. They went to Mississippi together to participate in the Civil Rights Movement, but Sheila broke up him with not longer after. [Smart girl] Even though it is 2008, it is still rare that people date both outside of their race and social class. I have dated men who were both, and it can work as long don’t solely identify yourself by your race, ethnicity or how much money you make. I may be rambling on about a show that is fictionally set at a time before I was even born, but it just seems that things have not changed that much in 46 years. It is comforting and disturbing at the same time. Are we ready for change? I really hope so.