“Well, everyone knew [Joan's husband] had to go at some point, right? I mean, you can’t rape your wife in the office and not expect to go away. … It was the first time it was mentioned and I think it was a long time coming, for the audience in particular. I think everyone kept thinking he was going to go off to war and die at war. But I think Matt [Weiner] probably had a very good time keeping him around while people were going, ‘What’s going on with this guy?’ [Laughs] And he just kept being there and he just kept coming home! And I would have been disappointed if there wasn’t a moment that the rape, and that instant, wasn’t mentioned. So I found it very satisfying that she finally got to say, ‘You’re not a good man. And you know exactly what I’m talking about.’ And every viewer knows exactly what you’re talking about too, so it’s just this very satisfying moment.”
– Christina Hendricks talks to GQ about Joan Holloway Harris’s soon-to-be-ex douchebag doctor husband, who raped her in season two. There have been more than a few rapes and sexual assaults on “Mad Men,” but Joan’s was probably the most shocking. Not every person saw it as rape because they were engaged, seemingly a happy couple together, and she’s such a sexual woman. Yet Joan clearly didn’t want to have sex inside Don Draper’s office and her then-fiancé forced himself on her anyway, so viewers not only had to confront the fact that Joan’s “perfect man” was not as perfect as we thought, but also that date rape is a thing that happens, including by people you love. [GQ] (Image via AMCtv.com)
