3. "What do you do here besides walking around like you're trying to get raped?" - Joey
If I were rating these moments, as opposed to listing them chronologically, this moment would be number one. Episode 4x08 further explores the lack of respect women receive within the walls of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Joey, a freelance copy writer, and Stan hassle Joan about being the overbearing, uppity, mother-teacher, female authority figure on a power trip. When Joey refuses to listen to Joan, she pulls him into her office to do what she does so well - lay down the law in a mysteriously no-bullshit manner that renders most people silent. Unlike male characters of past seasons, Joey blows off her warning and then stoops to an extremely new low: Joan: "You're so arrogant." Joey: "Me? What do you do around here besides walking around like you're trying to get raped?" Joan: "Excuse me?" Joey: "I'm not some young girl off the bus. I don't need some madam from a Shanghai whorehouse to show me the ropes." Joey can't fathom the idea that he has to respect Joan, let alone listen to her. He degrades her in this dialogue exchange in the most offensive way, reducing her to a promiscuous woman whose job here is pointless - except for looking good in the office. What makes the moment even worse is Joan's personal sensitivity to his flip comment regarding rape. It's a strange inversion of control that comes across as deplorable.