Amy Schumer's Promiscuity Of Feminism In The Media

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Introduction
Women in comedy are judged much differently than their male counterparts. As Rosie White (2010) notes of stand-up routines, “The comedian is presumed to be a masculine figure, with certain forms of comedy such as stand-up predicated on an aggressive, confident style of delivery deemed unlikely to suit female performers, as if to be aggressive and confident is unfeminine” (p.355). Feminism is portrayed in a negative light in the media (Lind & Salo, 2002), but comedy allows for women to be activists for women’s rights and make their viewers laugh. Lind & Salo conducted a study involving references to feminism in the media, and their conclusion is that feminism is covered negatively in the media, “by failing to attend to feminists and feminism, the news and public affairs programs we have investigated are …show more content…

Most of her standup revolves around her promiscuity of sexual experiences with random men, and her Comedy Central television show Inside Amy Schumer involves Schumer interviewing strangers in the streets of New York about topics such as asking “how long is a reasonable amount to wait to put out” or “have you ever sent a picture of your penis to anyone else?” Schumer’s comedy begs the audience to objectify her, but her goal is to have audiences’ converse about the exploitation of women in comedy. Marx (2013) believes that Inside Amy Schumer openly toys with the gender politics of commercial media. The “Focus Group” sketch involves a group of men being asked questions about the show’s balance between her stand-up routines and sketches, but the conversation leads to her physical appearance, involving one participant saying he “would enjoy the routines more if she had a ten percent better dumper.” (p. 279). Schumer is demonstrating her ability to openly talk about sex, and knock down traditional gender roles of men talking about sex in comedy

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