Is Amy Schumer Making a Difference in the Media?

Amy Schumer is what comedy (and society) needs right now. She is shockingly blunt and uses humor to bring light to key issues in today’s society, focusing heavily on women and unrealistic standards of beauty. In an interview with Ellen, Schumer said she did not live in Los Angeles because, in L.A, her “arms register as legs.”

Using comedy as her tool, Schumer embeds social issues in her work to spread awareness about feminism, the inequality between men and women, and the media’s portrayal of the skinny, ideal woman. Her show on campus during Northeastern’s homecoming week (November 3-8, 2015) was rife with themes about the media’s unattainable expectations of women, feminism, and her life in Hollywood. Regarding the Kardashian-obsession epidemic sweeping the nation, she shares a lack of respect for the Kardashians, noting how she doesn’t appreciate how they are women who take their natural faces as a “light suggestion.” Her message is evident in all of her work, from her television show and interviews to her natural nude picture taken by photographer, Annie Leibovitz. She’s fighting for the media to portray women realistically, for the media to not pick a single body type to display as beautiful and for women to be confident with their natural self.

But the question stands: are Amy Schumer’s efforts making a difference to combat the media?

Some of her opponents would argue that her efforts have gone to waste. Her influence is limited demographically; her audience is primarily women, as displayed in the Northeastern event’s audience. SELF, a famous women-targeted magazine, often features a slim celebrity on the cover accompanied with the diet tips and exercise regimes for women to maintain their slimness. Magazines like SELF still oversexualize women, recommend “helpful” tips regarding diets and exercise, and overall do not change their confusing premise. Often, in women-centric magazines one can find articles about “How to be Confident in Your Own Skin” and the following page about “How to Lose Weight to get Summer Ready”.

In her defense, it is nearly impossible to change the age-old media in a year. Her efforts have not gone unnoticed; she was named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people. And some magazines are listening; in one of her bits, Schumer bashed Women’s Health Magazine during her stand-up at Northeastern, nicknaming it “Women’s Eat Just Enough to Stay Alive, Maybe.” Recently, Women’s Health Magazine banned the words “bikini body” due to a reader poll that allowed readers to vote on words they disliked the most.

In a world of media pitting women against each other, of “not skinny enough and not enough”, a world where models in France need doctor’s notes to prove they are acceptably thin, she is a 21st-century bastion of hope for young women. Schumer represents young women and carries a critical message more celebrities should spread: the importance of personality, wit and the flawlessness of natural beauty. So, perhaps she has not changed the media completely, but she’s changing the mindset of the audience and of young women.