Growing up, I watched a lot of Saturday Night Live. It was the days of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on Weekend Update and I was completely enthralled. These women were living the dream; they got to make people laugh for a living. They became my role models, but I wouldn't realize until years later just how much I looked up to female comics and why.
I am going to go out on a limb here (feel free to disagree) and say right now we are living in a day and age where comediennes are dominating the industry. Kristen Wiig, Chelsea Handler, Mindy Kahling, Lena Dunham and I could keep listing names are all examples of successful entertainers and writers. Most people will never really know how much they do but that's not necessarily what's important. What's important is just how much they do for our gender, as a whole.
Comedy has generally been a man's game in the past. Guys love to say, “girls aren't funny." Comedy can be crude and vulgar -- not a particularly “lady-like" profession, but the female mavericks of today are breaking barriers. By making fun of themselves, and a woman's every day occurrences, they are making steps and when people laugh at them they are becoming aware of just how ridiculous some of the stuff we put up with can be.
If you have internet access you've probably seen Amy Schumer's viral video Milk, Milk, Lemonade -- and if you haven't you need to watch it right now. The bit involves Amy and former porn star/ girlfriend of Kanye West, Amber Rose making fun of men's current obsession with butts. The video is basically a satirical reminder that regardless of how sexy you think butts are they are 100 percent still where poop comes from.
Stuff like this seems just like funny fodder, but there's more to it. Stuff like this pokes fun at how women are objectified and the more people see it the more people are aware of the current state of affairs. Female comedians are bringing feminism to the forefront of the American consciousness. How these points are being presented also doesn't feel condescending or political so people are accepting it more than they would with a march and megaphones.
Chelsea Handler's topless photos are another example. It's hilarious when she posts a half naked photo on Instagram and it gets deleted, but she's also drawing attention to double standards that exist in our society. These women are doing a lot for other women by being themselves and talking about things that matter to them. Female comedians have an agenda just like the rest of us -- they are just a lot smarter in how they present it.
