Amy Schumer: 'Being a Woman Sucks'

Speaking on Monday’s episode of “Armchair Expert” hosted by actor Dax Shepherd, actress Amy Schumer said, “Being a woman sucks.” She elaborated by explaining that she feels bad for women who are “hot” and wouldn’t want to be an “ounce more attractive” than she already is. “Not an ounce.” According to Schumer, hot women are to be pitied because they “are sexualized, like, all the time – even when it seems crazy… guys can’t handle it. You can’t have a conversation. Everything’s gonna skew sexual and you’re gonna be treated differently.”

Schumer’s comments reveal a fundamental issue with her view of male-female relations. If men being attracted to women is a problem, then we’ve got bigger issues to deal with than whether or not Amy Schumer is “hot.” Certainly men ought not act inappropriately because of their sexual attraction to women, but the fact of their attraction is not a problem in and of itself. It only becomes a problem if we stipulate — as Schumer does — that all men are one hot girl away from becoming rapists.

“Women,” Schumer says, “we run home at night… we live in constant fear of violence.” That sounds terrifying. But I would argue that “women” as a demographic group do not do this. Sure, there are certain situations in which a woman finds her self in fear of a man — like walking down a dark alleyway at night — but all women fearing all men? No, I think not.

https://youtu.be/AR6R0Ol-VVc

But this is a basic tenet of the modern feminist movement — the idea that we must #BelieveAllWomen because #AllMen are potential rapists and therefore any story about a sexual assault must be true. But surely this is the kind of victimhood mentality that the ideology that gives us “badass” women would abhor? Are we meant to believe that women are so delicate and so incapable of making good choices that they must “live in constant fear” such that even their “hotness” becomes a potential oppressor?

Not all men are rapists just like not all women tell the truth about rape. Insisting that we must #BelieveAllWomen implies that women are so pure and so virtuous and so good that they are incapable of malice or deceit of any kind. Sounds a lot like the “angel in the house” of the “unenlightened” Victorian era that feminists are trying so hard to distance themselves from.

Schumer’s comment that hot women are so put upon because of the attention of men similarly implies that women are helpless victims in a male-dominated world. A world in which men are all evil rapists and women must hide behind their unattractiveness in order to survive. But there’s that victimhood mentality again. If the goal of modern feminism is to shine a light on the secret rapist tendencies of all men, why should women be afraid of their appearance and how it affects the opposite sex?

Schumer also explained to Dax Shepherd that some women “feel so unattractive that they’re just invisible” and that this “sucks” for them. These comments imply that, for Schumer, there is some magical hotness quotient — not too hot, not too ugly — that is the perfect scenario for women. Anything else, it seems, is either a recipe for certain rape or horrible depression. Thanks for that extra special glimpse into your mind, Amy Schumer.

Modern feminists want us to believe that women are defined by the whims of men. Believing this — and then stipulating that the whims of men are always evil — allows feminists to maintain their victimhood forever. But women, as a group, are not victims. And nobody — not even Amy Schumer, believe it or not — speaks for us. Each of us is a “free human being with an independent will” (Jane Eyre) and none of us needs to be “body shamed” by Amy Schumer for being too hot (or not hot enough). If Schumer is happy with her own level of hotness then good for her. If only she’d leave the rest of us alone.