Amy Schumer, who started off as a stand up comedian in 2004, has quickly been regarded as one of the best female comics out there. I don’t really agree, but that’s just personal preference, I guess. But comedy has not been her only route of recognition. Recently, she’s been in the media for her apparent casting as a role playing “Barbie”. The nasty side of the internet, i.e. assholes, have come out and tweeted their distaste for “fat Barbie”. I’ve inserted some nasty tweets just so you can see the alive and well beast of misogyny today!
While most of those people are just being assholes for the sake of being assholes, the idea that Amy Schumer = fat Barbie is stupid because Amy Schumer is not fat (she’s what, a size 8? The average woman is a size 12?) and of course these comments are contributing to the continue shaming of women for their appearance. This isn’t the first time she’s been in the media, though. Even though Schumer is calling out (some) sexism and the blatant hypocrisy of the patriarchy, she is in no way my feminist icon. Schumer has been called out by many people, especially the beautiful community of intersectional feminists, for using jokes like “I used to date Hispanic guys, but now I prefer consensual” , making fun and stereotyping black women’s names, and joking that Gone Girl is how all Latina women “react to being cheated on” at the MTV Movie Awards (where Jennifer Lopez rightfully gives her the side eye). As pointed out in an article by Stacy Patton and David Leonard of the Washington post, these jokes are racist at a time where it’s completely inappropriate. Schumer defends herself by saying that these jokes are made as a “dumb white girl persona”, but the sarcasm isn’t clear enough for some people to understand. She’s “apologized” but much like Taylor Swift and Lena Dunham, her apology seems to paint herself as a victim of unnecessary scrutiny.
Why is it a recurring theme that white feminists, popularly portrayed as “the only feminists” by the mainstream media, have a talent for never taking responsibility? Amy Schumer, you’re cancelled.
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