Inside Amy Schumer Episode Review: Madonna/ Whore Asks Men To See Women As Sexual Equals
Inside Amy Schumer is an intelligent, important series because of its ability to belittle social stigmas through comedic absurdity. Sex is a common theme in Schumer’s comedy routines, but in her Madonna/Whore episode, airing tonight at 10, she strikes straight for the nuances of women and men’s discussions on sex Why is saying what and how you enjoy sex a confusing ordeal?
Madonna/Whore is an episode I would recommend for anyone wanting to catch the innuendos and maneuvers women and men use to “seemingly” validate their sexual worth. For the episode, Schumer recruits Amber Tamblyn, Julia Stiles, and Amber Rose for skit that will leave everyone talking. Their references to their bodies and sexual desires are hilarious and enlightening when related to socio-cultural context. Amber Rose is particularly funny in the sketch, and is one of the actresses that has been most shamed for her body and sexual past. Her comedic commentary feels both funny and poignant considering she has been bashed too many times for her love life.
My favorite sketch of the night is one that blatantly question the Madonna/Whore complex that men can plague women with, in terms, of their perspectives on women’s sexual image. Basically, it calls into question why men want women to both play innocent in terms of their sexual knowledge/ desires, but also act like they are promiscuously open 24/7. The contradiction is paradoxical as how can one be a Madonna and a whore? How can a woman not know anything about her body yet be willing to use it so loosely? Once again, Schumer reveals, through laugher, another layered difficulty of being a woman: sex.
It is painful to live in a world that so easily shames itself. Women and men are in this world and the bedroom together, but, as Schumer shows, there are far too many barriers that women must overcome to feel like an equal sexual partner. Women enjoy sex as much as men, but should not have to heighten or dumb down their desires. Madonna/Whore is just an analogy for the extreme sexual stereotypes that women are forced to chase but never truly meditate upon. Ladies are either placed in Heaven of Hell in terms of their person, which is why they are not treated equal. If your only two self-images are above or beneath the earth, than how do you learn to live/ experience life on it? Furthermore, are women really welcomed be human if they are always being compared to either divinity or dirt? Questions that must be asked, and, thankfully, Inside Amy Schumer makes you ask them.
