A New Era of Funny Girls and 3rd Wave Feminism

When people think of a feminist, they generally think of the bra-buring hippies, or they think of women with short hair who like wearing pants. Today's society is more advanced than this stereotypical view, and realizes that women can be equal to men in every way and still like make up and dresses. According to the article Why Women Aren't Funny, women are not biologically able to be funny. The lovely ladies of SNL, Chelsea Handler, and Zooey Deschanel are shattering this stereotype by being not only funny, but absolutely gorgeous. They are representing the modern ideal of a feminist by being pretty, funny, and powerful.

Although funny and pretty women are seen as being successful only because of their attractiveness to some, I feel that this new era of funny girls is a great illustration of the third wave of feminism. It is sometimes referred to as "girlie feminism" because it wants to prove that women can be equal to men without becoming manly. I find the fact that these women are beautiful AND funny to be empowering. Some of them chose to flaunt their attractiveness, but I do not see the harm in that because if you are a girly-girl, why hide it because of a classic stereotype? As Modern Family's Sophia Vergara demonstrated as host on SNL, you can be a sex icon AND be hilarious. She is not only attractive and funny, she often times makes fun of her own sex appeal as she did when she hosted SNL. Women like Sophia prove that the old stereotype of only masculine women being funny is history.

Some people choose to criticize these pretty comedians because they believe that they are conceding to gender stereotypes by monopolizing on their attractiveness and sexuality. Sexuality and girly-ness are often used as comparable, but I feel that this is inaccurate. Just because a comedian is attractive does mean she is a sex icon. Zooey Deschanel might be cute, but there are few people who would call this quirky child-like girl overly sexy. She is feminine without trying to sell her sexuality, but she is still one of the most popular funny women on television. Women with feminine charm everywhere are trying out their comedy chops, and they can do so thanks to the third wave feminism movement.