When Sofia Vergara stood on a pedestal at Monday night’s Emmys to spice up a boring speech by the chairman of the TV academy, social media indicated feminist knickers were twisting with every turn of the platform. Here’s a look at some of the finger-wagging-est, pearl-clutching-est, most hilariously gasket-blowing responses to Vergara’s playful comic bit.
Lily Karlin, Huffington Post:
The Emmys took a very troubling turn with a bit that presented Sofia Vergara’s body as evidence that TV throughout the years has known how to present viewers with ‘something compelling to look at.’… On a night in which women already make up only 26 percent of nominees, this kind of objectification did not sit so well with viewers watching around the country.
It’s four-time Emmy nominee Vergara’s fault that there aren’t more women nominees?
Kara Brown, Jezebel:
The sexist portion of the Emmys…scraping the bottom of the barrel…she was treated like a literal object.
No, she was mocking the idea of objectification — like Lena Dunham when she played topless ping-pong, only prettier.
Daniel D’Addario, Salon:
A bizarre, objectifying Emmy moment…The moment’s unsavoriness, presenting a successful actress as nothing more than a body to ogle, was compounded by its timing; accepting the award for best variety series moments earlier, Stephen Colbert thanked his ‘one woman’ writer….It’s so difficult to deduce the reasons why women might feel discouraged from putting themselves forward as talents in the television industry.
Yeah, like the actresses corkscrewing themselves on the red carpet to give photogs their face and butt at the same time hate being ogled.
Sarah Begley, Time:
Hypersexualized and objectified…blatantly sexist trope….it does a disservice to Vergara’s skills as a comedian.
Hypersexualized? Hey, Sofia was fully and elegantly dressed!
All of these feminists were offended on behalf of Vergara and upset that she was being exploited.
Vergara herself, on the other hand, wasn’t offended and thought the idea was funny. “It’s absolutely the opposite [of sexism],” she told Entertainment Weekly. “It means that somebody can be hot and also be funny and make fun of herself. I think it’s ridiculous that somebody started this — I know who she was — who has no sense of humor [and should] lighten up a little bit.”
Meanwhile, writer Amy Otto pointed out that Beyoncé was saluted as a gender-wars hero for shakin’ her thing at the VMAs amid a forest of anonymous, upside-down female legs and bottoms thrusting into the air.
Hypersexualized? Check. Objectified? Check. The main difference? Beyoncé, wearing roughly half as much clothing as Vergara, strutted around in front of a giant graphic reading, “FEMINIST.” Added Otto: