Imagine going in for your gynecologist appointment and being greeted by a bunch of U.S. Congressmen instead. It’s literally the stuff of nightmares.
Thank goodness that this isn’t a reality (for now) but only a sketch from the season premiere of Inside Amy Schumer, during which the comedian brilliantly tackles the topic of women’s healthcare. In the sketch, Amy goes in for her annual pap smear only to find that her doctor has been replaced by the (fictional) House Committee on Women’s Health, who claim that they know more about women’s healthcare than “science-y nerdles.”
They expertly refer to periods as “lady curses” and to tampons as “blood diapers.” It gets worse when they criticize Amy for being sexually active but not married, and insult her for not having any children at age 34. When it comes time for the actual vaginal examination, even more Congressmen appear, which causes Amy to angrily say, “I feel a lot more comfortable with a woman in here. Aren’t there any women on the Women’s Health Committee?” to which the Congressmen only respond with laughter.
Again, this is literally a nightmare situation.
While Amy Schumer manages to make this sketch super hilarious, it’s also a really important topic. It’s more a laugh-cry moment. The reality is that significant decisions regarding women’s healthcare are being made by a bunch of men, and that’s really scary, especially since we have a presidential candidate (ahem, Donald Trump) who is vowing to “punish” women that get abortions. There is underrepresentation of women in the government, and this needs to change—both for the sake of our country as a whole and our vaginas.