ItвЂ™s possible for a woman to clearly traffic in mainstream sexiness - the actressвЂ™ pose leaves no doubt about that, and her body is conventionally pretty rather than funny - while still having a sense of humor. Now, in GQ, Louis-Dreyfus is demonstrating that that distinction is false, as Dunham and the women of SNL have shown. ItвЂ™s actually a pretty good early example of mainstream female funny-naked (the episodeвЂ™s from 1997) but the characters on the show feel otherwise: Jerry is disturbed by the idea that Melissa, whom he likes to see naked only when sheвЂ™s doing sexy things, might do other things with her body Elaine discusses how the female body is вЂњa work of artвЂќ while the male body is lumpy.

Though the naked female body could be gross when it wasnвЂ™t desirable, that grossness was dirty and taboo, not funny Mizejewski gives the example of Sarah SilvermanвЂ™s recollection of what she was permitted to say on The Sarah Silverman Program: words for male genitalia were totally fine for jokes, while anatomical terms for womenвЂ™s bodies were flagged by censors. Funny women, meanwhile, kept their clothes on so nobody had to think about their bodies. Pretty women could be naked so that they could be looked upon. ThatвЂ™s a fair point overall - but, in this particular case, the very idea that a woman can use her body and her sexuality for humorous purposes and get away with it is something to highlight.ДЄs Linda Mizejewski points out in her new book Pretty/Funny: Women Comedians and Body Politics, which came out in March, women in mainstream comedy have long had to choose between being one or the other. The reaction to the Cosmo shoot wasnвЂ™t all positive to, for example, the photos seemed like a reminder that being funny isnвЂ™t enough, that a woman has to be sexy to be worth the mediaвЂ™s time. And speaking of SNL, the phenomenon was also on display in a nearly-nude photo spread for the May issue of Cosmopolitan, featuring the female cast-members making fun of the stereotypical вЂњsexy slumber partyвЂќ concept. Lena DunhamвЂ™s Girls nudity is the most obvious example of funny-naked as she told a journalist in January, itвЂ™s meant not to titillate but to mirror real life - and, as she showed during a Saturday Night Live appearance in March, she has a sense of humor about her own body. It was also a given that Segel would get to be the romantic lead of the movie, even though he invited audiences to laugh at his body earlier on.ДЇunny women have recently made inroads into joining Segel in being naked more - and, in doing so, lessening one particular type of inequality within comedy. Jason SegelвЂ™s revelation that a naked breakup scene would be hilarious - the idea that led to 2008вЂ™s Forgetting Sarah Marshall - is mostly worth noting for the fact that he got away with full-frontal male nudity, not for the fact that he thought being naked in the scene would be funny. Funny-naked dudes arenвЂ™t really that surprising.

Naked and funny sexy