Honestly, Someone Just Tell Me if I Need Makeup

I am so exhausted from being told to look natural, but not wear my natural skin. I know plenty of women who feel the same way. We're caught in this conundrum of being told "makeup makes you look too fake," but being scorned when we show a zit on our cheek or *gasp* under eye circles. I'm pretty sure Amy Schumer feels the same way. Her satire song, "Girl, You Don't Need Makeup," premiered on her television show Inside Amy Schumer. It parodies a One Direction-esque song that feels all too familiar to most women.

The music video opens with Amy Schumer made up as she usually is, but she is interrupted by a barrage of barely pubescent boys (Zayn? Harry? Liam? Can't keep them all straight) who tell her "Girl! Take off that makeup! Screw society." So, being the feminist she is, Amy Schumer takes off her makeup, and to no surprise, the boys have a change of heart.

Ho-ho-hold up, girl

We spoke too soon

With this whole no makeup tune

We kinda changed our minds on the makeup thing

You'll be the hottest girl in the nation

With just a touch of foundation

Girl, I can't be seen with the ghost from The Ring

I didn't realize that your lashes were so stubby and pale

Just a little mascara and you'll look female

Please listen, girl, what we're trying to say

Just get up an hour earlier

And you can make yourself much girlier

Girlier, much girlier

What else is new? Not only does Amy Schumer parody the boy bands who so heroically claim that girls are beautiful just the way they are, but she employs situational irony as well. These boys clearly do not think she needs a mere "touch of foundation." The natural look for the average male seems to verge on Kylie Jenner-esque techniques. We females are juggling a wage gap, sexual harassment and the pressure to find a man, and you expect us to wake up an hour earlier just to look good while doing it? 

Amy Schumer raises a metaphorical middle finger to the media as a whole. She's not just making fun of these boy bands or their teenie-bopper music (although, I admit, I did fall for it, too). Schumer criticizes the entirety of the media. To the magazines who Photoshop their models. To the newscasters who can't get over Hillary Clinton's pantsuit. To the tabloids that parade horribly timed photos of beautiful celebrities just to sell. Amy Schumer recognizes that this is just one small part of an extremely large problem. But maybe we can all laugh in the process.