There is one thing I truly believe all women can agree on: shopping for clothes is the worst. Even if you love fashion, the actual act of entering a store to purchase said clothes is a nightmare on par with being chased naked through the streets by a horde of zombies, especially if you're over a size 0. Thankfully, Amy Schumer and Lena Dunham's new Inside Amy Schumer sketch gets your pain and calls out the horror of shopping (and the body shaming that often comes with it), all while making you laugh. These women truly are geniuses.
If you have ever entered a boutique only to find baby doll tops and withering stares from the clerks, this sketch is going to hit you where you live and make you love Schumer and Dunham even more than you already do. The sketch doesn't shine a light on the body shaming thin women face, too (because let's be real, it doesn't matter if you are a size 2 or a size 22, body shaming is something every woman faces) but women of all sizes should still be able to relate. From the clerk's incredulous look when Schumer asks for a size 12 to Dunham being on a first name basis with a cow who was just shopping for her daughter's bat mitzvah, everything about the sketch is way too real for women who just want to buy t-shirts without a side of condescension.
Schumer nails the experience of feeling out of place in a store when the clerk breaks out the classic, "Can I help you find something else, maybe a piece of jewelry?" line. The not-so-coded way of being informed that as far as the store clerks are concerned, absolutely nothing in the store will fit your body, is way too familiar. Things only get more surreal from there, as Schumer is shushed for asking if they carry a shirt in a larger size because she is "scaring the thinner customers."
By the time Schumer is led to the special area far, far away from the "normal" customers and talked into buying a tarp to cover her "problem areas," I was ready to declare this my favorite Schumer sketch of all time. Then Dunham comes along and cinches it. All the Girls creator wants is a turtleneck and she ends up spending months in the section for people in her situation. Just to be clear, that section is in a field devoid of all other human life. If that is not the most apt metaphor for the plus size section in most stores — which is basically a rack buried in the back of the store far away from the other clothes — I don't know what is.
Poor Dunham is left to rock her clear poncho and her cool bird accessory when Schumer returns to the store to purchase her tarp. It is back at the store that the sketch goes even bolder having the clerk include a mall pretzel in Schumer's bag. Schumer is outraged at first, but she also wants the pretzel. And the dipping sauce. Honestly, the only thing that could possibly make a trip to a clothing store even slightly better would be receiving a delicious pretzel at the end of your trip.
In fact, keep your fingers crossed that instead of body shaming, the next time you head out into the world looking for a pair of jeans you get kindness, a pair of jeans that fit like magical traveling ones, and a pretzel. I believe Schumer can change the world — or at least help everyone laugh at its ridiculousness with her amazing sketches like this one.
Images: Comedy Central (2)
