Amy Schumer Nails the Food Shaming Conversation

The show Inside Amy Schumer just returned for its second season and it’s already too good to be true. Need proof? Look no further than a hilarious sketch from the April 8 episode of the show, in which Schumer draws our attention to one of women’s dirtiest habits: food-shaming.

As can be seen in the clip, the scene starts out ordinarily enough, with four women enjoying some laughs over lunch. But pretty soon, the conversation takes a slightly darker turn, with each friend rattling off all of the horrible acts they’ve recently committed, as well as the amount of calorie-laden things they’ve recently ingested. Guess which of these sins sparks more interest?

"Yesterday while I knelt on my gerbil to see what sound it would make, I like wasn’t thinking. I ate a ball of mozzarella like it was a peach. I’m so bad," says Greta Lee, who some might recognize from Girls. Her friends rush to console her, with Schumer insisting, “You always look great” and another proclaiming, “That's like, negative calories." Meanwhile, viewers are left wondering, “Wait, what was that about the gerbil?”

The sketch continues with similar, increasingly morally bankrupt anecdotes from each woman, as they rush to comfort each other about the food they ate while pretty much ignoring the absolutely awful acts also mentioned. Obviously, Schumer’s skit is an exaggerated version of some of the conversations female friends have, but I’d still say it’s scarily on point. Calorie intake has become such a point of focus for many women, and overeating has become so demonized. Schumer is skewering the idea that this behavior is abhorrent by contrasting it with actually abhorrent behavior. We often publicly chastise ourselves for what we eat, with a self-deprecating “I’m so bad,” as the women in the clip say. But we aren't really bad at all.