Women have spent decades fighting for control over their bodies, only to have men with microphones remind them that those rights are apparently still up for debate. When Shane Gillis took the Saturday Night Live stage on Oct. 10, he used his monologue to declare that women “dress like whores” at the gym, amongst other offensive remarks. Apparently, shorts and a shirt are new grounds for public humiliation. In a society that focuses so heavily on women’s empowerment, why are we still letting jokes that reduce women to their bodies slide?
Gillis’ monologue was not just another offensive joke. It was years of misogyny being masked by comedy. When women are described in such degrading terms on live television, the implications can extend beyond the punchline. Humor can reinforce the stereotypes that generations of women have worked to dismantle. When people object, they’re often accused of being too sensitive or unable to take a joke, but nothing is funny when the joke is autonomy. At a time when women’s bodily rights are so heavily contested in politics, jokes like these go far beyond a laugh from an audience member. Seven years ago, Gillis was fired from “SNL” for making offensive and racist remarks, so why was he asked to return as a special guest, not once, but three times? He is the cycle that we are trying to break.
Gillis mocked women’s gym attire before suggesting they dress that way only to attract male attention. This implication is infuriatingly familiar. Women are being blamed for attracting unwanted attention but criticized when they set boundaries. As the New York Times reported, actor Dan Levy and many other TV personnel criticized Gillis’ performance. Levy’s response challenged the assumption that female attire is consent for degrading comments. Further, it supported the fact that in 2026, we cannot keep letting comments and actions like these go without accountability. This is not to say we should keep women off-limits in comedy, but there should be a clear difference between comedy that challenges power and comedy that simply reinforces longstanding prejudices.
Any good comedian would argue that comedy is all about pushing boundaries, but Gillis seemed more interested in making women’s boundaries the joke. Take fellow “SNL” cast member and comedian, Marcello Hernandez. In his Netflix special, “American Boy,” Hernandez poked fun at growing up surrounded by women and the different routines he and his female counterparts had. Rather than calling out women for the effort they choose to put in, he highlighted the humor in women putting in so much effort for men. He found humor in the differences and delivered it in a way that suggested men should appreciate what women go through rather than put them down for their choices.
Both comedians draw on gender stereotypes, but there is an evident difference between laughing at a shared experience and calling women a slur. A man can joke about women; it just comes down to how they choose to do so. Respect is not killing comedy; disrespectful jokes are.
While it may seem like a small issue, its political implications are hard to ignore. Debates around women’s reproductive rights, independence, and gender roles are so prevalent under our current administration, and the opportunity to make such a disgusting joke on such a large stage reflects the inherent sexism plaguing our country. Rights are being stripped away, and political progress cannot be measured when the language used to describe women continuously trends towards undermining their autonomy. When degrading language becomes so normalized that questioning it causes more of an uproar than the comment itself, we should be concerned.
The solution here is not to demand comedians become feminists or even ask them to take women out of the center of their jokes. It is to recognize that humor and accountability can exist in the same breath. Hernandez can joke about women without reducing their livelihood. SNL can embrace provocative comedians without pretending their words and actions exist outside a political context. The real problem here isn’t that people can’t take a joke. It’s that America is comfortable laughing at misogyny while being uncomfortable with calling it what it actually is.
The Zeitgeist aims to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board.
