Now, I don’t weigh in on any sort of polarizing topic as I have a thin skin and the anonymity of the internet allows for some pretty douchey things to be said.  So I avoid comments like the plague.  But I feel compelled to toss my own hat into the ring.  The topic of seemingly heated debate?  Olivia Munn.

Ms.  Munn rose to fame as a host of G4’s Attack of The Show and has recently joined The Daily Show.  I will be the first to admit I was skeptical when I first heard of Olivia Munn.  As a girl gamer I was initially like “pretty girl on a game channel, big friggin’ deal.”  With snap judgments I had reduced her in my perception as just eye candy for nerds and nothing beyond that than a poorly-timed sex joke.  I started to watch AOTS more often and actually paid attention beyond the casual glance.  I was sorely mistaken and had seen the light and my misconception was bitch slapped right the hell out.

I am thoroughly an Olivia Munn fan.  Her sense of humour appeals to me, as it reflects my own and that of my friends.  It’s more than just a bj joke thrown, she deserves more credit than that.  Beyond her comedy chops, which she clearly has, she brings a lot more to the table than people are willing to give her.

The most recent bash on Munn has come from ‘The Frisky’, a website I enjoy fairly often, though not always.  Jumping on the Munn hate-wagon was a contributor over Munn’s uneager-ness to latch onto the feminist label.  Let it be known that it was posted out in the comments section that the contributors’ post amounts to a “pot calling the kettle black” type thing.  It would appear ever since the announcement that Olivia Munn would be joining the cast of The Daily Show, blogs that couldn’t have cared less about her, can’t stop talking about her negatively.  Jezebel.com being cited the most as they have been critical of her in the most visual way, though their opinion seems to be pretty even keel with the others.  All I have to ask is why?

It all seems to be surrounding her theoretical feminism.  Let’s just get this out there, I don’t claim to be a feminist.  I ascribe to universal equality for everyone.  Women included so I guess that puts it in the feminist ball park, but I’m not an involved activist in anything feministic so I don’t claim it.  Personally, I feel throwing around the term feminism forces things through a narrow scope and creates an “us vs. them” dynamic that hardly accomplishes anything.    In my opinion feminism has hardly evolved with the girls today, girls in my age bracket, and still operates from the time of the women’s liberation movement.  Which isn’t surprising as those women are still the primary vanguard of “feminist” ideals and have trained their disciples in their rhetoric.  I have purchased Munn’s book aptly titled Suck it, Wonder Woman and having read it, this chick has had her balls busted a lot over nothing but that clique mentality that feels threatened when a pretty new girl shows up.

Now let us not forget that she got her start on G4, which is gaming industry focused, if there ever was a boys club, the gaming industry subscribes to it.  All the women on that show have earned their spots.  They’re funny and knowledgeable and they work their asses off.  Women in the entertainment industry need to be ballsy and they need to be 10 times better than their male counterparts and you use every available weapon in your arsenal.  I don’t care how good you are, if you looked like crap, got a little bit of lip ‘stache, uni-brow coming back in, your skin is like an oil slick, nobody is going to want to hire you, fact of life.  It’s a two way street, more like two separate lanes going in the same direction.  Kevin Pereira, for all his talent and know-how, he ain’t bad to look at, so he gets to be in front of the camera instead of behind it.  And while I’m here, why is no one busting morning news shows and other “news” shows such as Good morning America, the Today Show, and the Nancy Grace show, who’s just a blue eye shadow stroke away from pageant face.  Lord knows there’s enough make-up in news to sink a ship.  But nobody has brought up how shows are stacked with pretty journalists through all this.  Is it because they have journalistic integrity? Hardly.  It’s because people don’t want to start their day off with heaping cup of fug, don’t lie to yourself, it’s true.  If some fugly person is on tv or in a film, you think this has to be acting as there is no other appeal.  As my film teacher in college told me, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Was it during the 70’s when a woman became the devil when she actually cared about her appearance and wanted to be seen as a sexual entity in control?   Not sure.  Munn’s appearance in Playboy is mentioned but not elaborated on.  The continuation of that thought would be it was a non-nude photo shoot, which sort of deflates their train of thought.  It seems to be the “feminist” angle blogs that are focusing so much on her sexuality, and negatively so.  It would appear we are back to harping on women comfortable with their body and sexuality and giving them disapproving glares with childish snarky comments.  It’s slut-shaming all over again, and I thought women were trying to move away from that.  They are quick to call out movies and tv shows for slut-shaming characters but these blogs turn around and do the same thing.

Can we also point out Munn’s multi-ethnic background?  Asians, in this country especially, are underrepresented in the media.  And when they are, their “asian-ness” is always stressed.  So coming from a multi-ethnic background and being successful in movies and television (her show Perfect Couples was picked up by NBC) is awesome.  Being racially ambiguous surprisingly isn’t a selling point, unless you’re trying to sell me something, such as tampons.

From what I have been reading in the comments to these articles, there has been a surprising, or not very surprising, negative response.  People are decidedly pro-Olivia.  Even if they aren’t they are really not feeling the beat down these people have been dealing out. Constantly pointing out these jabs are rather juvenile and perpetuate that only the “right kind of woman” deserves to be successful without being slapped in the face.  Because you can’t hold the keys to the feminist kingdom and jump into a giant pie in a French maids outfit at the same time.  And let’s not forget that Kevin joined her in said pie with his own matching maids outfit.  With the snarky comments, one could discern that you are an enemy of women if you are pretty AND funny AND smart AND talented AND make jokes about bj’s.  Because, of course, if you’re pretty, you clearly are just that and nothing else.  So, Olivia Munn, keep being awesome.