I'm extremely surprised by the news that Eddie Brill is no longer booking for Letterman. I'm surprised because I've never seen such a direct consequence for making derisive comments about women in this business.

Eddie Brill deserves credit for booking alternative comics and people of color (well, men of color) over the past several years. By booking Hannibal Burress and Kumail Nanjiani and Joe Wong, Brill and the others at Letterman challenged the idea that the middle of the country can only relate to white dudes.

Still, I really believe that the problem here is/was that, while these men can bring themselves to relate to the experiences of black men or South Asian men or brilliant Chinese chemists turned brilliant American comedians, they really simply do not relate to women. That's when women become/remain objects, along with a very narrow set of assumptions about what we're really like and what we must therefore be faking.

And that brings me to the real moment of reckoning for our industry and our culture.

Journalists have been the driving force of the gender discussions in comedy over the past decade. Jason Zinoman, Irin Carmon at Jezebel (now Salon), and, yes, even Christopher Hitchens forced all of us to speak about this topic which has remained stunningly taboo within the comedy world. One of the first lessons I learned as a comic was "Don't talk about that stuff," meaning "the woman question." Considering what an uppity bitch I am, I bet everyone will be surprised to hear how much I tried never to talk about it. Of course, I often failed in my attempts to keep my mouth shut...

But the truth is that I've been afraid. I didn't always speak my piece about women in comedy and entertainment because I didn't want to be blacklisted.

If you're a man who doesn't enjoy or relate to female musicians, writers, filmmakers, comedians, or visual artists, there's something really fucked up about that. And if you're a female comic who doesn't like female comedians, or who doesn't want to go to comedy festivals run by women or perform on all-female showcases or generally be lumped in with, you know, women, then God help you.

Gender and sexuality in society are the primary subjects of my comedy. Just as Tori Amos is a female musician who makes music about female archetypes, I'm a stand-up comic who dissects the gender bullshit that pervades our society (insane wedding culture, gender stereotypes, women's magazines, etc.). So it's been hard for me to know how exactly to approach the "women in comedy" question in my comedic art. Authentic Female Comic is my first real attempt to tackle the specific nature of gender bullshit as it applies to the comedy world. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

In closing, I'm not psyched to see anybody get fired, and I think Eddie Brill is a politically progressive person who really does take a sincere interest in the work of comics of color and a lot of underrepresented voices. 

But if you just plain do not relate to or like female artists, then you shouldn’t be booking a show. Or curating a gallery. Or judging a poetry contest. Or programming a music festival. Or staffing a magazine. Or reviewing theater. Or ….