TGS hates women background

Here is a little backstory to the situation that many have suggested 30 rock is spoofing in the episode we watched for this week. Over this summer, there was some controversy sparked when The Daily Show hired Olivia Munn on as their "Senior Asian Correspondent." The controversy centered on their choice to hire Munn, arguably known more for her body than her body of work, as their first new female corespondent in 7 years. Munn was previously the host of a show on G4. A quick youtube search of "Olivia Munn" yields clips from her show that include her eating a hot dog, jumping into a french maid pie (?) and riding a girating chair. Here is a clip that sums up her work pretty well:

The controversy came to a head when the popular women's blog Jezebel wrote about The Daily Show's Woman Problem. Many people came to the defense of the Daily Show, including several of its female writers. Then others spoke out in support of Jezebel. In general there was a lot of back and forth.

In addition to the Jezebel/Daily Show feud, I think that 30 rock is also spoofing the crop of comediennes who use a mix of girly talk, shock comedy and self/gender deprecation in their acts. The specific person who came to my mind immediately when I saw Abby was Sarah Silverman. She is the queen of the girly voice/shock humor schtick. Need proof? Here is a clip of her dressed almost like a baby doll talking about wanting to make sex with cheese (nsfw/vulgar language):

All of this brings up the question of female sexuality, and how it is used in humor and pop cultural in general. By overtly sexualizing herself, does Munn claim her sexuality as her own? Or is she playing into a framework that was not intended to benefit women? Personally, I'm not a fan of the Munn or Silvermann brand of humor. You might be interested to know, however, that Tina Fey is. Tina Fey has publicly endorsed Munn, and Munn has said that Fey recommended her for the position at the Daily Show. I have to believe that this is part of the reason that in the end of the episode, it was Liz Lemon's baggage and not Abby's behavior that is problematic.