Entertainment

Amy Poehler Perfectly Womansplains This Issue

by Alanna Bennett

There's a reason that Amy Poehler is well on her way to becoming an icon — and a reason she's already a noted favorite to much of America. It could be her devilishly benevolent cackle, or her ability to harness the full power of sunshine to play Leslie Knope, or that she takes every opportunity to steal Beyoncé's identity or make out with George Clooney. It could also be that Amy Poehler is a smart woman advocating for her fellow women — something that's showcased beautifully in this clip from Sundance's The Approval Matrix .

The Approval Matrix is the recent television adaptation of New York Magazine's noted back-page feature. In the most recent episode, in which Poehler appears, host Neal Brennan broaches the topic of the changing ideals women look for in women. "Being cool [for men] is now like passe, and now you have to be awkward and adorkable." Poehler continues to prove herself as a person I trust to be my ambassador in these matters, because her face as he's asking this is the exact face I imagine myself having when confronted with this befuddled man. Her response, predictably, is great:

Poehler: Well this feeling that you're having right now, which is like "I'm supposed to be all things' is a feeling that women have every day and have their whole lives. So you're just starting to experience it now, like 'how can I be cool and tough, but also sweet, and you know..." So we have to deal with all those juxtapositions everyday but I'm glad you're finally experiencing it as well, as a white male. Brennan: I'm sensing a tone.Poehler: Are you?

I think that's what we call womansplaining, the more benevolent, more accurate, and way less annoying flip-side of mansplaining — in which a woman sits a white dude down and explains how many of the unjust feelings he's feeling are the same kind of bullshit that women have been dealing with for centuries, but less terrible.

God, she's great.