Stephen Colbert Has Big Plans to Make ‘The Late Show’ Feminist

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Take a moment and think of the all the wonderful women hosts we have on late-night television. Don’t worry, it’ll be a brief moment, because as it stands, the number hovers around the infamous “zero.” Stephen Colbert, who is obviously not a woman, but who is the future host of The Last Show, decided to write an essay for Glamour and in it, make a big pledge. “I’m going to make a show that truly respects women,” Colbert said, “because I know that there’s more than one way to be one.”

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Colbert’s promise won’t do anything to dramatically correct the big “sausagefest” (his very scientific words) that is late night TV, but for many women, it struck a big emotional chord. And while the comedian may not be a woman, but he hopes to bring many female comedians and public figures to the show, and have them do more things than simply “eat yogurt.” As he explains,”These days TV would have you believe that being a woman means sensually eating yogurt, looking for ways to feel confident on heavy days, and hunting for houses.” Colbert wants to challenge his viewership’s vision of what a woman looks like, and what a woman is: “Maybe you’re a woman who likes women. Maybe you like women and men. Maybe you’re a woman who’s recently transitioned.”

The essay concludes, fittingly, that it’s not the comedians job to: “mansplain to you about the manstitutionalized manvantages built into Americman manciety.” His goal is to bring the conversation to primetime, and challenge the big and bad biases of our beloved ‘manciety.’

(Via: Glamour)