Lizzy Caplan is promoting the third season of Masters of Sex. As you may remember, I flat-out loved the first season of MoS and I absolutely loathed the second season, where the writers tried to go down some Mad Men-esque plot twists that didn’t have much to do with anything. It was one of the biggest “sophomore slumps” I’ve ever seen. I have every hope that Season 3 will be better though – judging from the preview, Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson finally get around to presenting their findings, which should help the plot along. Anyway, to promote the third season, Lizzy Caplan sat down with Playboy for their “20 Questions” – you can read the full piece here. She chats about feminism, on-screen nudity, what women tell their girlfriends and why she loves a man in tighty-whities.
Her male costars doing nudity: “I don’t think Michael Sheen does this, but definitely most of the guys who take their shirts off do push-ups or lift weights. The super-cut guys have these intense regimens. Not only do they work out all day, but they also don’t drink any water and they swallow diuretics for one day. That doesn’t sound great. I guess it’s just as bad for the boys; they’re as vain as we are.”
Whether it’s gotten better for women since the 1950s: “The tough pills that women are expected to swallow have gotten better, but it’s naive to think we’ve come that far from the 1950s. Women are still expected to accept a lower paycheck than a man for the same amount of work. And what about the difficulties every working mother faces, the stigma of leaving her child with a caregiver versus staying home and giving up her own dreams? There’s nothing on our show around the feminist issues that I don’t feel has a huge echo today. If anything, it makes me angry about today. I’ve never said this out loud before, but I don’t know if we’ll get there in my lifetime. Until we can convince our own side—women—that this is a good thing for all of us, I don’t see how we stand a chance convincing all the men.
Women are divided about equality: “Yes. It’s disturbing. It’s not a 50-50 split, but some women have reacted to what I think is the wrong definition of feminism. It doesn’t mean you hate men or you hate sex or you’re a butch lesbian. Feminism is about equality. And yet some women with sway in this world, especially with younger girls, are unwilling to identify as feminists, and I don’t see how that helps. There are still some women fighting against other women who want to make their own reproductive decisions. That just blows my mind.”
How she relaxes: “The end of my day should also involve some deep breathing, some light meditation and perhaps some more stretching. But it usually just ends with watching The Real Housewives. I love it. It’s painful but so meaningless to my life that it’s like junk food. It’s white noise, and for some reason it relaxes me.
She’s a fan of tighty-whities: “I like when guys don’t wear those boxer briefs that go to mid-thigh and look like bike shorts. It’s harder and harder to find. They’re very popular, but I think they look stupid. I prefer old-fashioned tighty-whities or even just boxer shorts. When you discover a man who wears tighty-whities, you hold on to him. It’s so old-school. They’re great.
What men & women need to learn: “For the ladies, I suppose it’s worth assuming that whatever little physical imperfections you obsess over in the mirror are in reality invisible to the man you’re standing naked in front of. He is distracted, you see, by your breasts. For the men: that your girlfriend’s girlfriends know everything about your penis and most things about your balls.”
I laughed at what men should know about their girlfriend’s friends. It’s so true. And I like what she says about feminism too. I wonder if this is a pointed comment at someone specific: “And yet some women with sway in this world, especially with younger girls, are unwilling to identify as feminists…” Kaley Cuoco? Half the pop stars in music today? The Jenner girls? It could be anyone.
Oh, and I don’t get the old-fashioned love for tighty-whities. When a guy has a good body, he can wear any kinds of underwear and look good, but I actually like the look of a guy in boxer briefs.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
OK, maybe I’m old fashioned, but the venue she chose to discuss this is Playboy ?!?!?
Yeah, that’s perfect for convincing women. Totally. And so feminist of her.
(Eye roll!)
Well, if the guys are there to read the articles (ha ha ha), it might be the best way to raise their consciousness about certain issues, yes. Btw, I loathe tighty whities.
I don’t condemn her for discussing this in playboy.
When I was a tween/teen in the 80s/90s, playboy used to run these interviews and essays in their pages by hardcore feminists.
It was very subversive thing.
To the women against feminism…hennies, that approval you so desperately seek from anti-equality men is such a tenuous thing. Slip once — gain a pound, age a year, disagree on one topic — they’ll hate you again.
I’m so with you. When I was a teenager, I was a female anti-feminist. Why? Because I was so insecure and so desperate for men to think I was f*ckable I denied myself humanity and even THEN it didn’t work. II hated myself and the world hated me right back. Now? I’m a feminist ball-buster, and in the words of the great Amy Schumer, “I can catch a dick whenever I want”
I don’t know what tighty whities are! What are they?!
Mr Sixer and Mr Sixer Senior had a frank and er… enthusiastic? exchange of views over which boy knickers were best for comfortable storage of junk the other day. It lasted for first and second servings of dessert (quite a long time when you’ve got both crumble AND ice cream) and they still couldn’t come to an agreement. I had no idea there was so much to it.
http://cdn29.elitedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2013-08-15-breakingbad.jpg
Aha! Old fashioned y-fronts here.
lol, I dont know anything about my friends’ husbands’ balls and I really wouldnt want to. Its not like we r 14. Eww.
my friends dont know all the details about my partners penis and balls. i find that disrespectul, i wouldnt want to be with a man who tells his friends about my genitalia so i dont do it either.
Pretty sure she was joking. I agree going into detail about your man’s junk is disrespectful. And who has friends who want to hear about that anyways?!
sadly, my friends’ husbands know that we know everything about their penis/balls because they’re the ones who have shared the info, the pics, dropped trou
we’re all still scratching our heads wondering why we looked (and we blame alcohol and sleep deprivation). we will be the crowd in the old age home that is always getting yelled at by the staff (and visited by the grandkids)
So, she expressed her feminist creed in Playboy, the same way Taylor Swift waxed poetic about feminism and da sisterhood in Maxim?
Wasn’t it Gloria Steinem who said that a woman reading Playboy feels a little bit like a Jew reading a Nazi manual? Now, we have a Jew giving interviews for Der Sturmer, while praising the virtues of Judaism.
It seems that feminism today has been reduced to “whatever works”. You just have to declare yourself a feminist, no matter how incongruent and contradictory your actions are to your words.
I can’t wait for the day when the first courageous, revolutionary celebrity will talk about intersectional feminism while gynecologically spreading her legs for Penthouse or Hustler.
I can see the logic about the “whatever works”. I guess it’s about reaching people out, people that wouldn’t even look in another sources. But in my heart I agree with you. Reminds me of Rose Byrne preaching about looks obsession while posing in a semi nude, sexual stance.
….but playboy once employed feminist writers who wrote their POV within the pages of the magazine.
It’s inception was an affront to women, but somewhere in the 80s, it tried to right the ship, but then it reverted back to it’s origins in the 90s.it’s probably trying it’s feminist experiment again.
Maybe some men will learn something.
Feminism is about believing that all people should have equal rights as human beings regardless of gender, sexuality, or race. It’s not about modesty or the belief that all nudity and all pornography is anti-woman. So it’s not incongruous. If it were child porn or pornography that glamorizes things like rape, hate crimes, or racism, then the “Jewish anti-Semitism” comparison might make more sense.
Playboy, like Rolling Stone, back in the day used to have incredible interviews and articles on politics. Someone used to gift my older brother (who was 17 & still in HS at the time) with a subscription every year. One day my folks and brother came home to me (13 year old girl) reading an article and, after they all did a bit of a double take, we discussed the article (which was probably something about politics)
I guess I’m the only one that thinks it was awesome that she discussed feminism in Playboy. I’m pretty certain that a decent percentage of their readers could stand to learn about feminism.
She’s amazing on Masters of Sex, so I’m happy to read an interview where she seems as dedicated to feminism IRL as Virginia Johnson.
Agreed. I think it’s amazing that she spoke up about important issues in a not so serious magazine, to inform those who aren’t so familiar or understanding of said issues.
I love most of what she said but I do wish straight women would stop with the whole ‘not all feminists are lesbians!’ thing, like somehow being mistaken for a lesbian is the worst thing and lesbianism is something to distance yourself and the cause from.
I love her opinions.
And I agree 100% with her opinions on feminism.
It’s not just sad that people don’t want to associate or fixate on superficial AND wrong interpretations of it, but go as far as rejecting it because they can’t see that to the basic concept.
It’s so strange to me that women (and men) wait until adulthood before they understand the concept of it. I read, even on here, people who either had an adulthood experience that finally opened their eyes or they read about it in books at college before their eyes were opened.
It should be a concept that everyone is brought up believing in. All other societal norms tend to be indoctrinated from birth, and this is a good concept that should be indoctrinated from birth.
The world will be a better place when the genders regard each other as equals rather than the current situation where half the human race is subjugated to the other half.
ya of course they don’t want to identify and i do not blame them. i am not a feminist but that doesn’t mean i do not believe in equality for all, women in third world countries who especially need it. bloody tired of people getting angry at those who do not want to identify. screw that, dont force your label on anyone
I also don’t begrudge the outlet she’s using (Playboy) to speak her mind. I hate the idea that celebs should hold back to be more likeable. It’s refreshing to hear real opinions and ideas instead of the boring PR drivel. They are real people after all.
Love that pink dress & whole look! Wow. First satin gown I’ve seen in a long time that really wows.