Being a girl out at a bar is hard sometimes, that is pretty much a universal truth. Not all the time, but incidents happen with skeezy guys and it’s not all rainbows and sunshine and free drinks all the time. With the current political situation adding even more land mines than normal in innocent conversation, the chances of running into somebody that doesn’t respect women in a bar is that much higher. SNL writers clearly understand this, and made a whole sketch out of what it’s like to be hit on by a guy who suddenly rejects Cecily Strong’s “Michelle” character the instant she turns him down for a date. Even though the conversation was polite up until that point.
The sketch is actually less a joke when it starts out and more of a real-life situation put to screen in a mostly realistic way, but the escalating brutishness and fits thrown by each subsequent guy hitting on Michelle makes the sketch work. Each of the various men, wearing Pussy Hats or proclaiming how much they did to help people get to the Women’s March in Washington DC, is closer to real people than many viewers may know. Especially the instant fits thrown when each of their efforts are shut down in short order.
It’s hard to attempt to make light of men harassing women at a bar and have it work, but SNL pulled it off simply because of Strong’s (knowing) performance and that each of the crazy reactions only last a few seconds before turning into something more dangerous or scary. This should serve as a lesson for men everywhere though, that just because you wear a “The Future Is Female” shirt doesn’t mean a date (or other random sexual favors) is guaranteed. The future is definitely female, and that means that girls should be able to turn down guys at a bar with no retaliation.
