Inferno: Let's talk about body image issues. Young women can be very insecure. I think most women have some form of an eating disorder, and this is largely a campus paper, so I'm wondering: do you have any advice that they should hear?

Margaret Cho: I think it's really hard nowadays because the media has changed, and for whatever reason, there's far more body scrutiny for actresses and models than even before. I think that the media has become a lot more mean-spirited. There are gossip websites specifically set up to criticize women's bodies. I don't remember their names, but there are a couple of them that are so incredibly angry.

There's actually a website that I really like called "Jezebel." Every week they do a round-up of bloggers who have really said horrible things about women - [the bloggers] talk about women's bodies and, you know, how thin they are, or how fat they are, or what's going on. And then there was a lot of scrutiny over Jennifer Love Hewitt's body.

I: That was awful.

M: And Jennifer Love Hewitt is a perfectly beautiful woman. And there's no reason to scrutinize anybody. Anyway, but I think that young women look at stuff like that and they feel very self-conscious. You know, they look at women who are criticized - women (like Britney) who are called "fat" who are not fat. And when they look at that, they say, "well, if Britney's fat, that must mean I'm really fucking fat!"

I think that sort of stuff is so mean-spirited. And who is 'perfect,' anyway? Nobody. Nobody has that perfect body, and it so doesn't matter.

I'm a lifetime survivor of eating disorders. I've suffered from both anorexia and bulimia (different kinds of bulimia, like exercise bulimia). I've abused drugs in order to become thinner. My whole drug history - and addictions - all they had to do with was with my wanting to be thin. That was all I ever wanted. I never cared about getting high, or anything; I just wanted to be thin. I put myself in the hospital because I wanted to be thin. I've given myself a heart murmur; I have innumerous health problems now as an adult because of my inability to accept my own body as it was (which was never 'wrong' to begin with).

Now I've gained some peace towards my body. I'm almost 40. I'm a dancer. I dance naked; I dance burlesque.

I: Really!

M: Yeah, and that for me was a big cure, because when you can dance - and you can dance without any clothes on - and you can feel totally amazingly beautiful, and the audience is screaming about it. I did a show off-Broadway last year called "The Sensuous Woman." All we did was everybody danced naked. The audience was mostly women. It was so incredibly fulfilling and really wonderful for the audience, because the audience could see a woman who was not a size four feeling beautiful, feeling sexy, feeling totally gorgeous in a gorgeous costume, and then naked. It's really empowering.

My favorite burlesque dancer's name is Dirty Martini, and she's a plus-size dancer. She's so beautiful; she's the most beautiful dancer of all. Yet her body is something that a lot of women would have a lot of fear and, just shock about. But then when you see her dancing and you see how beautiful she is, then women can see that having a body is nothing to fear. So it's really about feeling good about yourself, and finding whatever that cure is. For me, it was going into the world of dance, which is ironic because a lot of dancers have anorexia and bulimia; that's an industry where that kind of behavior is actually encouraged.

But for me, going into dance was a very healing thing and also, I had a lot of wonderful people who have a lot of body-acceptance, and a lot of body-joy, as opposed to body-shame.

I think that anorexia and bulimia are an epidemic in this country. It's killing women, and also men, too; it's reached over to men. It's something that is taken far too lightly by gossip websites and gossip magazines. When they criticize women, it doesn't necessarily hurt the women they're criticizing; it hurts every woman who's looking at it. In a sense, that is genocide: they're criticizing all these women for their bodies, saying they're fat… The girls who it's about - it doesn't even touch them, hardly; you know, they probably don't even look at it. But it hurts everybody who's reading it.

I: Yeah. I don't know that I've ever heard you talk about sexual assault before, but I'm sure you have thoughts about it! Are there any that you'd like to share now?

M: Well I have experienced it when I was really, really young. And then when I got older, I went into a male-dominated industry. Being in comedy, you're constantly surrounded by men (constantly, constantly, constantly). And so the level of harassment is pretty high. I think I received it so much that I became desensitized to it. And then I turned a corner where I became so tough that men just became terrified of me.

It's a really hard thing when you deal with harassment, and you live and you work in a male-dominated industry. It's horrible, because you almost have to accept it to a certain point in order to survive. That's my generation.

When I dealt with sexual harassment, I sort of had to take it because I had to feel like 'one of the guys.' I would never accept anything like that now. And now I've gotten to an age where I'm really scary to most men; most men wouldn't even dare to try to harass me. But when I was younger, I didn't know that. I think that's where self-esteem comes in: when you feel you really need to defend yourself - and when you feel beautiful and you feel good about yourself - you would never accept that kind of behavior.

Sexual assault is a very painful thing - a really, really terrible thing - it's something that I've experienced, and I think most women have. I don't think any woman is immune from it, because it is so prevalent, especially for young women. It's something that occurs to everyone. I don't know anybody who hasn't been molested (like, as a child). It's so common; most people just don't talk about it. And I've never met a woman who hasn't experienced it.

I: Most of my friends. Guy friends, too.

M: Yeah, guys too, but guys are less willing to admit it, or even remember it because it's so traumatic.

I: Definitely. Now, I also had some other questions I'd like to ask you about sexuality - homosexuality, bisexuality - maybe I'll go ahead and ask the question about bisexuality. You talk a lot about bisexual behavior and homosexual behavior. I'm wondering what you might say the parameters of bisexuality are.

M: I don't think there are any parameters. To me, I just think people should do what they want, and that it doesn't have to be a 'thing.' It's not a big deal.

I: Who do you prefer as a Presidential candidate?

M: I am actually a Barack Obama campaign surrogate. Although, I think Hillary is great, also. I think they're both great, but you can only vote for one. It was a hard decision. Most of the organizations that I'm affiliated with politically are supporting and endorsing Hillary. Organizations like NOW, the HRC and a lot of GLBT organizations are supporting Hillary. But I am more drawn to Obama just because the racial issue, to me, is more important at the moment. I think they're both great, though.

I: Why do you think the racial issue is more important?

M: Because it's something that's coming up. Because of Michael Richards and because of Don Imus, Duane "Dog" Chapman and the things I discussed earlier. These issues are just more on my mind.

I: I actually wrote a piece comparing the two, and I think that racial issues are more visible and easier to pluck out than sexual discrimination.

M: Right. I also think that America's more racist than they are sexist. I think there really is a problem. I think that the sexism and the racism are sort of the same; they're neck and neck. Some days are more sexist. But it's so hard to see it, and I think this whole race is bringing everything out.

Well, that was Margaret Cho and her words of wisdom. Keep your eyes peeled for her on the upcoming show on VH1, "The Cho Show."