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 tight-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.”

[From Playboy]

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.