"Othello, the Moor of Venice"

"DESDEMONA.  What wouldst thou write of me if thou shouldst praise me?

IAGO.  O gentle lady, do not put me to't, 

               For I am nothing if not critical".

 (Shakespeare, II.i. 117-120)

This moment between Desdemona and Iago was a source of great confusion for me.  Not so much in that I did not understand what was happening rather I could not grasp why it was happening.  Why did Shakespeare decide to place this conversation in such an awkward place?  Desdemona has just found out that her new husband is lost at sea.  The idea that she would indulge in a conversation about what Iago thinks of women seems so far-fetched; most wives would be panicking and fearing for their spouse's life.  To me, this moment poked holes in Desdemona's character and made her seem superficial and naive, not recognizing the severity or emergency of the moment.  Additionally, why would Shakespeare have this as the moment to present Iago as a misogynist?  During this scene, the reader picks up on Iago's sense of resentment for Othello and Desdemona.  Yet, Desdemona can only see him as humorous and as a result their relationship becomes slightly more friendly.  For this scene, the only idea  I had was that Shakespeare may be foreshadowing something that is going to happen between Iago and a female character, but I do not quite understand the significance of educating the reader of Iago's misogyny at this particular moment in the play.