I hadn't put much thought into the gender gap of humor before. Sure, I noticed that most of the stand-up I watched starred men, but it never occurred to me that there is a belief that women are (innately? culturally? intentionally?) not funny.
After hearing this idea brought up in class during one of our very first meetings, I started thinking about it more. Sure, I don't see that many female comedians, but there's plenty of them in sitcoms, right? And there are female stand-up shows. And I laugh at the jokes women tell. And, I mean, I'm funny, right?!
This potential crisis of identity led me to a Vanity Fair article, titled not "Are Women Funny?" but, quite depressingly, "Why Women Aren't Funny." There's a lot of different perspectives on this issue covered in the article (including a fairly disturbing discussion of the difference between "normal" women and women who do stand-up). The most interesting to me was the discussion that women aren't supposed to be funny, culturally:
it could be that in some way men do not want women to be funny. They want them as an audience, not as rivals.
And this, from Fran Lebowitz:
"The cultural values are male; for a woman to say a man is funny is the equivalent of a man saying that a woman is pretty. Also, humor is largely aggressive and pre-emptive, and what's more male than that?"Really? Is this all humor is? Another pick-up line? Setting aside (and it's a hefty load to place over there) most of the sexism in this line of reasoning, I still don't get it. Is being funny a threatening thing? And even if it is somehow threatening to this traditional view of courtship and relationships, shouldn't we be past it by now?
In a connection that may only make sense in my mind, I was recently listening to a rap/R&B station and heard yet another song (by men) touting the female ideal of being independent. This is becoming a very popular musical theme. (Ludacris: "She makes her own money, pays her own bills" Ne-Yo: "I love her cause she got her own/she don't need mine, so she leaves mine alone" Lil Boosie: "She got her own house/drive her own whip") There have been similar themed songs, but typically from the woman's perspective (Beyonce, TLC, Shania Twain), but I think that having it come from a male perspective changes it, somehow. So, if we're (we being American culture) casting out the traditional idea that men must provide for women, can't we be funny, too?
I just tried to post something, but it failed, so I'll paraphrase:
ReplyDeleteI think the socialization process in school plays a role. I recall funny girls being silenced or punished by teachers, whereas when male class clowns made jokes--even ones that distracted from the learning process--teachers would at least crack smiles. Maybe the squeakier, softer female voice comes across as whinier or more cynical. Either way, it doesn't seem fair.
I also was thinking about the recent winner of Last Comic Standing, Iliza. She and I were in the same grade in elementary school; we were also on the same softball team. Teachers and coaches weren't as amused by her antics (though most students were!) as they were by the antics of the male class clowns in my class. Ironically, none of those guys has won a comic talent search...
That was a very interesting article! I have also been wondering about the gender gap within comedy as well ever since it was brought up in class. What the article said about the man stereotypically wanting to impress the woman makes sense; immediately what comes to mind is a quote SUPPOSEDLY by Marilyn Monroe (but it is often disputed whether or not she actually was the one to say it) that says, "If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything." I think it has some truth to it. What was said in that article early on about women often describing an ideal partner as someone that is funny is something I've noticed, too. Humor is something we love being surrounded by as human beings, except with this weird gender twist that for some reason men love for women to think they are funny and women love for men to make them laugh, despite the article, I agree with your points about why it isn't the other way around more often than not.
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