A Response To The Latest Question, 'Are Women Funny?'

Lately, all of my social media news feeds are clogged full of memes claiming that women aren't funny. Like, WTF? Not funny? Dude, who gave you Parks and Recreation? Amy Poehler, a woman, that's who! How many viewers does Ellen DeGeneres have? Women have been doing nothing lately but prove how funny they are! Just go onto a site like Tumblr and you will see it for yourself. I'm a female, and I've often had people laugh at my jokes (not just at my face). 

After getting to see the new Ghostbusters film with Melissa McCarthy, you know, the one with all the women? Yeah that one, the one that was actually given a blessing by the original cast. I loved it! I even heard my brother laugh next to me. Yet when we left he said that he was disappointed and felt that there hadn't been enough comedy.


I've been doing some digging on this topic and apparently it can be rooted back to a 2007 Vanity Fair article (of course, seeing as all shit starts there, just look at the Kardashian drama with Caitlyn Jenner, or Courtney Love's clashes with the magazine).
Actually I could probably write a whole rant on the magazine, but I won't.

So back in 2007 Christopher Hitchens wrote an article explaining why women aren't funny. He claims that male comedy is due to evolution and that men need to make women laugh in order to find a mate and to reproduce. He believes that women don't need to be funny because they already attract partners.

What a load of BS.
Firstly, men and women are always pointing out the flaws of other women, saying they are too heavy or spotty or hairy, etc. So obviously, not all women are being deemed attractive and therefore may feel the need for the gift of comedy. And what about naturally attractive men? What about them, huh?
Also, some men just think they're funny when they're just annoying. And some are just not funny because they don't have that comedic spark and people just laugh out of respect.

In fact, some research has shown that male bosses in a conference receive more laughter for their jokes in a boardroom than female bosses. But it has also been shown that this is due to a sign of power. The man will get more laughs because he is the boss in control, and therefore has more respect. If anything, this just shows the lack of respect in the workplace for women, as if we didn't have enough to be worrying about. OR, it may show the lack of numbers when discussing female bosses, instead. It might even be due to the fact that men just don't understand a woman's sense of humor sometimes. I don't know. I'm not a mind reader, I'm just offering up a few theories here.

And women in the workplace is just one reason as to why there are only a few well-known female comics, as opposed to the number of men in the profession. Stand-up requires a lot of extensive travel and being away from families and children. Also, it pays badly to those starting off, so don't get me started on maternity leave. And let's not forget that women are mainly the primary parents, so leaving children isn't always an option.
Perhaps the reason men love to say that women aren't funny is because some of them are intimidated by loud-mouthed and opinionated women. Or perhaps they just don't understand female humor, just as not all women understand a man's humor. We've all been there. Stuck in a room next to a guy who laughs at an immature joke, or, worst of all, a toilet joke. I admit I laugh sometimes when someone says ' do do' but come on! Men don't laugh at period jokes, but we do! There are different life experiences between both of the sexes, so can it really come as a surprise that we find different things funny.

AND, may I add, did you know that comedy festivals are mainly run by women? So even though starting off in comedy is pretty crap, some women actually tend to gain some of the best jobs in the world of comedy, these jobs just don't always entail standing on the stage, so it's not that we aren't funny, it's that we can sometimes just be invisible.

Another argument as to why women in comedy aren't funny is that they are vulgar and swear too much. But here's the thing, men swear too! It's just that women are noticed more for it. This has ruined people's perceptions of women in comedy. But still, not all women swear in their work. Hello? Amy Pohler as Leslie Knope?Anyone?

An article was written about this which can be found here. It gave me a few giggles, and it was written by a woman so.....yeah.

Comedians like Allison Spittle have been given there own shows and podcasts, and even been given guest slots in podcasts like 'The Guilty Feminist', which is hilarious. But I feel like men wouldn't understand that particular brand of humor. Feminists can be really funny, but you really need to understand what it feels like to be a woman in order to understand it. And it's not like men are going to go out and swap genitals and ditch testosterone just to know what it feels like, socially, to be a girl.

Juse because someone doens't understand a joke, doesn't mean it's not funny. Someone else can still find it funny. There isn't just a difference in humor between men and women, but countries can have different senses of humor. Comedy can be a divisive thing. It doesn't mean that women are actually boring.

There was also a study, which showed that girls tell the same amount of jokes as boys, but due to socialisation and what is and is not lady-like, this begins to decline after the age of six. Obviously, not all parents are like this, or not all girls are obedient, therefore giving us comedic angels like Sarah Millican and Sarah Silverman. 
But it shows us that we should still be changing how we treat young girls, and try to nurture their abilities to make people laugh. Why shouldn't they? Shouldn't everyone have a right to laugh and be funny or happy? Or happy being funny?

This result is basically just the result of social constructions of femininity, but while we're busy breaking these constructions, we may as well have ourselves a laugh, right?

So there you have it, from Hitchens to actual factual articles. Funny men can be dicks, and a funny person can or cannot be hot, there are no rules that dictate a comics appearance. Other people can believe that they are funny when they are really just annoying, although that wouldn't always be due to their material, it might just be the actual person themselves. Men can get girls because they are attractive, and not because they're funny (God knows I've met enough hot, but dull, guys).

So no, women don't have the "whole male world at their mercy", and if we did, then toiletries would be free, every country would have maternity leave and equal pay, and Buffy wouldn't have ended.

People are going to be attracted to different aspects of a person. Serious people might want to have a serious relationship with serious people, and one day have serious babies. Someone else might be drawn to someone because of their eye colour, others might love how they make them laugh, or how they are giant nerds who they can geek out with.

People don't need to fit the social standards of attractiveness because people will always find someone that likes their humor. They don't have to be romantic people, because we don't need romance to really function. We can be independent creatures and do what we want, and joke all we want because there will always be at least one person in that crowd that will love what we come out with. And that can apply to people other than comedians, like musicans and painters, poets and activists.

So get out there and make 'em laugh!