{"id":9069,"date":"2015-01-14T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=9069"},"modified":"2015-01-13T22:24:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T06:24:55","slug":"women-arent-funny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=9069","title":{"rendered":"Who says women aren’t funny? Men. Women."},"content":{"rendered":"

Some people say, \u201cNever let them see you cry.\u201d I say, if you\u2019re so mad you could just cry, then cry. It terrifies everyone.
\n–Tina Fey, Bossypants<\/p>\n

When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.
\n–Bette Davis<\/p>\n

Why are women so humorless?
\n–random unfunny men\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The other day, I watched a documentary about women in comedy, and why women are not considered as funny as men. <\/p>\n

They started with Jerry Lewis, who is infamous for finding women unamusing. They also talked a little about Christipher Hitchens’s Vogue article<\/a> about women and humor.
\nHe talks about the “fact” that women don’t need to be funny because it isn’t important to men but that women do think it is important. He also says that men like to make women laugh because it’s a little like an orgasm. <\/p>\n

He takes it as a given that women are not as funny as men, or rather that women are less frequently funny than men. Moreover, he claims that the few funny women out there are funny because they are lesbians (ie like men, they need to be funny because women think it’s hot),because they are Jewish and inherently like men (uh, what?) or because they are big\/fat\/crude like men. <\/p>\n

Or then there’s the hypothesis that men don’t want women to be funny because humor is a sign of intelligence and they don’t want rivals for that. Which doesn’t say a lot for either their own intelligence or self-confidence if it’s true. <\/p>\n

It’s not really even worth a rebuttal. Yes, there are a lot of women who are not funny. A lot of men, too. Of course, men’s opinions about that, like everything else, were the only ones that counted for several centuries. <\/p>\n

The saddest thing about that is that people, including women,believe what they read in books, newspapers. What they see on TV or films. For too many years, those voices have been disproportionately male. So even a lot of women believe that female comedians are not as funny as the men are.<\/p>\n

There is not a thing wrong with men or their opinions, but when only their voices are heard it gives all of us a distorted view of everything. We need everyone’s perspective.<\/p>\n

From my own anecdotal and entirely unscientific point of view, I would say that the women I know are every bit as funny as the men. Of course, according to Hitchens, I am pre-programmed to find that attractive. It might indicate that I am a bisexual who sees that sexy humor in everyone regardless of their gender. <\/p>\n

I like boobs. I am fat and have been known to be crude. Does that mean I am qualified to be funny? Should I consider a part-time career in comedy? Probably not, since I was honestly not sure when I first read the article if Hitchens was being humorous. I kind of want to Google around even now and see if other people think he is. <\/p>\n

Is that a sign that he isn’t funny or that I don’t have a sense of humor?<\/p>\n

Comedy is tough.<\/p>\n

[poll id=”4″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some people say, \u201cNever let them see you cry.\u201d I say, if you\u2019re so mad you could just cry, then cry. It terrifies everyone. –Tina Fey, Bossypants When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch. –Bette Davis Why are women so humorless? –random unfunny men … Continue reading Who says women aren’t funny? Men. Women.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_2470-0.jpg?fit=341%2C391&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-2mh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10949,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=10949","url_meta":{"origin":9069,"position":0},"title":"Thinking about sexual abuse and assault","author":"Michelle","date":"November 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Every woman you know has encountered some sort of sexual verbal or physical abuse at least once in her life. Every one. Most women you know have had multiple instances of it. Some very serious. Some \"just\" inappropriate comments. Insinuations that a raise depends on sexual compliance. Groping. Sexual images\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Random thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"Random thoughts","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=20"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9325,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=9325","url_meta":{"origin":9069,"position":1},"title":"Online dating, the plus side","author":"Michelle","date":"February 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Just because you feel, hollow inside it's real I'm gonna put something in you Make the devil feel surprised --Mazzy Star\/All Your Sisters If someone has filled out their online dating profile in their own words and answered a representative sample of the entertainingly intrusive questions you can get a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_2470-0.jpg?fit=341%2C391&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5978,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=5978","url_meta":{"origin":9069,"position":2},"title":"Yes, all women","author":"Michelle","date":"May 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been following the #YesAllWomen hashtag on Twitter from a distance. 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Stuff is going on in my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/20140528-172828-62908778.jpg?fit=454%2C313&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4008,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=4008","url_meta":{"origin":9069,"position":3},"title":"Imaginary boyfriends","author":"Michelle","date":"February 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Imaginary lovers never disagree They always care They're always there when you need Satisfaction guaranteed --Atlanta Rhythm Section\/Imaginary Lover One evening several years ago, out for drinks with a group of girlfriends (we referred to ourselves as the CLITS, which is a story unto itself) we got to discussing other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/20140214-195856.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2615,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=2615","url_meta":{"origin":9069,"position":4},"title":"Dating game redux","author":"Michelle","date":"November 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Friday night We went streaking in the park Skinny dipping in the dark Then had a m\u00e9nage \u00e0 trois --Katy Perry\/Friday Night In my fairly long foray into the world of online dating, I had a lot of time to look at people's user profiles. 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