~Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Beware Funny Ladies

This is an article from Vanity Fair. It's called "Why Women Aren't Funny." It's also about me having a coronary from anger.

It's not just you-- this guy is basing his argument on women's lack of funny on their ability to bear children. That bearing children makes women less funny. Because, apparently, it's what we Do. It's what we're Supposed to Do. This is especially true because that paragon of human understanding and gender equality Rudyard Kipling has extensively reminded us that women are only good for bearing children.

Hmm.

Although I am not "hefty, dykey, or Jewish," I must be innately funnier than someone who has already reproduced because I haven't felt the responsibility of bringing life into this world and hence haven't lost all of my more humorous faculties. Nor have I fully become a woman.

And on that note, fatties, dykes, and Jewish girls may be funny, but they're not really women. Because women are Supposed to bear children, and what are we if we're not? Clearly no man will fuck and therefore enable a fat, dykey, Jewish woman to have a baby, and ergo she'll never fully manifest her feminine destiny, which totally makes her a man.

Well, hallelujah. We now know that women comedians and improvisers aren't constrained in any way by social constructs, nor are we raised to think that only boys can be funny. And it's true that funny girls are automatically less feminine because they're funny (again because they're men). And perhaps it may look like more class clowns are boys rather than girls, but truthfully, those boys are just trying to mate and since teachers want more children to teach, they allow boys to do their mating dance more than they allow girls to smart off.

Jesus Christ, this article makes me angry.

And here's the thing-- I can and do agree that women fail at comedy way, WAY more than men do. But is it because we have children? Or because men have to be funny to get a woman's attention? No. Sociologically speaking, girls aren't allowed to be smart asses, because we're not supposed to speak our minds, because we apologize when we say something inappropriate, and because we're still supposed to just sit there and look pretty.

Because no matter what strides have been made on the women's liberation front in the past 40 years, it doesn't make any difference because we're still just tits as far as comedy is concerned.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am surprised such an insensitive article got published in a supposedly respected publication, but then people will say anything to get into print sometimes (or cause controversy, but such is the life of the Internet).

I've been debating social constructs the last two days and I read this. Your anger is certainly well-placed, I am just worn from reading that article. I noticed that one of my blighted brethren pretending to be a man wrote this... lovely. More good press for us :)

I would love to take social programming and bury it beneath the new Cowboys Stadium site, or launch it into the core of the sun... ah, one can dream.

Anonymous said...

What's wrong with sitting there and looking pretty? ~grin~

40 years of fighting for rights has brought us to a system where promotion is based on gender rather than on merit, where affrimative action see's the disenfrachised advanced at the cost of the worthy and thus creating a new disenfrachised...40 years of rights-fighting has brought us to a place where the merit of one gender was not extolled but the traits of another were dragged through the mud.

40 years of rights-fighting has got us to a place not where it was envisaged but into a whole new area of problems.

And as for the article, everyone knows mums aren't funny...I mean how many Mum's say "pull my finger", but dad's.... ~grin~

Anonymous said...

Being Jewish, I demand my penis! If I'm not able to have children, at the very least I should be able to write my own name in the snow.

This guy is such a fucking tool.

Lil Bit said...

hmphf! The hell you say, girl.
Me & my tits are a fucking RIOT!!!!

LOL! ;)

Hope you're having jolly holidaze, sweetie.
Can't WAIT 'til we have our date... we're going to be frikkin' ROFL HILARIOUS!

Anonymous said...

oh jeez. men like this make me furious.
i say we Bobbit him

Sarah said...

Jedimerc- I do believe this guy makes his living by being a rabble-rouser, his wikipedia entry pretty much confirms this.

But as a retired thespian and comedy improvisor, as well as a self-proclaimed funny woman, I am offended in all sorts of ways.

Indy- This is what I call "stirring the pot." :)

I know you're referring to the grander issue, the oppression of the white man. However, I do feel that the ends justify the means here. Y'all men just need a little thicker skin :)

TDG- See, you can be funny cause your Jewish, according to our Islamicfacist here. Damn you and your Jewish superpowers!

Lil- LOL! See, we girls are just as funny :)

Pinkjellybaby- Another joke?! We defy all laws of man-comedy!!!

Walter said...

The guys an ass.

Douglas said...

I like ellen and she is funny and although she prefers women...so do i...except she dates hot celebs and well...i don't.

this guy is a moron...a windbag...someone not worthy of our discussion.

Sarah said...

Walter- I prefer the term "evil shiteater"

Allbilly- Using Evil Shiteater's words, she is a dyke. And dykes are men because they haven't borne children, ergo Ellen is funny. :(

Sarah said...

Kate- I love LOVE how ALL the women were able to make jokes at this!

Anonymous said...

Christopher Hitchens right?

I would hardly call his work funny.

Sarah said...

Phil- Fundies really scare the hell out of me at times. I mean, my god, he called Mother Theresa "The Ghoul of Calcutta"

Even his Wikipedia entry refers to him as a "sack of shit."

Indiana said...

My sweet...Y'all men just need a little thicker skin that is both the funniest and the most ironic comment ever...~grin~

Forgive me in advance I am hungover and feeling delicate...

Sarah said...

Indy- I see your point and I laughed. Touche.

However, you took a post that had nothing to do with man bashing and you whined about man bashing, so who has the thicker skin?? :)

general_boy said...

Hehe... LB will get no argument from me. ROFL

I really, really REALLY loathe humorless women - those who feel it will shatter their all important image if they so much as hint at a sense of humour.

Luckily, I have known many very, very funny women, including a couple that could easily crack up a bar full of men. A bit of a shock too from non-dykey, non-jewish, dare I say it... physically attractive types.

I love funny chicks. Funny chicks rock my world.

 

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