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Feminists are routinely lampooned as humorless creatures, as in the classic joke: ''Q: How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb? A: That's not funny!'' (that actually is kind of funny, at least to some feminists).
Feminists are routinely lampooned as humorless creatures, as in the classic joke: ''Q: How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb? A: That's not funny!'' (that actually is kind of funny, at least to some feminists).


This stems from at least two responses to feminism:
There are several reasons for this:


==attacks on feminists as humorless==
==Sexist humor==
One, the defensive reaction of anyone who feels they are being critiqued or criticized; it is a subtle attack. It works like this: 
As openly declared prejudice against ethnic groups is no longer considered acceptable, humor based on ethnic stereotypes (polak jokes, for example) has also declined.  Sexism is still culturally acceptable in many quarters, however, and so is sexist humor (blonde jokes, for example).
: A says something sexist ("Women can't drive.").   
: B calls A on the sexist comment ("You know, that's really not true, and in fact is a sexist generalization.")
: A responds by bringing up humorless feminism ("Geez, feminists have got no sense of humor.")


Here, A is attempting to rebuff B's critique by reframing the original comment as "merely" humorous, and suggesting that B is not on the ball and is missing the humor that was implicit.  A's response minimizes both the original sexism (which really isn't funny), and attempts to stifle critical commentary (which also isn't very funny).
Feminists who try to point out that a sexist joke is offensive are often accused of lacking a sense of humor, as this response allows the jester to deny that there was anything offensive about the joke.


If A had a sense of humor, A would be able to hear a valid criticism and say, "Doh! My sexist upbringing strikes again. Sorry." or some other humorous rejoinder which acknowledges the truth of B's observation while indicating that A doesn't take offense at criticism and instead can humorously acknowledge criticism. B could humorously retort, "Yes, you really need reconditioning. As it is now, you'll be among the first up against the wall when the feminist revolution comes."  
==Attacking under pretense of humor==
In her "Verbal Self Defense" books, linguist Suzette Haden Elgin has identified several types of covert verbal attacks. These are ways that a verbal bully can attack their victim subtly. If the victim calls the bully on their attack, one way for the bully to maintain the pretense that they were not actually attacking would be to claim that their verbal attack was not intended seriously: "can't you take a joke?"


Instead, A reveals A's own lack of a sense of humor, or at least, a lack of a robust sense of humor; since it is so easily derailed by a response which doesn't look just at the putative humorous element of the first comment. A sense of humor ought to be able to be woven in and about with truthful and honest speech, and in fact, to many people the funniest things are the things that are true on some level. A sense of humor that only reveals itself in untruthful generalizations is a poor excuse for a sense of humor. "A", here, reveals either that A is (a) very defensive or (b) has a very defective sense of humor, that is either extremely fragile or extremely one-dimensional.  
In Haden Elgin's books, the bully and victim can be any gender.  But when the bully is sexist or misogynist, then we get something like this:
A: Women can't drive.
B: You know, that's really not true, and in fact is a sexist generalization.
A: Geez, feminists have got no sense of humor.


Sexists just have no sense of humor.  (ba-da-bump)
By pretending that he was "only joking," A distances himself from his original sexist remark (de-escalating his attack), and stifles B's criticism of his sexist attitude as being "humorless."


Numerous anti-feminist works have negatively portrayed matriarchal or egalitarian rule as humorless or joyless. For example, Robert Chambers' ''The Gay Rebellion'' (1913)
==Gendered humor==
Many jokes poke fun at (stereotypes of) men and women. Because society is male dominated, jokes that make fun of women are far more common.  If the joke has a biting or misogynist edge, women are unlikely to find the joke funny.


==attacks on women as humorless==
A sexist double standard works in this situation: a woman who responds to such jokes by telling a similarly sharp joke that makes fun of men will be told (by men) "that's not funny," while a woman who responds to such jokes by saying that the woman-hating joke is not funny will be told that she is a humorless feminist.
The attack on feminists as humorless is in part an attack on any sort of critical activism; it is also a sexist attack on women, directly.  


Humor and comedy are gendered in popular perception.  As Gloria Kaufman (''In Stitches: A Patchwork of Feminist Humor and Satire'') and [[Rosalind Warren|Roz Warren]] (''The Best Contemporary Women's Humor''; ''Women's Glibber: State-of-the-Art Women's Humor'') have observed, women are supposed to be somehow less funny than men, or funny only in particular ways (self-deprecating humor, menstrual humor). Female comedians have faced the typical sexist barriers, but also had to combat the notion that women, somehow, are inherently incapable of doing humor. The stereotype of women as humorless has shaped the history of women as professional comedians, and affected the portrayal of female characters in fictional works.  
==Attacks on women as humorless==
 
In part because of the gendered nature of humor and the double standard (that making fun of women is OK, but making fun of men is not), women are supposed to be somehow less funny than men, or funny only in particular ways (self-deprecating humor, menstrual humor). Female comedians have faced the typical sexist barriers, but also had to combat the notion that women, somehow, are inherently incapable of doing humor.   
 
Gloria Kaufman (''In Stitches: A Patchwork of Feminist Humor and Satire'') and [[Rosalind Warren|Roz Warren]] (''The Best Contemporary Women's Humor''; ''Women's Glibber: State-of-the-Art Women's Humor'') discuss this false notion, and their books constitute a debunking of it.  
 
The stereotype of women as humorless has shaped the history of women as professional comedians, and affected the portrayal of female characters in fictional works. Numerous anti-feminist works have portrayed matriarchal or egalitarian rule as humorless or joyless. For example, Robert Chambers' ''The Gay Rebellion'' (1913)


In fact, of course, humor is a survival response and coping mechanism for oppressed groups or underclasses, including women. Satirical humor mocking the privileged and the entire system of privilege (patriarchy) is one direction of humor, and one which may seem particularly un-funny to folks who support patriarchal norms.  
In fact, of course, humor is a survival response and coping mechanism for oppressed groups or underclasses, including women. Satirical humor mocking the privileged and the entire system of privilege (patriarchy) is one direction of humor, and one which may seem particularly un-funny to folks who support patriarchal norms.  

Revision as of 09:03, 10 December 2006

Feminists are routinely lampooned as humorless creatures, as in the classic joke: Q: How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb? A: That's not funny! (that actually is kind of funny, at least to some feminists).

There are several reasons for this:

Sexist humor

As openly declared prejudice against ethnic groups is no longer considered acceptable, humor based on ethnic stereotypes (polak jokes, for example) has also declined. Sexism is still culturally acceptable in many quarters, however, and so is sexist humor (blonde jokes, for example).

Feminists who try to point out that a sexist joke is offensive are often accused of lacking a sense of humor, as this response allows the jester to deny that there was anything offensive about the joke.

Attacking under pretense of humor

In her "Verbal Self Defense" books, linguist Suzette Haden Elgin has identified several types of covert verbal attacks. These are ways that a verbal bully can attack their victim subtly. If the victim calls the bully on their attack, one way for the bully to maintain the pretense that they were not actually attacking would be to claim that their verbal attack was not intended seriously: "can't you take a joke?"

In Haden Elgin's books, the bully and victim can be any gender. But when the bully is sexist or misogynist, then we get something like this:

A: Women can't drive. B: You know, that's really not true, and in fact is a sexist generalization. A: Geez, feminists have got no sense of humor.

By pretending that he was "only joking," A distances himself from his original sexist remark (de-escalating his attack), and stifles B's criticism of his sexist attitude as being "humorless."

Gendered humor

Many jokes poke fun at (stereotypes of) men and women. Because society is male dominated, jokes that make fun of women are far more common. If the joke has a biting or misogynist edge, women are unlikely to find the joke funny.

A sexist double standard works in this situation: a woman who responds to such jokes by telling a similarly sharp joke that makes fun of men will be told (by men) "that's not funny," while a woman who responds to such jokes by saying that the woman-hating joke is not funny will be told that she is a humorless feminist.

Attacks on women as humorless

In part because of the gendered nature of humor and the double standard (that making fun of women is OK, but making fun of men is not), women are supposed to be somehow less funny than men, or funny only in particular ways (self-deprecating humor, menstrual humor). Female comedians have faced the typical sexist barriers, but also had to combat the notion that women, somehow, are inherently incapable of doing humor.

Gloria Kaufman (In Stitches: A Patchwork of Feminist Humor and Satire) and Roz Warren (The Best Contemporary Women's Humor; Women's Glibber: State-of-the-Art Women's Humor) discuss this false notion, and their books constitute a debunking of it.

The stereotype of women as humorless has shaped the history of women as professional comedians, and affected the portrayal of female characters in fictional works. Numerous anti-feminist works have portrayed matriarchal or egalitarian rule as humorless or joyless. For example, Robert Chambers' The Gay Rebellion (1913)

In fact, of course, humor is a survival response and coping mechanism for oppressed groups or underclasses, including women. Satirical humor mocking the privileged and the entire system of privilege (patriarchy) is one direction of humor, and one which may seem particularly un-funny to folks who support patriarchal norms.

Further reading

  • Regina Barreca, Last Laughs: Perspectives on Women and Comedy (1988)
  • Regina Barreca, They Used to Call Me Snow White ... But I Drifted (1992) (essays & theory)
  • Regina Barreca, The Penguin Book of Women's Humor: Women's Strategic Use of Humor
  • Denise Collier and Kathleen Beckett, editors, Spare Ribs: Women in the Humor Biz (1980) (anthology of interviews with female comedians)
  • Nancy Davis, Creme de la Femme: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Women Writers, Lyricists, Playwrights and Cartoonists (1997) (anthology of women's humor)
  • Gloria Kaufman, editor, In Stitches: A Patchwork of Feminist Humor and Satire (1991) (anthology)
  • Gloria Kaufman, Pulling Our Own Strings: Feminist Humor and Satire (anthology)
  • Ann E. Larson & Carole A. Carr, Silverleaf's Choice: An Anthology of Lesbian Humor (1990) (anthology)
  • Linda Morris, American Women Humorists: Critical Essays (1994) (anthology of critical essays)
  • Trina Robbins & Catherine Yronwode, Women and the Comics (1983) (anthology)
  • Trina Robbins, A Century of Women Cartoonists (1993) (anthology)
  • June Sochen, Women's Comic Visions (1991)
  • Nancy Walker & Zita Dresner, editors, American Women's Literary Humor from Colonial Times to the 1980s (1988) (anthology of humor)
  • Nancy Walker, A Very Serious Thing: Women's Humor and American Culture (1988)
  • Rosalind Warren, Women's Glib series (anthologies of humor)
  • Roz Warren, Revolutionary Laughter: The World of Women Comics (anthology of interviews with female comedians)
  • Roz Warren, Dyke Strippers: Lesbian Cartoonists A to Z (anthology of humor)
  • special issues/focuses in Ms., Bust, Bitch magazine
    • Andi Zeisler, "Funny Girls Get No Respect," Bitch magazine
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