Humorless feminism

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:

attacks on feminists as humorless

One, the defensive reaction of anyone who feels they are being critiqued or criticized; it is a subtle attack. It works like this:

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).

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."

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.

Sexists just have no sense of humor. (ba-da-bump)

Numerous anti-feminist works have negatively portrayed matriarchal or egalitarian rule as humorless or joyless. For example, Robert Chambers' The Gay Rebellion (1913)

attacks on women as humorless

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 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.

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.