I have to disclose that the type of article I’m about to discuss makes me feel homicidal. This is an old article from 2007, and readers have pointed it out to us before, and I believe maybe Maria linked to it once? I don’t know, but it’s familiar. A reader, shre, sent us this link again: Vanity Fair’s Christopher Hitchens article entitled “Why Women Aren’t Funny.” Hitchens gets some help from Fran Lebowitz and Nora Ephron.
Hitchens describes how the ability to make women laugh is an evolutionary necessity for men to attract female mates. That’s completely stupid, despite his obligatory citation of a study he thinks backs it up. But this was the bit that really pissed me off. He’s talking about the ability to make a potential mate laugh:
Women have no corresponding need to appeal to men in this way. They already appeal to men, if you catch my drift.
Really? Let’s ask all the wallflower women who got shoved to the sidelines because the boys and later men didn’t notice them. Let’s ask all the fat girls who later lost the weight and noticed a helluva difference in how many men tripped over themselves to light their cigarettes. Let’s ask all the women whose bad acne cleared up. In short, what Hitchens means by “women” is “women who titillate my penis.” Like so many men, he isn’t even aware of the existence of physically unattractive women who, like physically unattractive men, sure could use an ability like humor as an alternate inroad with potential mates. But as long as men are uncomfortable with funny women, or feel upstaged by them, or just sort of fail to process that yes, Virginia, that’s hilarity coming out of a female larynx, being funny won’t get women anywhere with men.
So, extending Hitchens’ theory with logic, being funny helps men get to bed with women who are way cuter than they are, but women who would like to date men better-looking than themselves should not exist.
Otherwise, the article is not actually as heinous as the headline makes it sound. Hitchens states that women are often funny and make good comedians. His point is simply that men desperately need humor as an evolutionary advantage, but women don’t since we are all uniformly the tall thin Caucasian-featured double-E-titted silky-straight-haired perfect-skinned creatures that drooling manboyz (particularly in L.A.) feel entitled to be with. It’s his assumption that he can accurately assess the situation of women competing for men that stinks of male privilege. He’s in no position to know, as indeed he doesn’t know, but he thinks he knows, for he is a man.
And I can’t decide if this point is worse, or just sadder. The poor fool somehow missed the fact that this laugh:
I am talking about that real, out-loud, head-back, mouth-open-to-expose-the-full-horseshoe-of-lovely-teeth, involuntary, full, and deep-throated mirth; the kind that is accompanied by a shocked surprise and a slight (no, make that a loud) peal of delight
Is something women have been trained to manufacture for centuries, because, we were taught, you get yourself a man by appealing to his ego, and men like to think they’re funny, even though they usually aren’t. It’s the same reason women fake orgasms.
The male attempt to make women laugh is not about impressing women. It’s about men impressing themselves.
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Well, considering Jennifer’s article on Survivor Abuse and Silence, I’m assuming even if they(men) DID know a rape victim personally, be it a friend, girlfriend, sibling or relative, they’d just get uncomfortable about it and DENY DENY DENY their loved one(s) were/was raped…then they’d go listen to some rape jokes on Opie and Anthony or something.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
OH, I hate that!
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
That’s awesome!
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
It gets even ickier: men who know rape victims sometimes are also rapists themselves, who pass for upstanding good citizens and choose their victims carefully to minimize their chances of ever being caught. We don’t have great statistics about how many male rapists might exist, or what percentage of men might be rapists, but the best statistics we have suggest at least 10% of men are rapists. And this is based on people anonymously asking men if they’ve “forced sex” on people, and their own responses – not reported cases or anything.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
So what about women who like other women? Are they allowed to be funny or supposed to attract each other with their boobs too?
M.C.(Quote) (Reply)
Women who like other women just haven’t heard a really good joke yet.
The Other Patrick(Quote) (Reply)
lol. I think you just found a cure for all those nasty lez bitches. Maybe you should e-mail the Pope, I’m sure he’ll grant you saint-hood for your achievment.
M.C.(Quote) (Reply)
“…and now, as an act of fighting rampant lesbianism, Pope Benedict will forego the traditional Urbi et Orbi and give us his newest comedy dance routine…”
The Other Patrick(Quote) (Reply)
Wow, that’s terrible.
Kind of off topic, but this is part of the reason why I wish they would teach more about rape and consent in schools. There’s debate over putting the mechanics of it out there, but I’d assume that at least talking about the ethics of consent,and who gets raped and why would be acceptable.
Nicky P(Quote) (Reply)
Oh, yes. I’ve had more than enough of him spending years telling me what my religious beliefs are.
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
Based on what I’ve read, I’m sure that the vast majority of men who say they don’t know any rape victims simply don’t know that some of the people they know are rape victims. (If you follow me.)
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
Yes, another reason why I loved Sports Night so much, and was so irked by Sorkin’s later Studio 60.
I just don’t get the idea of “telling jokes” as being funny. Being funny is so much more than that – heck, most of my Internet Crushes are funny, but none of the tell jokes. They write and perform material.
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
From the context, he seems to be including Jewish as part of list of “unnattractive” features like being “hefty” or “dykey.” Which goes further to show what a bigot he is.
BTW, this is the same guy who has claimed that religion is the cause of anti-Semitism.
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
Yes. For example, my favorite types of humor are deadpan snark and character quirks, but apparently neither of those count as humor. Possibly because women engage in them.
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
Big time. I think we ALL know more rape victims than we realize, because it’s a culturally silenced subject, so people just don’t bring it up. Also, people who do share that sort of info often get confronted with discouraging amounts of ignorance/lack of sympathy and don’t do it again.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Well, he does think that many female comedians look “dykey,” so presumably that’s why they try to be funny. Because no queer woman (or man attracted to women) would ever find such a look attractive. /sarcasm
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
Yeah, I’m considered “funny”, but when complete strangers find that out they expect me to perform like a wind-up toy and tell a joke for them, when A.) I suck when I’m put on the spot and I can’t think on my feet and B.) My funny doesn’t work that way!
Jokes suck.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Gee, I thought douche bags were the cause of Antisemitism.
This vaguely reminds me of a scene in Anti-Christ, where the wife says she’s been examining Misogyny throughout history and came to the conclusion that teh menz were RIGHT and women suffer because wimmenz are inherently EEEEVIIIIL! …Then she cuts off her own clit with a pair of rusty scissors, I think. Yeah, what kind of insane troll logic does it take to come to THAT conclusion~?!?!)
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Why is this guy even allowed to write for ANYTHING besides maybe his own pithy ironic, trust-fund baby BAAAW-blog (that no one would frequent)?
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
So much for Hitchens, because this comment is fantastic.
Thanks for making me laugh out loud, Gena.
zgeycp(Quote) (Reply)
“I also wonder why dry humor is discounted here a bit too. I have a very, very dry sense of humor that is never going to make anyone guffaw. Somehow this is, then, not “really” funny? I call bullshit.”
IAWTC. One of the biggest reasons I love my wife is because she appreciates my (quite dry) sense of humor, and can make me smile or chuckle with her own witticisms.
I will admit her sense of humor was not what initially attracted me…but I’d say it has a LOT to do with why we’re still together 10 years later.
Jay(Quote) (Reply)
The kind regularly used by Lars von Trier. His body of work basically boils down to “Yay misogyny and xenophobia!”
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
I don’t know, I really don’t. I know he has some following from (some) atheists who like his anti-religion screeds, either because they’re just as bigoted as he is or because they’re so starved for something speaking out against the religious extremism that they face that they can’t really distinguish intelligent criticism from ignorant ranting.
But then Newsweek goes and has him write an article about the interior politics of the Roman Catholic Church. Even though he has written entire books demonstrating his ignorance of such things.
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
That really sucks. Now I’m pissed about that film winning so many awards. I WANTED to like it ‘cuz it looked so fucked up(the way I WANT to like most horror movies), but when the “T” at the end of “Anti-Christ” is spelled with the female symbol…yeah, we’ve got some fukken’ PROBLEMS.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve seen several of von Trier’s other works, and knew I wouldn’t want to see Ant-Christ after learning that the two leads’ names are “Man” and “Woman.”
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
BUT IT’S LIEK SO DEEP, MAAAAAAAAAN~!!![/sarcasm]
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Here is a YouTube of the Mary Poppins laughter song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx7lz5X2vKk
I think the relevant part starts about 1:58.
meerkat(Quote) (Reply)
Something I’ve always been disappointed about re: female comedians, is how often their comedy is about laughing at their own gender (or periods/breasts, etc) rather than situations. I guess there are male comedians who constantly joke about sex or how much women suck or driving or something, but yeah. I’m not interested in them, so I just ignore them. When I see a female comedian I go out of my way to watch her, hoping to like her, and often I can’t really relate to the comedy. (I’m female). I’m not saying there shouldn’t be jokes about kids and partners and uteruses, because they have a right to fit into comedy too, but I’d just like to see *more* of other things as well.
Can anyone recommend any good female comedians I might enjoy?
Notebookinhand(Quote) (Reply)
Sarah Haskins is awesome. She has a series available on Youtube called “Target: Women” that rips apart advertising brilliantly. While it is gender-related, the series is mostly about how ridiculous and insulting the messages sent by advertising are.
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
Yeah, I like “Target Women” and “That’s So Gay” (that pokes fun at gay stereotypes in the media), just whatever you do, DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS SECTION! YouTube is the toilet of the internetz.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
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