Women, Men, and Comedy

Within the last couple of weeks, we have explored the different relationships between popular culture and gender, including the “princess culture,” feminism and masculinity, gender stereotypes, and now women in comedy. Within one particular article entitled “Why Women Aren't Funny,” Christopher Hitchens' presented his argument of why women, in general, are not funny. The key points of Hitchens' argument included the beliefs that women do not have to be funny, humor is more masculine, men do not want women to be funny, and that women are too serious. Hitchens' does admit that there are funny women in comedy. However, he rather quickly stereotyped these successful, female comedians as either “hefty or dykey or Jewish.” Even though there do seem to be more funny men in the entertainment business, I would have to disagree with Hitchens' argument, which appears to be largely rooted in his own biased, and even sexist, opinion.

I believe that Hitchens' overlooked an important idea concerning women in comedy and even men in comedy. What people, male or female, classify as “funny” is rather subjective in nature. Different factors influence one's sense of humor, including the way that one is raised, one's experiences in life, one's culture and even one's beliefs. One person may find something funny, whether it be a comedian, a joke, or movie, while another person might not. Furthermore, the subjectivity of comedy in return affects how people perceive both male and female comedians and actors. For example, I personally believe that women can be just as funny as men. Are women always as funny as men? No. Are men always funnier than women? No. In conclusion, I believe that a lot of people have the ability to be funny, including both men and women.