Now Who's Laughing?
I doubt that Sigmund Freud was ever the funniest guy at the dinner party.
He famously claimed that women don't need a sense of humour because they have fewer strong feelings to repress. Then, a few years ago, British writer and notorious chain yanker, Christopher Hitchens, got a lot of us 'sisters' riled when he wrote in Vanity Fair that 'women just aren't funny'.
Uh, excuse me. Tina Faye is not hilarious funny?
A surprising amount has been researched and written on the subject and I recently went to a presentation on the psychology of humour and the gender.
Apparently, women comedians don't get as many laughs as their male counterparts. Even in comedy, it seems, we do have greater hurdles to success.
I was also surprised to hear that the most laughter comes from male comedians with a female audience. The next highest on the laughter meter is a male comedian with a male audience, and third in line is a female comedian with a female audience. Finally, a woman comedian with male audience gets the fewest laughs. Why is this?
The theory is that men are trained to interrupt and be the center of attention, so they are more comfortable pouring out their stories than passively waiting for others to tell them. In other words, men are socialized to dominate conversation, while women are raised to be good listeners.
Now This is Funny
I just saw the movie, "Bridesmaids," and I did LOL along with the rest of the packed movie theatre. The bridesmaids in this story indulging in antics typically reserved for men. The men in the audience were there laughing (or squirming) right along side the women.
It is a watershed movie and is busting down the barriers between the genders. And, it is proof women are funny...hilarious in fact. Take that Sigmund Freud!
Freud's claim that women aren't funny is consistent with an article in the New Yorker which said, "Studio executives believe that male moviegoers would rather prep for a colonoscopy than experience a woman's point of view, particularly if the woman drinks, or swears or has a great job or an orgasm."
I doubt that Sigmund Freud was ever the funniest guy at the dinner party.
He famously claimed that women don't need a sense of humour because they have fewer strong feelings to repress. Then, a few years ago, British writer and notorious chain yanker, Christopher Hitchens, got a lot of us 'sisters' riled when he wrote in Vanity Fair that 'women just aren't funny'.
Uh, excuse me. Tina Faye is not hilarious funny?
A surprising amount has been researched and written on the subject and I recently went to a presentation on the psychology of humour and the gender.
Apparently, women comedians don't get as many laughs as their male counterparts. Even in comedy, it seems, we do have greater hurdles to success.
I was also surprised to hear that the most laughter comes from male comedians with a female audience. The next highest on the laughter meter is a male comedian with a male audience, and third in line is a female comedian with a female audience. Finally, a woman comedian with male audience gets the fewest laughs. Why is this?
The theory is that men are trained to interrupt and be the center of attention, so they are more comfortable pouring out their stories than passively waiting for others to tell them. In other words, men are socialized to dominate conversation, while women are raised to be good listeners.
Now This is Funny
I just saw the movie, "Bridesmaids," and I did LOL along with the rest of the packed movie theatre. The bridesmaids in this story indulging in antics typically reserved for men. The men in the audience were there laughing (or squirming) right along side the women.
It is a watershed movie and is busting down the barriers between the genders. And, it is proof women are funny...hilarious in fact. Take that Sigmund Freud!
Freud's claim that women aren't funny is consistent with an article in the New Yorker which said, "Studio executives believe that male moviegoers would rather prep for a colonoscopy than experience a woman's point of view, particularly if the woman drinks, or swears or has a great job or an orgasm."