Letters to the Editor
-
Why do feminists need to be funny?
I don't hear anyone taking Jesse Jackson or Malcom X to task for their lack of levity. Everyone assumes that civil rights is a serious business led by serious people and the fact that King and Jackson weren't laff riots was never held up as some sort of evidence that men in general lack a sense of humor.
Generally, serious people tackle serious issues on the public stage, and being funny is as incidental as being tall or blonde. It can help, sure, but it's neither a necessary nor sufficient condition to get the job done.
So some feminists aren't funny - so what. That doesn't mean women aren't funny. Extrapolating the dominance of men in the comedic arts to mean that only men are funny, or that men are more funny, is like saying that the perennial popularity of blondes like Marilyn Monroe and Pamela Anderson and Jessica Simpson is evidence that men only prefer blondes. There are plenty of satisfied brunettes out there who wouldn't bother to argue this point, and yet, women continually feel the need to respond the ridiculous bait of the Hitchens' of the world.
I'm always a woman, always a feminist, and sometimes funny. It isn't necessary to be all three, all the time.