Letters to the Editor
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Some women
are funny and some are painfully unfunny and some have no sense of humor whatsoever.
The exact same thing goes for men.
End of story.
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This is old news
I've always laughed when meeting a feminist.
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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.
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Feminism is the new funny?
Yup - every time I read Andrea Dworkin's assertions that romance, heterosexual intercourse and marriage are all unqualified acts of rape, I laugh my head off!
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@ Sandra M
There's a difference between "serious" and "humorless".
Serious: fighting for equal pay, an end to domestic violence, etc.
Humorless: Accusing someone who is doing nothing but eating a banana in your presence of sexual harassment. (and yes, this has actually happened.)
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Kudos to Tina and Amy for showing that the feminist stereotype of being "humorless" doesn't apply to all members of the ideology - MacKinnon and Dworkin aside.
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Feminism and fart jokes the new funny?
Whatever.
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Obamaboys
The rewards keep coming don't they Ms. Traister?
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You said it Amy
"The way to do it," said Poehler, "is to do what men do, which is you just assume power. You're not grateful for it."
Bingo.
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Funny conversations between feminists and the men who are deeply threatened by women's equality
Feminist: "I'd really appreciate it if you didn't talk down to me."
MWDTBWE: "But Andrea Dworkin was a nut job who said that heterosexual intercourse is rape!"
Feminist: "Would you please help me with the housework since I'm working a full time job and raising our children, too?"
MWDTBWE: "But Andrea Dworkin advocated killing men!"
Feminist: "Ha ha! Christopher Hitchins is so full of himself that he seriously believes that women aren't funny!"
MWDTBWE: "But Andrea Dworkin was an opinionated bitch with a pen!"
Feminist under 30: "Who the fuck is Andrea Dworkin?"
MWDTBWE: "She was a bad person! A really bad one! So much so that all women must serve men from now on!"
Feminist: "Um. I'm going to tell all my girlfiends not to date you. K bye."
MWDTBWE: "That's just what Andrea Dworkin said! You feminists are all ALIKE!"
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Yes women are funny
Now run along and make me a sandwich, hon.
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Feminist fart joke
What happens when Hillary Clinton breaks wind?
Iran gets blown off the map.
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It's time for SNL to vacate and let the Saturday Late Movie come back.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are not necessarily funny as much as they are lucky. The SNL brand is still milking (no pun) it's rep from it's 70s heyday, and not nearly as funny as they want you to think it is. While they're sitting there talking about all of their 'inspirations' how about putting Gilda Radner, Larraine Newman, and Jane Curtain on the list. Remember those guys? The ones that actually made SNL worth watching? The ones that didn't have to rely on fart jokes to be funny? The SNL of today means cracking up in the middle of a sketch on live TV...never seen that before. How genius. I'm sure 'Baby Mama' is filled with the same 'check out how topical and funny I am' writing as much as 30 Rock and SNL are. Sounds like a must avoid to me. I'll put movie ticket money on the Mad TV Season One DVD instead. A MUCH better and funnier show by far
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The Christopher Hitchens article
I haven't read this infamous article, but I just read an interview with Sarah Silverman and she said she thought it was a good article. Is it possible it's being really misrepresented?
I really like Amy Poehler and I was interested in hearing a real interview with her - but got this desperate attempt to put some kind of tired feminist angle into the mix. Great female comedians are nothing new. SCTV's Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin are two examples that were overlooked here.
And fart jokes are never, ever, ever funny. I don't care what Amy Poehler says.
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@Tronic
Hitchens' article, like all his writing, was pompous and overstated but speckled with some points here and there that, if perhaps not correct, were at least interesting and thought-provoking. I think Sarah Silverman liked it because of this part where Hitchens admits there are some exceptions to the rule: "Most of them, though, when you come to review the situation, are hefty or dykey or Jewish, or some combo of the three." I find it hard to say that this doesn't carry a whiff of truth, most likely because our pre-conceived cultural notions often prevent people from finding a blonde, conventionally pretty woman funny.
Basically, I disagree with Hitchens' that it the 'humor gap' is somehow intrinsic, but I wonder if it doesn't at least shed some light on our cultural perceptions. And as much as I disagree with him, his words come back to haunt me every time I hear women gushing about Sex and the City.
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Funny women, maybe. Funny movie, NO!
This movie, Baby Mama, absolutely STUNK! It just wasn't funny. Sorry. I'm all for women's rights and equality and all that, but the movie simply stunk.
This article claims to claim that this supposedly funny movie proves that women can be strong, intelligent, independent, funny, savvy, career-minded and family-minded people capable of breaking out of the old stereotypical dichotomy of having to choose between a family and a career.
I just watched this movie, and not only did I not laugh even once, but I was dismayed and even a little offended at all of the same tired old stereotypes that it leans heavily upon. This movie is far from a ground-breaker and standard-bearer for feminists. This movie is just the opposite.
Fey's character is a successful business executive who wants to have a child. Fine. She goes to a surrogate service. Fey then proceeds to select the very first surrogate they send over. Despite the fact that said surrogate (Poehler) is obviously immature, uneducated, smokes, drinks, lives like a pig, talks like a drunken sailor, and is involved in a common-law marriage with an extremely stereotypical poor, ignorant, white-trash man.
And the stereotypes don't stop with the main characters-there's the doorman at Fey's building. Why is it that young black actors keep taking roles that perpetuate negative stereotypes of black people?!? "You got'choo a baby mama? You pay the bills, she have da baby, dat's called a Baby Mama. I know, I got two of 'em." Such great prose.
The movie was also as predictable as it was unfunny. Fey is apparently so unfamiliar with the whole process of having a baby that she never notices that after 16 weeks of supposed pregnancy Poehler still has a flat stomach. Near the end when Fey finally, miraculously, become pregnant herself, the doctor tells her that she's about 8 weeks along. What? And she didn't seem to notice a missing menstruation or two?
This movie is not a boon to the feminist movement. In fact, Fey and Poehler should apologize to feminists and to everyone who honestly yearn for equality and an end to negative stereotyping.
"And we really think fart jokes are funny." Really, Amy? That's great. Is that what feminism is fighting for, the right to be as equally as low and boorish and gross as your male peers? Well kudos to you.
I want two hours of my life back.