WOMENKIND

Female comedians have been present in most of popular culture, allowing a great deal of funny women to make serious careers out of their fanatically humorous personalities. Headlining their own national tours, starring in sitcoms, publishing award-winning novels and producing their own reality series, women like Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin, Betty White, Sarah Silverman and Tina Fey have made their mark and earned the respect of comedy-loving Americans.

So it’s surprising how many male comedians don’t think women are funny. Johnny Carson told Rolling Stone magazine: “The ones that try sometimes are a little aggressive for my taste. I’ll take it from a guy, but from women, sometimes, it just doesn’t fit too well.” Jerry Lewis told an audience that he “didn’t like any female comedians.” Even Tina Fey has admitted that she still hears people “insisting that women are not funny.” The list goes on of public figures declaring that women just aren’t as funny as men. Of course, we here at WomenKind couldn’t help but add our two cents.

We started by polling many of the women and men here at WomenKind, later expanding the questions about humor and gender to our families and close friends. Interestingly, nearly every respondent stated that they found male comics funnier than female comics. The difference, however, was that not a single person stated that women weren’t funny. This brought us to the greater issue, that of public respect and gender equality.

The real issue, of respecting one another in any public forum, has been around ever since we began breaking down large populations into smaller stereotypes of races, genders, ethnicities, and sexualities. We have publically spoken of “our opinions,” as if they didn’t hurt or impact others. As time has progressed, however, we’ve tried to avoid racist and sexist generalizations in hopes of creating a more accepting and loving society. Today, you would never state publically that all black men are athletic.

The issue here isn’t that public figures are stating their disapproval of particular female comics. In fact, that would be preferred. Instead, it’s about grouping others into arbitrary categories that deprive individuals of their individuality. In a world with over 3 billion women, surely some of them are funny.

We don’t pre-judge people by race, because it’s wrong. So let’s stand up and admit that though you may think some female comedians aren’t funny, it’s unhelpful to generalize about them all. It’s not just a woman thing; it’s a human respect thing. We’re better than that.