One thing I have always loved is comedy. I love laughing, funny shows, and watching admittedly too much stand up comedy. I like simple, dumb humor – something like making a ‘neeooowww’ noise to mock the expensive car that’s entirely too loud. I also like complex humor – jokes that require set up, expert crafting, and maybe a call-back later in the bit. But not all comedians are created equal. Some people just aren’t funny. Some men are so unimaginative they decide to make sexist comments and call it humor. Newsflash: You aren’t funny. You can’t even come up with a simple comedic routine. Maybe it’s laziness, or a fear of failure, but either way I’m tired of it.
Like I said, I watch a lot of stand up comedy. Most of the time I watch shows, enjoy them, and think nothing more of it. Occasionally, I come across a comedian that makes me turn off the TV. What kind of comments make me reach for the remote?
“Women aren’t funny”
“Women can’t drive”
“Women are crazy”
“Make me a sandwich, woman”
I’m absolutely sick of it. Do you seriously have no other content to pull from, so you decide to fill the time with oversaid sexist stereotypes? For one thing, these comments have been made over and over so many times that originality is thrown out of the window. I mean, when was the last time someone laughed at “Why did the chicken cross the road?” But imagine that joke made a little differently: “Why did the hen cross the road? Because all hens are stupid.” Not funny, right? And it doesn’t make sense either. We assume all chickens would have the same level of intelligence,and I’m so glad we can grant that respect to animals but not women.
I’m tired of lazy, uncreative men making ‘jokes’ at the expense of women. Plenty of women are funny, most men are just too misogynistic to admit it. The app YikYak proved that for me. For years I have felt like I needed to try harder to prove I am funny around guys. With an anonymous app, and some changed pronouns, I quickly found success. But that feeling, that satisfaction, was short-lived. It was just another reminder that because of my gender I’m seen as less than by so many.
Now to address the other most frequent comments. “Make me a sandwich.” The classic, a commentary on old gender roles. Historically women would cook and gather while men hunted. The last time this gender role was seriously enforced was the 1950s. So yes, women were expected to make sandwiches, but I think we are forgetting a key part of this equation. Women were expected to cook because the men were busy fighting wars. Make you a sandwich? Sure, just let me know when you get out of your boxers and suit up for battle. Oh, and not the one on your Xbox, you’d have to leave your mother’s basement for the war I’m talking about. In general I find this joke sad. It’s pathetic really, I mean you seriously can’t put two slices of bread together on your own?
“Women are crazy.” This is usually followed up with some story about how an ex-girlfriend keyed a car, or something along those lines. Women are crazy? Women fear men’s crazy reactions to rejection because they are typically met with violence. “Just say no!” sounds so simple when you’ve never seen how men react when they are told no.
As for comments like “Women can’t drive”… I don’t even want to dignify these with a response. They’re not true. Plain and simple. It isn’t factual and it isn’t funny. It seems like the people who make these jokes start by saying “Women can’t-” then roll the dice on mundane tasks to finish the sentence. They’re just sexist Mad Libs.
I’m not stuck up for not laughing at sexist jokes. I don’t lack a sense of humor. I’ve heard these stupid comments hundreds of times. I know the cycle will continue though. A sexist comment, renamed a joke, is made. I don’t laugh. The man who made the comment will call this a fault of mine to cover for his inadequacy. My opinion remains the same. If you call sexist comments jokes, you aren’t funny.