Women Aren't Funny

In an ironically humorless article in the January issue of Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens claimed that women aren't funny. He says women don't need to be funny because they're pretty, so they don't need to use humor to appeal to men.

My argument doesn't say that there are no decent women comedians.There are more terrible female comedians than there are terrible malecomedians, but there are some impressive ladies out there. Most ofthem, though, when you come to review the situation, are hefty or dykeyor Jewish, or some combo of the three.

Drew Carey explained it this way:

Comedy is about aggression and confrontation and power. As a culture we just don't allow women to do all thatstuff.

But the Christian Science Monitor aptly points out the success of Sarah Silverman, who is both funny and hot.

So what does this mean for us female bloggers who have to appeal to our readers with wit, not boobies? (Unless, of course, Brownlee gives us a directive to expose our tits on Malcontents. Or something.) Maybe I should trade in whatever sense of humor I think I have for something more girly and appropriate, like a new makeup kit or a Gucci bag. And Brownlee should trade in his three female writers for macho investment-banking weight-lifting Porsche-driving losers who laugh at their own jokes.

Are women allowed to be funny? [Christian Science Monitor]