When your 19-year-old brother refuses to watch a stand-up comedy special with you because he’s not “in the mood” for a female comedian you realize why you undertook this project in the first place.
Reasons he listed for why he doesn’t like female comedians:
- “They’re so sexual”
- “They’re too feminist”
- “They talk about things I can’t relate to”
Now I know some may think I’m overreacting because my brother doesn’t want to watch female comedians. I think I’m reacting just enough. Because after some badgering he more or less admitted that he thinks girls aren’t funny.
I know many people feel this way. I’ve experienced it firsthand and I’ve talked to many women who’s jokes aren’t laughed at until their male peers retold the joke. Some might say their delivery might have been wrong but we know the truth. This is the first time someone has directly admitted to me that they believe girls aren’t funny.
It became crystal clear when he said: “They talk about things I can’t relate to”. This makes sense. As a woman, I’ve sat through stand-up comedy shows, movies, music on the radio, all talk trash about women. Women are crazy, women are dependent on their male counterpart, women eat dick for breakfast, women are this, women are that. But because you have the privilege to decide whether you want to listen to someone else’s experience you can decide girls aren’t funny.
Women talk about having sex, about our periods, our body image, our ongoing fight to choose what we do with our body. And it’s fucking hilarious. It’s goddamn beautiful that in the midst of all the bullshit women deal with, we can still make people laugh. We can laugh together, at each other, with each other.
Of course, I love my brother and of course that hasn’t changed. I just immediately made him watch Sarah Silverman. However, this moment reaffirmed why I started this website.
My dream is that one day this website can retire because the idea that Girls Aren’t Funny is an archaic concept. My dream is that we can start with each other. Each time we make each other laugh we move a little in the right direction. We need to tell our stories. Our hilarious stories.
Because our story matters too.