I eventually gave up on the study last night and switched on the telly for a while before bed. Channel 4's 100 Greatest Comedy Stand-Ups was on and it made for depressing viewing. Ironic, eh? Ironic that Ed Byrne and his Alanis Morrissette routine featured, certainly.
Only 6 of the 100 who featured are women. I've been saying it for a long time and people disagree with me for the most part but I remain convinced that people do not like funny women, just as they do not like very clever ones. A sweeping generalisation, I know, but when it comes to the braying masses I think it's true. Shane Hegarty touched on it before when he wondered why Maeve Higgins has never appeared on The Panel and Una summed it up nicely in her comment on said post: The deeper meaning: women aren’t supposed to be as funny as men in all in anyways, so let’s just rotate pretty people that have a media profile.
I don't think I'm a feminist (I'm not sure though, because I'm not too sure what "feminist" means). There are times when I feel duty bound to stand up for myself and my vagina though. I'm due to attend a seminar tomorrow on women in the workplace, which I have mixed emotions about. It sounds very 1970s girlpower, doesn't it? I was telling the Gorilla about it a while ago, and he was appalled to think that such a thing might be necessary in 2007. Being an equinanimous sort he found it hard to imagine that anyone would feel at a disadvantage because of their sex (except when it comes to relationships, where for some reason he believes women to have an advantage. Looking at him, I don't fucking think so). I was telling him about how I've experienced it in work with the likes of this shitehawk and how I often hear women in positions of power being spoken of in very masculine terms. I say I have mixed emotions about it because I too would like to think that such a seminar is not necessary, just as I'd like to think that mace and attack alarms are not necessary for the walk home after a night out. I'll be interested to hear what they have to say.
Only 6 of the 100 who featured are women. I've been saying it for a long time and people disagree with me for the most part but I remain convinced that people do not like funny women, just as they do not like very clever ones. A sweeping generalisation, I know, but when it comes to the braying masses I think it's true. Shane Hegarty touched on it before when he wondered why Maeve Higgins has never appeared on The Panel and Una summed it up nicely in her comment on said post: The deeper meaning: women aren’t supposed to be as funny as men in all in anyways, so let’s just rotate pretty people that have a media profile.
I don't think I'm a feminist (I'm not sure though, because I'm not too sure what "feminist" means). There are times when I feel duty bound to stand up for myself and my vagina though. I'm due to attend a seminar tomorrow on women in the workplace, which I have mixed emotions about. It sounds very 1970s girlpower, doesn't it? I was telling the Gorilla about it a while ago, and he was appalled to think that such a thing might be necessary in 2007. Being an equinanimous sort he found it hard to imagine that anyone would feel at a disadvantage because of their sex (except when it comes to relationships, where for some reason he believes women to have an advantage. Looking at him, I don't fucking think so). I was telling him about how I've experienced it in work with the likes of this shitehawk and how I often hear women in positions of power being spoken of in very masculine terms. I say I have mixed emotions about it because I too would like to think that such a seminar is not necessary, just as I'd like to think that mace and attack alarms are not necessary for the walk home after a night out. I'll be interested to hear what they have to say.
