Women perceive the ability for a man to produce humor as a good quality for a potential mate. This is because humor producing abilities go hand in hand with being perceived as physically fit and all around healthier according to Christopher Wilbur and Lorne Campbell. Humor and perceived level of humor are both important components to the start of romantic relationships as was found in this particular study. It was also pretty evident that how humorous a woman thought a man was could be not only based on how funny he actually was but also based on his other traits as well. this is due to the fact that by a man being funny he is also showing a woman that he has other likable traits as well like intelligence, for example which is linked to a good sense of humor (Campbell & Wilbur 2011). I found the findings of this article to be interesting, however I would have liked to see the reverse side of this, how men respond to women’s humor producing abilities. Also, in this study they used all different age groups, ranging from kids in high school all the way up to adults in their 60s. I think the findings may have been more concrete if the difference in ages of participants wasn’t so great.
An article published in Vanity Fair titled “Women aren’t Funny” explains this claim by attributing it to biology, evolution, and science. Women already appeal to men, because their physically desirable while men can’t rely merely on their looks to get by. They need something more, something funny. In this article, the author interviews some female comedians to see if his theories on humor right. Fran Lebowitz a famous female comedian said on the matter, "The cultural values are male; for a woman to say a man is funny is the equivalent of a man saying that a woman is pretty. Also, humor is largely aggressive and pre-emptive, and what's more male than that?" Also in this article it is speculated that “the reason women aren’t funny” has to do with the fact that humor is a sign of intelligence and for many, many years young girls were told not to appear too smart because men didn’t like that in a wife and that men “simply want women as their audience and not their rivals.” Although I disagree with the pretty bold title of this article, I did see how humor may be perceived as a male dominated field, also, it’s not necessarily that women aren’t funny, but it’s just men don’t want them to be.
Wilbur, C., & Campbell, L. (2011). Humor in romantic contexts: Do men participate and women evaluate?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(7), 918-929.
Sophie- I think the articles you chose work very well to get your point across. I think the first study you mentioned should have focused mainly on young adults like around ages 18-30 because the study dealt with how humor is a trait people may look for in a partner. By focusing on that age group (the age group that is most likely to be dating or entering into new relationships) I think the results would be more conclusive.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. I definitely agree that being funny is viewed as masculine. Thinking back to high school and middle school, almost all of the "class clown" types were boys, and any girls who were class clowns were seen as more masculine. Typically, the "class clown" guys would have feminine female friends who would laugh at all their jokes but never joke around themselves. I wonder if there is a way a woman could be funny and still feminine in this society. Also, feminine men are sometimes viewed as funny, but it's usually because we are laughing at them, not with them.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. The article you used explain your point very well. Like Emily stated when I was in highschool as well boys always seemed to be the class clown. A lot of the time girls would get in more trouble if they were making jokes in class or fooling around, when nothing was really said to the boys if they were doing the same exact thing. I really like where you went with your blog it was very interesting.
ReplyDeleteSophie: I found your research and insights to be very interesting. I never thought of humor as a male characteristic because of socialization. It's also fascinating that women are raised to be the audience and that humor is seen to go hand and hand with intelligence. Your blog solves all the pieces of the puzzle; it's not that women aren't funny, they just aren't encouraged to be funny and they have less opportunities to show their sense of humors. Great post!
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