Hitchens: The Connection Between Humor And Women
In our daily life, we all live with humor. Humor is a very essential part of our life. Nevertheless everyone doesn’t perceive humor in the same way. Man and woman have different views toward humor. That’s why some people say that humor has a connection with gender. In his article Christopher Hitchens has mentioned various reasons for women not being as funny as men. I believe Hitchers has captured most of the fundamental truths about humor and gender. Men are funnier than women because they want to be superior with no regard of the consequences, unlike women who tend to be fair and analyze the consequences of a joke before laughing at it.
In the Vanity Fair article ‘Why women are not funny?’ Christopher Hichens expressed the reason of men being funnier than women. In this article he mentioned the scientific study where the outcome was, even though women perceive the funny part same way as man do, they tend to identify the unfunny part very fast. On the other hand unlike women, men would laugh at almost anything. A man tends to laugh at someone’s expense, where a …show more content…
woman expects life to be fair and beautiful. Since humor is a sign of intelligence, men don’t even want to experience it in women; rather they want women to be the audience, whom they can please. According to Hichens women owns the unchallengeable authority of domination by the power of childbirth. So they don’t even mind in giving up the authority of being funny to men.
If we think carefully then we will realize that there are various reasons for women being less funny.
One of the reasons is that women are taught to stay reserved and composed throughout their lives. However to be funny one have to expose herself, but many women tend not to like divulging themselves up to others. That’s why women don’t like to join the ``insanity`` of being funny. They would rather nurture their ``egos and norms`` and live with those.
According to Psychologist Sigmund Freud ‘Ego’ is the part of mind which contains consciousness, which he further revised to be a set of psychic functions such as judgment, tolerance, reality testing, control, intellectual functioning etc. Many will agree that the word ego goes with women quite well. Most women live with their own egos which is the combination of all those psychic functions, which doesn’t permit them to embrace all type of
jokes.
Norm which is regarded as a social rule, regulation, or an informal agreement prescribes and regulates behavior in a particular situation. It is an authoritative rule or standard by which something is judged on the basis of approved or disapproved. Several fields of philosophy especially ethics, aesthetics, and logic evaluates such rules. If we think about any funniest joke, then we will realize that it is trying to violate the social norms. Usually a woman will hesitate more to go against of these social norms then a man.
Most of the time men want to win the superiority in a group. That’s why they tend to be mean to others. The best way to be mean to others without causing trouble is being funny. We can say lots of things as a joke. Unlike man a woman don’t want to be mean to become superior; rather they want to be rational to everyone without losing their composure. This is another reason for most women being reserved and poised than men.
Women usually like to stay serious. They don’t want to lose themselves in jokes and funny remarks. Generally they would prefer to analyze the after effect of a joke. A man might simply throw a joke without thinking how it might affect others, but a woman wouldn’t do such things. Scientific research shows that Women like analyzing the language more and they look far beyond the ‘punch line’ of the joke (Britten).
One of the thumb rules of being funny is ‘taking a joke’, which might sometimes be quite insulting. Usually men are good at taking jokes or being the funniest part of the joke, but usually it is quite difficult finding women who are ready to accept such insults. A research conducted by Professor Sam Shuster of Norflok and Norwich University Hospital shows that males are more likely to use humor aggressively and make others the ‘butt of the joke’ (Britten). Most of the jokes are about sex, race, sexual orientation, fate, natural origin, ethnicity, gender differences, educational level, age differences, obese etc. It will be hard to find any Women who would want to be ridiculed regarding all these matters. That’s why they don’t want to make fun of others regarding all these differences.
Men try various ways to win the attraction of female. Dr. Nick Neave, a psychologist at the University of Northumbria, believes that men responds aggressively when they see other men taking away the attraction of women from them. On the other hand according to Professor Shuster of Norflok and Norwich University Hospital, the initial aggressive intent becomes channeled into a more subtle and sophistical joke, that’s why aggression is hidden by wit. (Britten)
If we ask any women what they want most dearly out of life, there might be a variety of answers. However, behind most of those answers the common hidden word is “security”. Most women want to be secure in life. They want a secure home, a secure life partner, even a secure happiness. If we look around, then we will see that it is quite easy for most men to move away from a long term relationship. That’s why to keep them in the same relationship woman creates a lifetime goal for them. The goal of “pleasing a woman”. The best way to please someone is to make them smile. That’s why women tend to stay conserved all over the world and men try to please them with humor.
We might have noticed that a woman wouldn’t like saying coarse words or swearing in front of a child, doesn’t matter her own or of others. Since the woman doesn’t want the child to pickup such habits which would adversely affect their sensitivity. Especially most mothers are very careful not to allow others uttering bad words or making bad remarks in front of their children. Nevertheless lots of jokes contain coarse language and vulgar topics. So it’s very normal for most women to negate and resist vulgar topics. Even though bringing up a child is a father’s responsibility too but still today, all over the world, mothers spend most of the time with their children. That’s why they don’t want anything being exposed to their children that might have some negative influence on their children.
Humor, jokes and amusement are the synonyms terminologies that are significant part of human life. To be able to laugh is a quality but laughing at anything is not particularly essential. Life should not be about ridiculing others only for few moment of enjoyment. What is joke for one might be a very painful embarrassment for others. Women like enjoying safe humor which wouldn’t hurt anyone. That’s why there are many jokes or funny incidents that fail to amuse women but it easily entertain men. The physiological aspect of women may also be a reason of not making them apt to humor. On the contrary the complexity of masculine mind combined with masculine physiology may be an added advantage to laugh at anything and everything.
In the Vanity Fair article ‘Why women are not funny?’ Christopher Hichens expressed the reason of men being funnier than women. In this article he mentioned the scientific study where the outcome was, even though women perceive the funny part same way as man do, they tend to identify the unfunny part very fast. On the other hand unlike women, men would laugh at almost anything. A man tends to laugh at someone’s expense, where a …show more content…
woman expects life to be fair and beautiful. Since humor is a sign of intelligence, men don’t even want to experience it in women; rather they want women to be the audience, whom they can please. According to Hichens women owns the unchallengeable authority of domination by the power of childbirth. So they don’t even mind in giving up the authority of being funny to men.
If we think carefully then we will realize that there are various reasons for women being less funny.
One of the reasons is that women are taught to stay reserved and composed throughout their lives. However to be funny one have to expose herself, but many women tend not to like divulging themselves up to others. That’s why women don’t like to join the ``insanity`` of being funny. They would rather nurture their ``egos and norms`` and live with those.
According to Psychologist Sigmund Freud ‘Ego’ is the part of mind which contains consciousness, which he further revised to be a set of psychic functions such as judgment, tolerance, reality testing, control, intellectual functioning etc. Many will agree that the word ego goes with women quite well. Most women live with their own egos which is the combination of all those psychic functions, which doesn’t permit them to embrace all type of
jokes.
Norm which is regarded as a social rule, regulation, or an informal agreement prescribes and regulates behavior in a particular situation. It is an authoritative rule or standard by which something is judged on the basis of approved or disapproved. Several fields of philosophy especially ethics, aesthetics, and logic evaluates such rules. If we think about any funniest joke, then we will realize that it is trying to violate the social norms. Usually a woman will hesitate more to go against of these social norms then a man.
Most of the time men want to win the superiority in a group. That’s why they tend to be mean to others. The best way to be mean to others without causing trouble is being funny. We can say lots of things as a joke. Unlike man a woman don’t want to be mean to become superior; rather they want to be rational to everyone without losing their composure. This is another reason for most women being reserved and poised than men.
Women usually like to stay serious. They don’t want to lose themselves in jokes and funny remarks. Generally they would prefer to analyze the after effect of a joke. A man might simply throw a joke without thinking how it might affect others, but a woman wouldn’t do such things. Scientific research shows that Women like analyzing the language more and they look far beyond the ‘punch line’ of the joke (Britten).
One of the thumb rules of being funny is ‘taking a joke’, which might sometimes be quite insulting. Usually men are good at taking jokes or being the funniest part of the joke, but usually it is quite difficult finding women who are ready to accept such insults. A research conducted by Professor Sam Shuster of Norflok and Norwich University Hospital shows that males are more likely to use humor aggressively and make others the ‘butt of the joke’ (Britten). Most of the jokes are about sex, race, sexual orientation, fate, natural origin, ethnicity, gender differences, educational level, age differences, obese etc. It will be hard to find any Women who would want to be ridiculed regarding all these matters. That’s why they don’t want to make fun of others regarding all these differences.
Men try various ways to win the attraction of female. Dr. Nick Neave, a psychologist at the University of Northumbria, believes that men responds aggressively when they see other men taking away the attraction of women from them. On the other hand according to Professor Shuster of Norflok and Norwich University Hospital, the initial aggressive intent becomes channeled into a more subtle and sophistical joke, that’s why aggression is hidden by wit. (Britten)
If we ask any women what they want most dearly out of life, there might be a variety of answers. However, behind most of those answers the common hidden word is “security”. Most women want to be secure in life. They want a secure home, a secure life partner, even a secure happiness. If we look around, then we will see that it is quite easy for most men to move away from a long term relationship. That’s why to keep them in the same relationship woman creates a lifetime goal for them. The goal of “pleasing a woman”. The best way to please someone is to make them smile. That’s why women tend to stay conserved all over the world and men try to please them with humor.
We might have noticed that a woman wouldn’t like saying coarse words or swearing in front of a child, doesn’t matter her own or of others. Since the woman doesn’t want the child to pickup such habits which would adversely affect their sensitivity. Especially most mothers are very careful not to allow others uttering bad words or making bad remarks in front of their children. Nevertheless lots of jokes contain coarse language and vulgar topics. So it’s very normal for most women to negate and resist vulgar topics. Even though bringing up a child is a father’s responsibility too but still today, all over the world, mothers spend most of the time with their children. That’s why they don’t want anything being exposed to their children that might have some negative influence on their children.
Humor, jokes and amusement are the synonyms terminologies that are significant part of human life. To be able to laugh is a quality but laughing at anything is not particularly essential. Life should not be about ridiculing others only for few moment of enjoyment. What is joke for one might be a very painful embarrassment for others. Women like enjoying safe humor which wouldn’t hurt anyone. That’s why there are many jokes or funny incidents that fail to amuse women but it easily entertain men. The physiological aspect of women may also be a reason of not making them apt to humor. On the contrary the complexity of masculine mind combined with masculine physiology may be an added advantage to laugh at anything and everything.