Why women aren't funny ... really ?

Having just read Christopher Hutchens article in vanity fair about the apparent fact that women aren't funny I'd like to make few small and humble remarks on the matter.

First of all the medical study quoted by the author only proves that women expect no reward during a joke. It does not mean we are slower in catching on.( wink wink nudge nudge)

It means women process humor differently.

Trying to add an evolutionary cause to humor as a solely male trait is for me a bit of a stretch. That humor is a part of seduction I will not deny. But humor is so much more. It means cheering up a friend, handling an akward situation,in situation of fear and sorrow we laugh to not cry,we tell jokes to put people at ease. Humor is some sort of social coagulant, people with a similar sense of humor will flock together. In short limiting humor to an element of courtship is selling life itself terribly short.

There may be a difference in what men and women find more amusing,but is that so important?

Does it make a women any less funny, that we in general tell a diferent type of joke.

If it is even the case. I find Hutchins example that a pregnant woman doesn't tell dead baby jokes a bit ridiculous. What is found funny is not only culturally determined but changes throughout time. Half of the jokes being told today would be utterly unacceptable even just a few decades ago.
And the statement that women who are funny have to play by men's rules. If we follow that logic doesn't that apply to absolutely everything except childbirth.
The idear that society is so dominated by males while women 'choose their chains' as I heard a feminist put it and rule from the shadows is by my book a rather backward statement.
I find that worldview depressing and I choose not to believe in it. Therefore I do not behave as if women are inately manipulative and men dominating. I might be delusional but I have not been presented with the slightest shred of proof that 'women aren't funny'.
A very wise man once said ' life is a farce, if you can't laugh at it, what's the point ?'
And if all the world is a stage and we play our part in social interaction, doesn't it stand to reason that the 50% with ovaries can crack a joke?


In short , humor is a part of most social interaction. It comes in so many types and forms that it is impossible to truely and objectivly determine what is funny and what isn't.
Something can become funny in a different time and setting.
Humor is a social glue that brings people together. However dry and desperate you may be it is not limited to courtship.
Women are not out to dominate men at all time, any social interaction is a game of rank and hierarchy. There are roles we play as humans, the clown is one of those. I do not believe these roles are as gender determined as some people claim.
'Lest the generations fail' said Kipling, continuation of the species is as much sewn together with laughter and knowledge than it is with the purely reproductive side of the story.