That's What She Said

Two weeks ago, I wrote a response to Christopher Hitchens’ article, “Why Women Aren’t Funny.” This week, while looking through the headlines on CNN, I coincidently came across a female’s view on the same issue.

Elizabeth Landau’s article, “Why Funny Guys Get the Babes,” essentially reiterates much of what Mr. Hitchens already stated, but the study she uses for support, I found interesting. Northumbria University’s Kristofor McCarty conducted an experiment which asked 45 heterosexual women (ages 18-30), to rate various self-descriptions of men based on qualities such as “likeliness of friendship, likeliness of long-term relationship, honesty and intelligence.” The results?

Women said the men with the funniest descriptions were significantly more likely to be candidates for long-term relationships, as well as friends. Participants also rated the more amusing men as more intelligent and honest.

The article goes on to provide the reason for these results stating the benefits of having a good sense of humor (reduces stress, makes others feel better, leads to happiness and good health, signifies a more intelligent person) are why women look for that quality in men, since clearly, they are extremely positive things to have in a long-term relationship. After reading these two articles, information like this is becoming more and more obvious to me, and I am starting to agree that men really do need humor to genetically survive (and are therefore, more proficient in it).

The only controversy I step into with these articles are summations like, “Time constraints prevented McCarty from exploring this question, but he said research suggests that men don't care much about women's sense of humor.” In fact, according to McCarty, “A man wants a woman who laughs at his jokes and is not too bothered if his girl isn't funny at all.” McCarty’s words are disheartening for me. It is as if women’s humor is a non-issue, and will never be something for sincere consideration. It is almost if all these studies are saying, “It’s good if she’s funny, but if not, it does not matter, because all she needs to be able to do is laugh at her boyfriend’s jokes.” I wonder how enjoyable would it be to date a woman who could not make any jokes of her own. Would you console yourself with the knowledge that at least she laughs at yours? Still, if you are the one who has to keep providing the humor in a relationship, I would argue you are only dating yourself, because there is nothing more boring than joking with someone who cannot joke back.

To have all these articles and studies relegate women to the audience because they believe women do not need humor for their genetic survival is hard reasoning to accept wholeheartedly. In the end, it is a bit of a nearsighted opinion, because ultimately, men may not seek out women specifically for their funniness, but if you compare a woman with a sense of humor to one who lacks it, it really is no contest. Maybe the debate needs to be less about who is better at creating humor, and more about the fact that humor is a desirable (and necessary) quality in a companion, regardless of their gender.

Landau, Elizabeth. "Why Funny Guys Get the Babes." www.cnn.com. 2 April 2009. CNN. 9 April 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/02/women.funny.men....