Remind you of anything?
The cartoon on the right was sent to a friend of mine (by another woman about our age) in the spirit of “isn’t this hilarious?”. My friend sent it on to me to ask what I thought.
My suspicion is that the subtext of her request for my reaction was along the lines of “have I lost my sense of humour?”
Well if she has, so have I. Rarely have I seen such an ugly, demeaning piece of “humour”.
But that’s not really my point.
Most of us are old enough to remember the energy of the feminist movement 40 or so years ago. We didn’t refer to it as liberation for nothing. What was the main weapon the right wing media used against us? That’s right, “humour”. They tried to make us afraid of being laughed at. We were hairy-legged lesbian feminists. (There’s something bad about that???) They tried to reduce us to stereotypes and stick us back in the kitchen.
Now we’re in our 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond and it seems the same tactics are coming around again.
Well let’s make a pact that we won’t be shoved into the background. Being humourless isn’t actually that important. Being rendered invisible or an object of derision because of our age is.
If you see anything like the cartoon above that makes you feel uncomfortable, send it on to me and I’ll do an occasional ‘name and shame’ feature. How about it?
Thanks Tess for firing us up! For counterpoint. the funniest, feminist cartoonist I’ve seen is definitely Ann Telnaes, who does fantastic online animation for the New York Times. And she is very fair, because she always uses actual audio clips from ridiculous statements made by politicians or their associates. Recently she did one on Mitt Romney’s wife supporting the American Conservative push for “stay at home moms.” It’s called “Ann Romney’s Fishy Explanation.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ann-romneys-fishy-explanation/2012/04/18/gIQAl9rqQT_video.html
Obviously we don’t need bigoted cruelty, but generally we do need the medium of humor (1) to avoid taking ourselves too seriously, and (2) to laugh at the opponent’s foibles, instead of hating them for it.
P.S. Oops, not NYTimes, it’s Washington Post.
Thanks for the link Sarah, you make a really good point about the type of humour.
I have to say I don’t find it funny – just sad. Its also embarrassing but then, I find any age doing pole dancing sad and embarrassing. Unless its part of a proper circus act that is and then I find it amazing. Context is everything
viv in nz
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I find it sad and really unpleasant.
I have a great sense of humor ~ it’s what has kept me going through very hard times. However, when humor is used as shown in this “cartoon”, I shake my head and wonder why there are individuals who dislike (maybe even hate) women (or whoever is being made fun of). How does that happen ~ what closes people’s hearts and narrows their minds.
When someone says something that is supposed to be humorous and then says “just kidding” while laughing, I do believe there is truth in what they were saying in their “ha ha” moment, but don’t have the guts to speak it so mask it with humor. So offensive and demeaning.
I pray for the day when we are kind and gentle to each other, honoring and appreciating our differences.
Thank you for your post. Wishing you the very best, Patricia
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Thank you Patricia, yes “just kidding” is such a tell-tale.