Why women are funny

I thought that today's guest speaker, Meg, was extremely successful. She clearly knew a lot about the subject and made it exciting and entertaining to talk about. I love that her opinions on the articles about women not being funny or why they are funny were open-minded and well-thought out. She clearly had her opinions on Hitchens' article and his radical views, but was open to listening to other people who agree with his ideas. It was refreshing to hear the class refute his opinions more often than not and admit that women are just as funny as men.

I personally don't find the idea of humor super connected with gender. I think it has everything to do with the way someone's mind works rather than whether they are male or female. Yes I agree that there are differences in past stereotypes created by either men or women saying that men have to be funny because that is the only way to hook a girl. Although I love it when people make me laugh, male or female, this is not the sole characteristic I am looking for when pursuing a relationship. Yeah it's definitely an added bonus, but a person, including males, can have many other great qualities that are satisfactory enough to be liked.

I think that Hitchens is actually insulting men when he states, "The chief task in life that a man has to perform is that of impressing the opposite sex, and Mother Nature (as we laughingly call her) is not so kind to men."

I hate that Hitchens just assumes that this is a trait that any male can learn. No. Some people are just not funny, no matter how hard they try, male or female. This is also clearly insulting to women because it assumes that women are shallow beings who only look for a few certain things in a forever partner, and he damn well better be funny or forget it. What about the poor guys of the world who don't have a humorous bone in their body? Are they doomed for all eternity? Are they the new forever alone "cat lady's" of the world?

Although many people can see the point that Hitchens makes about society putting more pressure on men to be funny than women, he takes it to an extreme and makes it sound like the absolute universal truth. Pressure is pressure, and it does not mean that it's what is true in the world. And the fact that the only way a woman can be funny to Hitchens, by being a dyke, a Jew, or butch, is also completely revolting. These are the new qualifications that women have to meet to tell a good joke? I really hope that Hitchens' wife set him straight after reading his incoherent babble and told a few jokes to her friends about it.