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News & ArtsFriday, September 25, 2009
Music Feminists Don't Have a Sense of Humor
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 2:13 PM
You heard it here first....
5
Her first album, Get Away from Me (the antithesis to Come Away with Me), was phenomenal, but her second was kind of meh. I've not yet listened to her third.
6
I learned of the great divide between feminism and humor in college. In fact, I think it's a required course by now.
10
I feel the need to come out and state this, because I feel like its subtlety will be missed by some (not to name any names): this song is ironic. We can infer that Nellie McKay is, in fact, a feminist.
12
There is no Feminism, only feminisms.
The angry strain that hangs out at feministing.com complaining about the serious business of sexy Halloween costumes does not, in fact, have a sense of humor. An overblown sense of self-righteous and self-importance? Yes. Humor, no.
As for the 3rd-wavers who live by their own terms, make their own money, and aren't afraid to don a sexy outfit or flash a tit if the mood strikes? Now those are some funny gals.
The angry strain that hangs out at feministing.com complaining about the serious business of sexy Halloween costumes does not, in fact, have a sense of humor. An overblown sense of self-righteous and self-importance? Yes. Humor, no.
As for the 3rd-wavers who live by their own terms, make their own money, and aren't afraid to don a sexy outfit or flash a tit if the mood strikes? Now those are some funny gals.
13
@8: Yeah, but a lot of the people who believed it 20 years ago are still alive, and still believe it. Didn't Christopher Hitchens say just last year that women in general weren't funny? Which is kinda the same, if not worse.
I don't know, capital "F" Feminists are usually political activists, so to me it's kind of like saying "Greenpeace doesn't have a sense of humour! They never laugh at our whale jokes".
I don't know, capital "F" Feminists are usually political activists, so to me it's kind of like saying "Greenpeace doesn't have a sense of humour! They never laugh at our whale jokes".
14
@12: Ha! - that totally reminds me of Sarah Silverman:
"This is my breast -- one of them, I have two. Cause once you get one... it's almost easier to have two, because they take care of each other".
"This is my breast -- one of them, I have two. Cause once you get one... it's almost easier to have two, because they take care of each other".
15
Nellie McKay is hot, but not as hot as TED.
Her style reeks of Randy Newman, but that just may be the irony.
Her style reeks of Randy Newman, but that just may be the irony.
17
I love Nellie McKay...but that's an old video. Although her appearance on the View is worth checking out. (She really confuses those View ladies).
18
Any statement that can be parsed as:
"All are " or "No is " is false. Trying to generalize any characteristic and apply it to all individuals will fail.
"All are " or "No is " is false. Trying to generalize any characteristic and apply it to all individuals will fail.
19
dammit. Stupid coding that doesn't like caret symbols making me post incoherencies!
The above should have read:
"All (whatever) are (this)" or "No (whatever) is (that)."
The above should have read:
"All (whatever) are (this)" or "No (whatever) is (that)."
21
Feminists definitely don't have a sense of humor and they're generally miserable company. Enough already about you and your vag power - I've got a headache.
23
Feminazis only want to destroy the power of men and families. They are so nihilistic that no good deed done by dead white males goes mentioned. If they had their way, there would be socialized medicine, all sex - even in marriage - would be considered rape, and sports would be banished.
They hate men and want to impose their bitter rage on America, and we can thank none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton for it!
They hate men and want to impose their bitter rage on America, and we can thank none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton for it!
24
@19&18
So... you get that the first sentence of your post @18 can actually be parsed as "All (whatever) are (this)", right? I mean, "Any (statement that can be parsed as...) is (false)."
I can't tell if that was a logic geek joke, or if you're just 19.
So... you get that the first sentence of your post @18 can actually be parsed as "All (whatever) are (this)", right? I mean, "Any (statement that can be parsed as...) is (false)."
I can't tell if that was a logic geek joke, or if you're just 19.
26
@25
Really? That's interesting. Because I'm a woman griping about feminists. They suck. Go fight the revolution somewhere else - I'm not interested. I just want to hang out with my friends and have fun. Lighten the fuck up.
Really? That's interesting. Because I'm a woman griping about feminists. They suck. Go fight the revolution somewhere else - I'm not interested. I just want to hang out with my friends and have fun. Lighten the fuck up.
28
@26:
OMG, I know! All those annoying feminists, distributing birth control in third-world countries and encouraging girls in sports. Lame!
You should totally move to Afghanistan. They won't bother you there.
OMG, I know! All those annoying feminists, distributing birth control in third-world countries and encouraging girls in sports. Lame!
You should totally move to Afghanistan. They won't bother you there.
29
It is absolutely laughable when a woman born anytime after 1800 says that she hates feminism! How leotarded!
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I'm a feminist with my own activist website, and I got kicked off feministing.com. I generally find that feminists *don't* have a sense of humor, though there are a few notable exceptions and they're mostly comedians. Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykes, Tina Fey, Samantha Bee, Sarah Haskins, et al.
I think a similar thing has happened to feminism as what' happened to anarchism: the movement's opponents start to define it by its extremists and idiots, and as a result, the movement starts to show higher and higher concentrations of said extremists and idiots because those people start to get the idea that this is what the movement means.
As a member of the movement, I really think it needs to start moving forward and discussing patriarchy not as something men do, but as something that government/religious/societal systems do to both men and women. Feminists kinda sorta talk about gender roles affecting both sexes, but they still get bogged down in misandry way too much of the time. Plenty of racism and transphobia still clogging up a lot of the movement, too.
I think a similar thing has happened to feminism as what' happened to anarchism: the movement's opponents start to define it by its extremists and idiots, and as a result, the movement starts to show higher and higher concentrations of said extremists and idiots because those people start to get the idea that this is what the movement means.
As a member of the movement, I really think it needs to start moving forward and discussing patriarchy not as something men do, but as something that government/religious/societal systems do to both men and women. Feminists kinda sorta talk about gender roles affecting both sexes, but they still get bogged down in misandry way too much of the time. Plenty of racism and transphobia still clogging up a lot of the movement, too.
32
Q: How many men does it take to wallpaper a lesbian separatist's house?
A: Three, but you have to slice them *really* thin.
(I'm pretty sure it was a feminist who told me that one...)
A: Three, but you have to slice them *really* thin.
(I'm pretty sure it was a feminist who told me that one...)
35
@26 — whoa, you're really angry. If I was a bigoted misogynist I'd think you were a…feminist!
But I'm not, so I'll assume you are young.
But I'm not, so I'll assume you are young.
37
Hey anyone - feel free to define feminism. Or a feminist. There are more types of feminism than variants of douchebag or hipster, or even douchebag hipster (hard to imagine, I know). I'd say based on those comments, a lot of those douchebags are right here. How cute.
38
hey, #29. What do you mean by leotarded? I hope there's no connection to the slur "retard" which insults all people that are mentally challenged who, clearly, have no stake in this discussion. By the way, to me, who happens to be a male, feminism is a movement that fights for equal rights for women. Who in their right mind would oppose that?
39
are the mysogenistic comments here just for irony's sake?
just wondering. (ie "fugly." haven't heard that for a while. sounds a bit like yesterday's news.)
=)
just wondering. (ie "fugly." haven't heard that for a while. sounds a bit like yesterday's news.)
=)
40
Feminism is a lot like public health care - Most people seem to believe they know what it is and what it entails such that they feel they can voice an opinion about it, but really they have no fucking clue what it is.
Fucking idiots.
Fucking idiots.
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