Why Men Dont Like Funny Women the Atlantic

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• #1

interesting headline i read today — https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/416559/

the study's results are definitely very damning.

Mickes realized that university students didn't seem to welcome, or even notice, the wit of many of her female colleagues. She's not the only one. A recent graphic made by Ben Schmidt, an assistant professor of history at Northeastern University, analyzed the words used to describe male and female professors across 14 million reviews on RateMyProfessor.com. In every single discipline, male professors were far more likely than female ones to be described as funny.

"I thought, 'maybe I'm not that funny,'" Mickes said. "But people say I'm funny. I have a great time with my female friends."

In 2012, Mickes decided to see whether her student had a point. (Or rather, "I decided to redirect my anger into something productive," as she described it.)

A common way scientists measure funniness is by making undergrads—the typical guinea pigs for social-science research—play a version of The New Yorker cartoon-caption contest. For her study, Mickes asked 32 students to write captions for 20 New Yorker cartoons. The men were "pretty excited about the task," but the women were more reluctant. "There was one female subject who came in, looked horrified and said, 'Uh, but I'm not funny,'" she recalled.

After the students finished writing their quips, a new set of participants rated the captions. They found the men's punch-lines to be ever-so-slightly more clever—about .11 points more on a five-point scale.

Mickes's study revealed another interesting difference: Men wrote some of the best jokes, but they also used more profanity and sexual humor, and those jokes weren't rated very funny. If men were truly the funnier sex, though, wouldn't they be more consistently funny?

In a later experiment, Mickes gave both male and female participants a list of random words, such as "beef jerky" and "water slide," and asked them to write paragraphs using the words. Without prompting, the men wrote funny paragraphs. The women's paragraphs were more creative and better-written, but they weren't funny. However, a surprising thing happened when Mickes explicitly told the participants to try to be funny in their paragraphs: Both genders used humor, and in equal measure.

Men are willing to take more risks [in humor], and they also fail more miserably," Gil Greengross, an evolutionary psychologist with Aberystwyth University in Wales and author of the 2011 study. But for the man, "it's worth it. If you fail and you're not funny, you lost maybe a few minutes. But if the person laughs, the benefit can be huge."

Men make so many joke-attempts, in fact, they are assumed to be funnier—even when they're not. After they had finished captioning, the students in Mickes's study filled out a questionnaire about how funny they thought others would find their captions, and also whether they thought men or women were the funnier sex in general. Male participants said that, on a scale from one to five, their cartoons were an average of 2.3 in funniness. The women gave themselves a 1.5. Even worse, 89 percent of the women and 94 percent of men responded that men, in general, are funnier.

In a follow-up experiment, Mickes asked a new set of participants to read the captions generated by the first group and guess the gender of the writer. Both men and women misattributed the funnier captions to male writers.

there's much, much, much more to it. some evo psych woo woo thrown into the mix, but the rest, i think, is worth reading.

this in particular got me like a stab in the stomach.

In study later that year, Bressler and Balshine again found that, when considering imaginary interactions with people of the opposite sex, women said they wanted men who could make them laugh. Men said it was much more important that a woman enjoy his jokes.

Liana Hone, a psychology postdoc at the University of Missouri, came to a similar conclusion in a study earlier this year: "Men prefer women who are receptive to their humor, whereas women prefer men who produce humor." Hone gave her study participants an imaginary budget of $5 to "spend" on a trait they'd want in their sexual partners—either a knack for telling jokes or an ability to appreciate them. The more they "spent" on each trait, the more their partner would embody that characteristic. Women, she found, would spend just $1.91 on a mate who laughs at their jokes, but men would spend $3.03 on one.

this too, i think, cuts to the heart of the problem.

In another dating-style study in 1998, about 100 college students were shown photos of people of the opposite sex along with transcripts of interviews supposedly conducted with those individuals. In the interviews, the photo subjects came off as either funny or bland. For the women, a man's use of humor in the interview increased his desirability. The women's use of humor, meanwhile, didn't make the men want to date them more—it actually made them slightly less alluring. That's right: The men found the pretty, unfunny women more desirable than equally pretty ones who also happened to be funny.

It's possible that men are indifferent to their partners' funniness precisely because funny women are smarter. There's some evidence that men are less attracted to women who are smarter than they are. In a study out this month in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, when men were introduced to women they were told had outperformed them on an intelligence test, they rated the woman as less attractive and were less likely to say they wanted to date her.

ugh. no wonder my track record with men is so bad.

anyway, your thoughts?

Last edited: Nov 26, 2018

• #2

User Banned (1 Week): Sexism.

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

• #3

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

What is "girl humour"?

• #4

Embarrassingly I remember saying in my much younger days "I don't find woman comedians funny". So dumb.

• #5

It's fucked up for sure. Society associates men and women to have different roles in humorous communication with some considered to be the dominant senders while others are considered the receivers. Any change to that formula is unwelcome which is really unfortunate.

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

Well that's just sexist.

• #7

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

Hmm. Seems like you maybe...I think...ahhh...umm

• #8

Most comedians are absolutely shit.

Also, the problem with women in comedy is that there seems to be some desire to only put you in front of the camera if you are attractive. Men don't seem to have the same limitations as there are a lot more shlubby male comedians out there than there are women it seems.

For someone to be as hot and funny as tina fey is rare, male or female.

And I think a lot of people confuse comedic-performances and comedians.

Melissa McCarthy isn't funny at all - she's just a good actress who happened to strike a vein in comedy with her mom-friendly movies. I dunno, she's okay.

And people like Adam Sandler have committed more crimes against comedy than any woman has in the last 20 years.

More Kristen Wiggs, Feys, Dratches, and less unfunny cruft like your McCarthy's and Silverman's and maybe perception will change.

I dunno. I'm just shooting out ideas here.

Regardless, didn't this whole meme start with John Belushi in the 80s? That unfunny drug addict on SNL? Yeah.

• #9

Two of my best female friends are funnier than most of my male friends. I was also surprised at how funny my girlfriend is. Before we got together, I didn't really know her as the funny type but then we got to know each other better and she slowly came out of her shell because she felt it was okay to be funny around me. Fact is, without "practice", you'll never get funnier and society discourages women while men get to say whatever they want, whenever they want.

• #10

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

Bruh

• #11

Few things make women more charming than wits, at least for me.

• #12

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

Off to a great start lmao

• #13

They are threatened by them.

• #14

Men are willing to take more risks [in humor], and they also fail more miserably," Gil Greengross, an evolutionary psychologist with Aberystwyth University in Wales and author of the 2011 study.

Doesn't something similar almost always come up when comparing genders? Even when discussing the wage gap.

• #15

I like funny women. I just haven't seen many of them.

• #16

Who says? Being funny can make a girl even hotter.

• #19

I'm extremely attracted to funny women. Marvelous Ms Maisel is the hottest show on television

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

• #20

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

This is a lot of people's humor these days no matter their gender. The fuck are you on about

• #21

I like funny women. I just haven't seen many of them.

Same here.

• #22

i'm reading an article about gender biases in the treatment of humor, but nothing so far has concluded men don't like funny women.

• #23

Men make so many joke-attempts, in fact, they are assumed to be funnier—even when they're not.

This gets to the heart of it, in my opinion.

Male culture lives and dies on humor. You need to hit a certain quota of jokes, jabs, quips, sick burns, etc. or you are considered an uptight asshole.

Last edited: Nov 26, 2018

• #24

Yeah, the headline doesn't fit the text!?

• #25

Doesn't something similar almost always come up when comparing genders? Even when discussing the wage gap.

There's a wide range of things where you can make a distribution (on an axis from bad to good) for the genders and men would practically always have a flatter distribution with more men at the extremes (both good and bad), even if the average was practically the same.
Risk-taking and the result from it is just another example.

• #26

In the article even the majority of women find men funnier. And they also self-admittedly don't find themselves as funny. I know there's a controversy around it but these aren't talking about professionals so I don't really get what's in question here.

• #27

Funniest person I've ever met in my life was a black chick in HS.

I fucking loved being on the bus/in class with her.

• #28

We don't like funny girls ? First news of the day.

• #29

I feel like anyone who says they haven't seen many funny women isn't looking that hard. Sweet Dee from Its Always Sunny is far funnier than the entire male casts of other comedic shows. She's one of the best physical comedians out there.

• #30

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

Gross generalisations say what?

• #31

Wait, there are dudes don't like funny women? That is fuckin lame.

• #32

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

What an incredible start lol

• #33

I don't know any women that aren't funny or witty at the very least, however not many of my guy friends are consistently funny or even clever in their humor.

• #34

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

Unbelievable first post after a thorough OP

Which basically "proves" that when prompted to make a funny there's no difference

• #35

I know that I have right now two absolute favorites of female comedians that I love.

The first is Samantha Bee who does a superb show of Full Frontal.

The other is Sandi Toksvig, current host of QI. I was quite worried that it would be hard to replace Stephen Fry after he left the show, but to my infinite delight I found Sandi to be an absolute treasure and I now adore that woman.

I will admit though, I haven't really looked hard enough at the comedy scene what the choices are really. I find myself mostly listening to what people recommend and what most people often recommend are male comedians, and I think that kinda drives it towards me knowing mostly male comedians in the end. I know though thanks to these two examples that there have to be more out there.

• #36

i haven't met very many women who are willing to be goofy in public. Guys are usually more willing to embarrass themselves in groups.

I have wondered about it on some occasions. I just assumed gender role influence.

• #37

i'm reading an article about gender biases in the treatment of humor, but nothing so far has concluded men don't like funny women.

Yeah, the headline doesn't fit the text!?

the article does eventually get to that point.

In another dating-style study in 1998, about 100 college students were shown photos of people of the opposite sex along with transcripts of interviews supposedly conducted with those individuals. In the interviews, the photo subjects came off as either funny or bland. For the women, a man's use of humor in the interview increased his desirability. The women's use of humor, meanwhile, didn't make the men want to date them more—it actually made them slightly less alluring. That's right: The men found the pretty, unfunny women more desirable than equally pretty ones who also happened to be funny.

It's possible that men are indifferent to their partners' funniness precisely because funny women are smarter. There's some evidence that men are less attracted to women who are smarter than they are. In a study out this month in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, when men were introduced to women they were told had outperformed them on an intelligence test, they rated the woman as less attractive and were less likely to say they wanted to date her.

in fact, let me add that to the op. it's pretty important.

but i'm ok with my title being changed into something else. i don't think it really fits, either. little too click-bait-y for me, but i couldn't think up anything else, so i went with their headline.

Last edited: Nov 26, 2018

• #38

I think it just means men get more practice at it, since society seems to say guys HAVE to be funny but girls don't.

I liken it to why pretty girls tend to be better dancers. It's not that they are inherently better, but they get asked more by guys to dance so they get more opportunities to get better quicker.

• #40

Most comedians are absolutely shit.

Also, the problem with women in comedy is that there seems to be some desire to only put you in front of the camera if you are attractive. Men don't seem to have the same limitations as there are a lot more shlubby male comedians out there than there are women it seems.

This is true for literally every single thing where you have to perform in front of a group of people or work with people, from acting to working in a store. Women are still first and foremost judged on their looks, men on what they can do.

• #41

I've had a load of female friends that have rendered me incapacitated with laughter. Can't say I've noticed any disparity between the genders there beyond men typically being able to appreciate low brow humour more, which is really just cheap humour and simple laughs among friends.

The only place I've noticed a divide personally is in stand-up. From experience I haven't seen/watched a single stand up comedian that's a woman that I find particularly funny. The majority I've come across center their routine around being a woman and/or being overweight, so it's more that I'm not the target audience for the humour than the people themselves not being funny. Also mixed with the fact I don't seem to enjoy stand up comedy on the whole. I think the fact that the few I do enjoy are male is just a result of there having been far more many prevalent men than women within the industry that I've been exposed to.

• #42

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

Good grief lol

• #43

I don't meet a lot of funny women, and I often suspect they're suppressing it because they either don't think they're funny, or don't think I want to hear them be funny. The women I know that feel free to tell jokes are funny as fuck, and are way more attractive as a result.

A lot of men (myself included) use humor to connect with women, and I wish more women used humor to connect with me. There are, I'm sure, a GREAT many women who are legitimately funny, but do not think they are funny.

• #44

This is true for literally every single thing where you have to perform in front of a group of people or work with people, from acting to working in a store. Women are still first and foremost judged on their looks, men on what they can do.

Have you seen a lot of comedians? The vast majority aren't looking like Dane Cook. Far from it.

• #45

There's plenty of really good female comedians over here in the UK, though there are far more good male ones, it must be said. Some of the disparity could be explained by people not being open to female comedians, or them not wanting to have a go at making it as a comedian because it's seen as a man thing.

In everyday life it's pretty clear to me that men will make jokes about things way more often than women, but I've no idea how much of that is an inherent biological trait and how much is social conditioning.

• #46

That dude isn't even coming back to this thread.

• #47

Maybe it's a highly intelligent male humor parody of what some men think

• #48

From my anecdotal evidence, girl humour isn't smart enough. Not getting many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

Is this a joke post?

If it is, it has not got many original thoughts, but rather a compilation of safe internet memes.

On topic: My Girlfriend makes me genuinely laugh all the time, I think she's really funny, Lindsay Ellis on youtube is funny and so is that new Girlfriend Reviews channel.

• #49

Wait, there are dudes don't like funny women? That is fuckin lame.

From what I have read in the op, that doesn't seem to be the case. It's not that men don't like funny women it's that men perceive women as less funny than men and prefer that women laugh at their jokes rather than make their own. Seems more nuanced than "men don't like funny women."

• #50

that's the other kind of first post magic smh

francoistivis1986.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/atlantic-why-men-don%E2%80%99t-like-funny-women.83231/

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