I used to read the Globe and Mail a lot. A major part of my Saturday student routine involved getting some take-out curry and German pastries, and hunkering down with the massive Saturday paper, to read all afternoon. What luxury! When I was at Mount A., I read some excellent features about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and women, a great piece on Jean Chretien's wiles as a Shawinigan schoolboy, Mark Miller's eminent jazz reviews, not to mention an entire section devoted to book reviews.
Occasionally, I would read Leah McLaren's column, and although sometimes her sarcasm directed at people who take themselves too seriously made me laugh, I never was into her 'cool girl' vibe. I am too much of a nerd at heart, go figure.
So, when I came across this article in Maisonneuve Magazine - which I love, love, love for its intelligent eclecticism- I wasn't too surprised tolearn that Leah McLaren had written a column about why women aren't funny. Turns out she was opining about a piece by Christopher Hitchens ( here it is too ), who basically says that women aren't funny because we have ovaries, which lead to babies, which leads to a one-way ticket to no-funny-land. How about that.
But although I do think parenting must inevitably make your life more serious, I think that women are funny. I have seen many gatherings of silly women who laugh until the tears stream down their faces. My sisters and I have done this on many occasions - and not just because we were being wooed by a man (do men today still woo? hmmm). And I know some funny, funny girls who have a way of just putting the truth out there, in a roarious, pants-down, how do you like me now kinda way.
So although many of the standard forms of humour may have been originated by men, I do think women use them, and I am thankful for anyone and everyone who can make me laugh. Sometimes it's the only defence I have against this grim world.
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