Why can’t women be funny, too? I know what you must be thinking: “But Amy Schumer’s funny and she was just in a movie.” Well, you are right about that, but she’s been a stand-up comedian for many years now and did not get attention until just recently. This is because it is very hard for women to break out in the comedy business. There is a double standard between women and men in the entertainment business. Society has painted us the picture that women are not funny and that, if they want to be taken slightly serious as a comedian, they need to be overly attractive.
When you log on to your Netflix account, as we do most days, browse the stand-up section and look at how many women are there. In that category, you will see that less than one-tenth of those comedians are women. This is disheartening because, when I was little, all I wanted to be was funny and on TV. Growing up in this society, there were not a lot of comedic role models.
I think the biggest problem with this is that male comedians do not think that female comedians are funny. In 2007, Christopher Hitchens wrote an article in Vanity Fair titled “Women Aren’t Funny,” stating that women have all the resources in the world and still can’t be funny.
There are more male comedians than there are female. So, for example, if there are 500 male comedians and only 20 female comedians, the three female comedians who are not that great are going to be more visible than the 200 men who are not that funny. It is awful to see because the women that society is letting break out and be funny are the more attractive ones. I am in no way saying that all female comedians are unattractive, but to make it in show business, women are portrayed in a certain way.
In the first picture, we have Amy Schumer during the Last Comic Standing competition, and in the second, we have her first big appearance since the competition at Charlie Sheen’s roast. We all know that sex sells, but why does one sex sell more than the other? In today’s society, we have a double standard: To make it in the entertainment business as a woman, you must be attractive. However, being a man is not as hard because you are judged on your talent more than your appearance. Let’s look at Seth Rogen. Now, I think we can all agree, ladies, he is not the most attractive, but he has been in a ton of movies and has been very successful with his humor. Why does this have to be a double standard in today’s society?
There is an exception to this double standard and she has been able to succeed as men do in the entertainment world. Melissa McCarthy is beautiful inside and out, but she is an exception. Even though she pushed through this double standard, society still tried to push their view upon her. She refused to give in, and I wish every female comedian could do the same.
This sucks, point blank. There are tons of funny women out there you, just have to look harder for them. I would advise everyone to look up the documentary on Netflix titled "Women Aren't Funny." This is a documentary by female comedians asking the same question, Why can’t women be funny, too?
