Simon Pegg, an actor and comedian best known for his role as Scotty in Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek: Beyond, stood up for funny women everywhere when he wrote a column in Glamour saying, “It is weak and insecure men who are intimidated by funny women.”
It has long been said that women cannot be funny, and even though this sentiment is archaic, sexist, and frustrating for female comedians, it still persists. An article written in The Atlantic called the “Plight of the Funny Female” examined and explored the idea that women’s humor is much less appreciated than men’s humor. The author mentions that men are more concerned about finding partners that will laugh at their jokes, than partners who can make them. The article even suggested, “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.”
Simon Pegg teamed up with Glamour and wrote a poignant response to the article. He said, “Weak men are intimidated by women, because wit is an indication of intelligence and intelligence is a threat to elitism. You often hear misogynists bemoaning ‘female comedy,’ because it deals with specifically female issues that they can’t relate to.”
Pegg continued by saying, “When a generation of female stand ups emerged in the 80s, men balked at talk of female issues, such as menstruation, claiming it not to be funny. I would agree in part, experiencing menstruation probably isn’t the least bit funny, but finding humor in the experience was a necessity for men and women, and was key to democratizing this nascent comic voice. Besides, laughing in the face of adversity is a means of dismantling fear and stigma.”
Women, just like men, have to laugh at the things that happen in their lives. Menstruation and other feminine issues are often awkward and uncomfortable to talk about, so we find ways to joke about them. Women make light of the situation and find a way to laugh about what goes on in their everyday lives, and to be honest men do the same – we are just more accepting of it.
It probably isn’t just that some men are uncomfortable with the types of jokes women make. There is a certain strength women display when they show they can joke about life and the problems we face in it. As Pegg points out, “Maybe that’s what it is, wit doesn’t just imply intelligence, it implies strength, and that’s what really unnerves insecure men.”
At the end of the article, Pegg calls on “funny women of the world” and encourages them to “unite and take over.” He says, “The world will be better for it.”
Featured Image by vagueonthehow on Flickr
Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
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