Josie Long on Sexism in Comedy

An excerpt from an episode of XFM's 'Marsha Meets' podcast in which comedian Josie Long talks about being a woman in comedy.

Photo (c) Idil Sukan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/idilsukan/

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Josie
• Long
• XFM
• Marsha
• Meets
• Sexism
• Comedy
• Feminism

[m3rmaidbones]

@chinahands100 Or maybe it's because people aren't used to outspoken women who are doing anything aside from making an ornament of themselves? Maybe it's because women are constantly marginalized, meanwhile men are the default? Maybe it's related to the fact that women are willing to see movies about men, but men are unwilling to see movies about women? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that there is a disproportionate amount of male protagonists? Ever think about that?

[m3rmaidbones]

@chinahands100 And by the way, Janeane Garofalo, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Aubrey Plaza, Carrie Brownstein, and Wanda Sykes are all hilarious imo. Suck it.

[m3rmaidbones]

@WalterLiddy I never said this was the result of conscious sexism.

[WalterLiddy]

@m3rmaidbones Isn't it strange that the ones who are genuinely really funny seem to be successful, given that all these evil men are denying women any opportunity to be funny? I'm not going to say there's no bias in what gets produced but the idea that audiences reject something good just out of spite and sexism is pretty farfetched. It has a lot more to do with the perceptions producers have that agree with your notion that men are 'unwilling' to see movies about women etc.

[m3rmaidbones]

@01000001011100100111 Okaaaay. Accusing people of sexism = sexist.

Thanks for assuming I was only talking about men.

[01000001011100100111]

@m3rmaidbones I've no knowledge of the industry, so I can't comment on that. I'm not going to argue the point either way, only that, as I have said, to assume men take a certain position due to sexism is almost sexist in itself.

[m3rmaidbones]

@01000001011100100111 Also, I can't tell you how many times I've had a man tell me I'm "ignorant" for bringing up sexism. Because apparently, as a guy, they know more about sexism than I do.

[m3rmaidbones]

@01000001011100100111 But still you can't deny that fact that women are frequently marginalized and made to feel like it's not in them to do certain things, and in a field where confidence in your ability is vital this is a disadvantage.

[m3rmaidbones]

@01000001011100100111 Or maybe it's just a matter of opinion? I know plenty of female comedians who I find hilarious. I like some male comedians too, but it's difficult to find one that hasn't made a sexist, racist, homophobic, or transphobic joke at some point and that's a huge turn off for me. To each their own.

[01000001011100100111]

@m3rmaidbones And maybe it's because there are very logical evolutionary reason as to why men, in general, would be funnier than men. Or at least why male humour would appeal to both sexes perhaps more so than female humour. I'm not saying it's the case, but to dismiss it as sexism is just as ignorant as assuming it's true.

[storageheater]

The weird thing is that when I go down the pub with women, we laugh a lot. Women are funny. But if you don't like someone's humour, it's really easy to *hate* them for it. And you only need to multiply that by a little bit of 'well that's because it's a woman' and it becomes seriously venomous.