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Female Stereotypes in Humor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gone are the days when women were supposed to stay at home while their husbands go to work and earn a living. Today’s society has totally deviated from before, as it is no longer gender-sensitive. Women can now be seen in the different industries including politics and business. In fact, women hold some of the most powerful roles in the world. Even though equality is being practiced today, there are still certain types of humor which belittle women and take us all back to the dark ages. It is often said that these stereotypes are a backlash to feminism, and are perpetuated by people who would like to see women in their "traditional" place: taking care of the children and slaving away in the kitchen. The people using this kind of humor try to defend themselves by claiming that women have their own share of crazy, senseless, irrational and absurd traits, and say that these qualities are what you can see in these humorous stereotypes about women. Are these stereotypes indeed funny? Take a look at some of them, and judge for yourself: ‘Women don’t understand sports.’ It has become a general observation in women that they would rather stay in the kitchen than watch a particular ball game. While all the males in the family are happily cheering, females remain to be unconcerned and careless. ‘It must be that time of the month.’ The term ‘PMSing’ has become a common expression about women who are having that time of the month. When PMS comes, don’t ever mess with them and keep your distance because their eyes can turn into the sharpest of knives and their moods can swing from north to south, east to west. A woman’s anger becomes unreasonable and if you are her man, you’d better shut up and wait until the hormones get back to their normal state. ‘Women are selfish and impractical.’ When this stereotypical woman goes shopping, she would buy things she doesn’t even need. After a shopping spree, she comes home with a small bag for her husband and a dozen of bags for her. While the husband spends half of his day in the office, the wife spends all the money as she splurges on a piece of LV purse or a pair of Prada shoes. She could almost buy a car. ‘Women are not techie’. Living in this so-called modern era is about keeping up with the latest electronic gadgets. This reality is what describes a common scenario on the lives of women where they refer all tech stuff to their husbands. When a simple problem occurs to the computer, all she can do is to scream at the top of her voice as she calls her husband to fix the problem. However, the other side of the coin is the stereotype of a woman who has no problem whatsoever in playing video games for money. This stereotypical woman spends all her time in front of the PC or with her tablet enjoying a game of bingo. Unknowingly, the husband would pay for a high credit card bill as the wife spends too much money on iPad bingo sites like this one. ‘Women have a neat room and a messy car’. While men care for their cars as if they were their girlfriends, women don’t care about having a luxurious car. She can be obsessive-compulsive with the cleanliness of her room, but she cannot maintain a clean car. She can spend hours in front of the mirror but she cannot spend a few minutes for car wash. All in the name of good humor? We remain unconvinced. Let not these stereotypes generalize your perception about women. Better yet, love them for what they really are. |
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