Girls Aren’t Funny, Feminism, and Human Trafficking: Words I Think Need Said

At the end of October, I watched a movie entitled Miss Representation. It’s a documentary about the representation of women by the media. This is something I’d thought about before, but not really absorbed. I won’t launch into a tirade of the facts about this, but let’s just say it’s pretty abysmal (Okay, one fact: “of of all the directors, executive producers, writers, cinematographers and editors working on the 250 top-grossing films of 2011, only 18% of them were women”). And, as the sister of a girl who is planning on making her career in film, and as a girl myself (obviously) a lot of what was said hit very, very close to home. Put simply, despite the fact that women are 51% of the population, they are nowhere near that number when it comes to media or government or business. If you have a chance, watch the movie. If you haven’t seen it, give me a call. It’s still on my DVR (what.).

Then in November and December I read both Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling’s memoirs (Bossypants and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) respectively), and they were both really fabulous books. These women are absolutely hilarious, and I loved reading their stories. I highly advise that you read them, and I own both and am willing to lend them out. Let me know.

Anyways, both Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling have these moments in their books where they address (or rather, don’t address) the idea that “women aren’t funny.” Both basically write it off as not being a thing even worth mentioning, because, well, obviously who would have the audacity to say that 51% of the population aren’t something?

Well, a few days ago a male friend of mine made that statement. “I just don’t think girls are funny.” And, things were weird. Like, really weird. The conversation started off as kind of a joke, but that made things really weird really fast.

How can you say that half of the population is or isn’t something?

How can you say that any one set of people are or aren’t something?

You can’t. You just can’t say that. It’s not a thing.

I’m not about to list every women who’s ever worked in comedy. I’m not going to list the talented writers, directors, actresses, and comedians who appeal to a wide variety of different tastes in humor. That’s a pointless thing for me to do.  If you don’t think Tina Fey’s funny, that’s fine. If you don’t think Kristin Wiig is funny, great. If you don’t think Lucille Ball was funny, perfect. If you don’t think Will Ferrell or Steve Martin or Jerry Seinfeld are funny, that’s fine too. Every person’s tastes are different. But, you simply cannot say that all women or all men are something. That’s not a thing.

One last point before I finish. In the Christian community, the word feminist is a dirty word. It’s equated with all sorts of things, and I have heard time and time again both my male and female Christian friends make derogatory comments about feminists or girls they perceive as being feminist. And, I don’t really know why it seems so shocking that there are girls out there that want half of the population to be treated as though they are half of the population.

The fact is that the church has done an absolutely terrible job of dealing with feminism. I had a teacher at my Christian high school equate feminism with the “negative” ideas of a woman getting an education and a career and putting her child in daycare. For too long, too many churches put forth this idea that girls are supposed to be pure girls who turn into wonderful wives and mothers. This is not a bad idea except it was the ONLY idea; girls were to focus on purity. This has turned my generation of girls into a sort of wavering group that feels confused about doing things for Christ when we were repeatedly told that the best thing we could do – our goal as Christian women if you will – was save our purity for our husband. If I’m out of college with no husband and a strong desire to love others the way Jesus did what am I supposed to do besides keep staying pure?

And, furthermore, this stupid idea that “modest is hottest” has come out. It’s preached repeatedly that women should dress modestly, but this is still sexualizing and objectifying women’s bodies. Each time I’m admonished to dress modestly out of concern for my Christian brothers and their purity, I’m being taught that I should expect to be objectified, that my body is something I ought to be ashamed of. The fact is that whether you are saying that a girl is hot because her entire chest is hanging out or that she is hot because she is covered up, you are still praising her for her body. This is objectification. I just for once want to hear that modesty is an issue of self-respect and not just out of “protecting my brothers in Christ.” (Also, read this article.)

I started a lot more paragraphs and had a lot more words to say about this topic, but, to be honest with you, I don’t have enough knowledge about this stuff to speak to a lot of the intricacies of feminism and Christianity. I’ve just recently started to reset my beliefs on this, and I know that I have a lot to learn. All I know is that all over the world women are looked down upon for being female, and I firmly believe that that was never what God intended. He created both male and female in His image, and He never intended one gender to look down upon the other. And, with the horrible tirade of crimes against women – human trafficking, domestic violence, date rape, etc. – which all stem from this idea that men are somehow superior, we have to look at what it means for women to be equal. We just have to.

Ultimately, I firmly believe that it is the same basic attitude and belief that causes some guys to say “harmless” things about men as a whole being better than women and other guys to think it’s okay to force women to have sex with them. The belief that men are somehow superior is the root cause of so much of this, and it makes me angry. It makes me especially angry that people who love Jesus are perpetuating these beliefs.

I’m exhausted. The end.