But Seriously, Though...

I loved the Three Stooges when I was a kid. In fact, any kind of comedy presented on tleevision was sure to get my attention. A lot of it was childish, nonsensical stuff, I'm sure, but I thought that being a comedian was about the best job a person could have. Situation comedies and variety shows that featured singing, dancing and funny people invariably tickled my funny bone. Now, I find out that all of that was a negative thing! In my quest to be thought of as funny, I was unknowingly becoming something unsavory...at least a recent study would seem to indicate so.
Helga Kotthoff, a researcher at Frieberg University of Education in Germany, recently published findings which state unequivocally that comedy and satire are " based on aggressiveness and not being nice." It is her contention that people in power have permission to attempt humor while those of lower status don't dare do the same. According to her, it is an attempt by those of higher status to "take control" of a situation. And humor,according to Kotthoff, is different between the sexes.
Women tend to be self-deprecating when it comes to humor while men men tend to prefer humor that comes at someone else's expense. That would seem to be "proof" of her theory that the powerful wield humor as a source of control while the less powerful fear to do so.
This behavior starts early as well. Boys tend to tell more jokes, frolic and act clownish as young as four or five while girls at that age tend to be the ones laughing at the hilarity...but not attempting any of their own. However, while males start sooner, women become more at ease with humor as they get older and gain a sense of independence.
Take Chelsea Handler of "Chelsea Lately," Tina Fey or any of a host of modern funny women. Their humor is typical of what was once thought of as "male" humor in that they have fun at others' expense. I mean, Vanity Fair even tackled the issue of funny women back in 2008, bristling at the idea that women were not funny but men were. Part of it, I think, is that there have not been a great number of famous funny women in our past. Barbara Stanwyk? nope. Margaret Mead? nuh uh. It wasn't until the 60's that women actually got the opportunity to emerge from the shadow of men's humor dominance. It was as if Virginia Woolf was suddenly being read by everyone as she claimed that all a woman needed was some money and "a room of one's own" in order to be a successful writer...or comedienne, one would suspect.
While humor MAY, in fact, be used as a method of control, it certainly is not the domain of males anymore.
But men are probably STILL threatened by a woman being funny.