UCLA Center for the Study of Women

For the last two years, Vanity Fair has been waging a heated argument with itself on the topic of “the humor gap”. It began in 2007 when polemicist Christopher Hitchens explained, in an article entitled “Why Women Aren’t Funny,” that they simply don’t have to be, because 1) their primary calling in life—motherhood—extinguishes their humor and 2) their need to appear less intelligent to men eliminates motivation to improve it1. Critic Allesandra Stanley later responded boldly that it only “used to be that women were not funny.” Now some actually are— but, they have to be attractive to get anyone to notice2. The latest installment in this debate was penned by sometimes feminist New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who follows Tina Fey’s rise to success and gives special attention to the full-scale makeover the star underwent before Lorne Michaels let her on screen as SNL Weekend Update anchor. It also highlights Fey’s “teutonic will”—the impressive discipline and determination she has exercised in every aspect of life in order to get where she has. For Dowd then, women can be funny, even powerful, but, unlike their male counterparts, they must give up an awful lot for the opportunity3.