Humor's Power

And women now can use it

I ran across this drawing in one of my many folders of New Yorker cartoons. It’s by New Yorker artist Barbara Shermund, from 1927. I love her work from that time period—very feminist, in a flapper sort of way. She made fun of men. Barbara represented a time period that had a lot of hope for women’s rights in the U.S., and her humor showed us that.

Are we in another such time? I have lived through a lot of ups and downs in the treatment of women. Yes, things are better in this country, but they are also worse—for one thing, the right to a legal abortion in some states was taken away.

Of course now women can have credit cards, buy homes, open their own bank accounts, direct mainstream movies, be elected Vice-President, become CEOs—to mention a few changes in my lifetime. And we are creating humor freely and I applaud that whole-heartedly. I remember not too long ago, comedian Jerry Lewis and writer Christopher Hitchens declared women don’t have a sense of humor, and can’t create it. That was in the early 2000’s! They’re both gone now, and with them, the attitude that women aren’t funny.

It’s still a struggle to break down stereotypes, to shine a light on the fact that not all women want to wear pink, make-up, love to shop, decorate, write and read romance novels. Women are diverse, and their humor is diverse and well. Advertisers and Hollywood still want our culture to be binary, it’s easier for them. Bit by bit we are changing that. I think cartoons can help, in part because one of our jobs as humorists is to poke at tradition and trends.

In my lifetime, to call yourself a feminist was to put yourself out there for heavy criticism. There are still some in our country who feel that feminists are man-hating, anti-family, hairy-legged women, but I do believe the number of these believers is dwindling. I have no data, but I feel as though many in the right wing fringe of the GOP are such people; another reason to lessen the influence of the radical evangelical right (and Trump).

A New Yorker drawing from the 1990’s

The power of humor is amazing, and I do believe that it can slowly help change how we treat one another. About ten years ago, I wrote and illustrated a book called Women On Men, published by Narrative Press. It’s not available for purchase anymore, sadly (maybe someone will want to re-publish it!). It was the inspiration for the current exhibit at the Society of Illustrators in NYC, which I curated and which just opened today. All women+ artists making fun—lovingly— of men, exercising their power of humor! The opening event is January 17th at 6:30, during which I will moderate a panel with cartoonist Roz Chast and Emma Allen, cartoon editor.

Thanks for being here, happy Wednesday!