Someone in class today made the comment that stupidity in relation to women's suffrage is humorous. I'd like to point out that the so-called stupidity is not stupidity at all, but ignorance due to the patriarchal society we live in and the education in which most are drowned by. In relation to human rights issues, I cannot think of a single issue or subject that is truly humorous for any reason. When humor is accepted as a means of interacting with human rights issues in correlation to education, problems are minimized to laughable nothings in everyday life that are not important enough to move beyond a quick giggle. When the very serious issues are minimized in this way, I cannot help thinking of 12 year old girls enslaved in the sex industry. Tell me, is the ignorance of little girls and their parents who become entwined in the sex industry humorous? Please, explain your views on this! I do not in the least bit understand.
_Trina
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
hmmm.... this is interesting. In a way I think laughing at such horrific realities such as child sex slavery, vicious racism, degradation/objectification of women, etc. is a defense mechanism -- people are simply not able to process the actual reality without being devastated or traumatized. By making it into a joke, it distances the pain from ourselves, makes it seem less threatening and less real. It takes a lot of courage to face these issues head on, courage that many people have no desire or motivation to summon up.
ReplyDeleteI will admit for sure that I've done this many times before... laughed at really not-alright jokes just because I felt like I didn't have the tools to confront the person making the joke or I simply didn't want to think about it beyond that.
Also, as far as the women's suffrage, I did actually laugh and think it was pretty funny, just my own disbelief & the irony of the situation... but you make a good point that it was not about the anti-suffrage-petitioners' stupidity, it's a reflection of the lack of education in our system... boo.
Maybe this is another are where we can try to compassionately challenge those who find humor in it / similarly unfunny topics?
First of all, no one said that "stupidity in relation to women's suffrage is humorous." The word 'suffrage' has fallen out of the lexicon of the United States. It's meaning has an unfortunate juxtaposition with that of a very similar-sounding word - 'suffering'. Now, it is possible to capitalize on this unfortunate juxtaposition in order to make a joke. Take a step back from all of the relatedness to women's rights, the personal significance and what do you have? a pun. As Wikipedia defines it - "A pun, or paronomasia, is a form of word play that deliberately exploits ambiguity between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect." Now either you are simply not a fan of puns or because of the context you cannot enjoy this one.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people in class tried to claim that this is proof of ignorance of the women's right movement/struggle - and I guess it kind of maybe a little bit is. Its more proof of ignorance of a single, obsolete word than anything else. If they had been asking women if they would sign a petition to end the right for women to vote (a contemporary, understandable statement) it would have been a very different survey indeed. The language some people were using in class today about the ignorance surrounding women's rights you would think there is some elaborate male cover-up. I personally remember learning about the first wave of feminism in school - in US History we went over every amendment one by one. You can say that my personal experience doesn't speak to everyone's - and thats true - but I think it is generally taught at least in passing and if you want to prove to me that its not - I'm sure the numbers are out there. Why don't you find them and prove me wrong? Regardless of public education on the topic I think most women are at least aware of their right to vote. Making a joke which is, in essence, about women in particular not knowing the meaning of the word "suffrage" is at worst a victimless crime, at best a mediocre pun.
I do not think that not knowing the meaning of the word "suffrage" is a "very serious issue". If you are going to have a sustained social movement that is over a century old - well, some of the terms and ways we talk about things are going to get changed/lost along the way. I believe that is possible to be a feminist (using our definition even) and not know the meaning of the word 'suffrage'.
By the way, I love how you describe public education as something in which most people are drowned. Are you really anti-education? If you want to say that public school curricula are biased and androcentric I would agree with you - if you want to say that free, public education does anything that can be characterized as drowning children then you do not have an ally in me.
By the way again, saying that I am pro-child sex slavery because I think the suffrage/suffering pun is humorous is a type of logical fallacy known as a straw man. It has nothing at all to do with the argument at hand.
Devin, thank you for breaking the whole pun situation down like you did, that helps me understand a lot. I'm actually not a huge fan of puns, but I know a lot of people who are, so I see where you're coming from. Admittedly, I do have trouble accepting the humor because of the context. As someone above commented, I agree, I think most humor involving these issues is a defense mechanism. I also liked Jordana's way of putting it: comedy is tragedy plus time. There is a sense of separation from self and the issues when defense and time come into play. I don't understand how change can occur when people start separating themselves from the issues. With that said, I would like to say I really honor my peace studies teacher Randall Amster because he can, like you, find humor in these situations. That's just not a gift I have. I see the problem with the education system and bam, anger/sadness comes into play.
ReplyDeleteI'll work on digging up some statistics for you with the whole feminism education thing. I actually think that would be something really important to explore more. My learning experience included a very quick overlook of dates and rights won, but there was no discussion and no sense of how incredibly important those dates and rights are.
I'm not anti-education. I'm anti-sitting in a desk all day long listening to people tell me, or anyone else what to think. So I suppose we can be allies on this one!
I wasn't trying to say you are pro-child sex slavery. Sorry if it came across that way. I was trying to make the point that ignorance isn't funny because of the terrible consequences that occur. I did not know the basis for your humor at the time of writing.
I made some unfair/attacking remarks to you, Trina. I know you're not anti-education - I just went on the defensive. Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I totally see where you - and everyone who thought that study was unfunny - is coming from. I agree that in the context of The Man Show trying to show that women are stupid/ignorant it is pretty messed up. Alls I'm saying is take it out of that context and it is a pun. Ignoring the social relevance you might even call it punny. As Kelsey pointed out - in the right context it could even be eye-opening/consciousness-raising.
I'd like to point out a contradictory statement you just made however - since we are sort of switching gears into a discussion about the teaching of the women's right movement in schools. First you stated in a sort of negative connotation that there was "no discussion and no sense of how incredibly important those dates and rights are" and then two sentences later you stated that you are anti- "listening to people tell me, or anyone else what to think." Wouldn't someone telling you what you should think is important and not important be telling you what to think? I think that discussion on gender in schools is a great idea! however, i am definetly against telling someone what they should think is important in the context of a history class.
In my school, if students questioned the teachers we were wrong, plain and simple. There was no opportunity for discussions. If we talked, it was because we needed to understand what our teachers were saying in order to pass the next test. I had quite a few friends in school who were sent out of the class for standing up for what they believed, or simply wanting to offer different perspectives. There was nothing right about what those teachers did any of those times. This sort of atmosphere left most of us ready to simply memorize everything we were suppose to and dig no deeper. I don't think that's learning at all. It's smothering. suffocating. drowning.
ReplyDeletewow, that sounds really awful. I feel really grateful for not having been educated in such an environment now.
ReplyDeletein line with the whole owning of posts, I wrote the first response
ReplyDelete-Kelsey