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it · 09-03-2015, 08:47 PM

I felt like this needed to be in a separate post...

Regarding comedy, I think there's an answer, but it's not quite the same answer as other industries: Longevity.

You can have more female comedians inspiring young wannabes, but there are other hurdles in this case, to have more wannabes in the first place, they are going to need to be not so young.
The reason is that childhood and development is different based on gender, and not just because of the media. For one, young boys use humor to compensate for a lack of other social skills when young girls tend to have more developed social skills to began with. Later in the early teens, while a lot of girls are handling a heavier weight of an earlier puberty and dealing heavily with social adjustment, that's often when boys start getting interested in philosophy and the universe and meaning and the good old road for existential crisis that makes humor into a coping mechanism. Later in the late teens early twenties, when girls are getting heavily into those very subjects, more men are focused on trying to catch up socially and often use humor to get women's attention, while women are rarely rated on their humor at all.
Later in life, things tend to equalize. More men learn to judge women on character, which includes humor and philosophical view points and coping mechanisms with all that comes from it... In part because we can afford too, and because we learn what can happen if we don't. More older women become proud of their humor as a result.
More importantly, while men face a more even slope, women tend to face a much wider hill, from being on top and having things easier then men to the bottom and having things a lot harder then men.
This includes physical trauma (men are more likely to have it from violence earlier, women from health problems later). It includes financial problems (Women have an easier time early in the service sector, but much more difficult recovery after parenthood). It includes dating possibilities - which include within it both desperation and loss, and generally the reality of people being nicer to more attractive people. Even regarding rape, if I remember correctly, males are more likely to experience it as child molestation before puberty, females are more likely to experience it as teens after puberty, which is among the longer digestion periods as far as trauma is concerned.
The overall result is that a lot of the shittier things life throw at you seem to hit women slightly later in life. Comedy usually comes from a dark place of learning to digest all those shitty things life throws at you, and as a result, it takes life longer to cook fucked up women then fucked up men.
Have people live longer and make it more normal to start careers when you are older (Which are trends that are happening), and you'll end up with more women comedians. People living longer less structured lives at a time where it's becoming normal to change careers more and more times in life is what going to enable more female comedians.

09-03-2015, 08:47 PM	#22
it Banned Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 772	I felt like this needed to be in a separate post... Regarding comedy, I think there's an answer, but it's not quite the same answer as other industries: Longevity. You can have more female comedians inspiring young wannabes, but there are other hurdles in this case, to have more wannabes in the first place, they are going to need to be not so young. The reason is that childhood and development is different based on gender, and not just because of the media. For one, young boys use humor to compensate for a lack of other social skills when young girls tend to have more developed social skills to began with. Later in the early teens, while a lot of girls are handling a heavier weight of an earlier puberty and dealing heavily with social adjustment, that's often when boys start getting interested in philosophy and the universe and meaning and the good old road for existential crisis that makes humor into a coping mechanism. Later in the late teens early twenties, when girls are getting heavily into those very subjects, more men are focused on trying to catch up socially and often use humor to get women's attention, while women are rarely rated on their humor at all. Later in life, things tend to equalize. More men learn to judge women on character, which includes humor and philosophical view points and coping mechanisms with all that comes from it... In part because we can afford too, and because we learn what can happen if we don't. More older women become proud of their humor as a result. More importantly, while men face a more even slope, women tend to face a much wider hill, from being on top and having things easier then men to the bottom and having things a lot harder then men. This includes physical trauma (men are more likely to have it from violence earlier, women from health problems later). It includes financial problems (Women have an easier time early in the service sector, but much more difficult recovery after parenthood). It includes dating possibilities - which include within it both desperation and loss, and generally the reality of people being nicer to more attractive people. Even regarding rape, if I remember correctly, males are more likely to experience it as child molestation before puberty, females are more likely to experience it as teens after puberty, which is among the longer digestion periods as far as trauma is concerned. The overall result is that a lot of the shittier things life throw at you seem to hit women slightly later in life. Comedy usually comes from a dark place of learning to digest all those shitty things life throws at you, and as a result, it takes life longer to cook fucked up women then fucked up men. Have people live longer and make it more normal to start careers when you are older (Which are trends that are happening), and you'll end up with more women comedians. People living longer less structured lives at a time where it's becoming normal to change careers more and more times in life is what going to enable more female comedians.