European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 7, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse By Nancy ride the los Angeles times the cause was politically Correct and so it turned out was the humor. Quot so did a see the cover of life Magazine this month Quot comedienne Diane Ford asked the mixed gender audience at the comedy Benefit for the National coalition against sexual assault. Quot what if women ran America. I can think of a couple changes we d make right and off she went a sports illustrated swimsuit Issue with models from big and Beautiful catalogues Beer commercials featuring Quot the swedish Jock strap team and the clincher Quot expiration dates on men s underwear men it seems have become the last Safe butt of a joke whether this is a fleeting humor fad or reflective of socially significant change depends on whom you ask in this so called Quot year of the menus movement member and Playboy Magazine columnist Asa Baber sees the latest rash of dumb men jokes As part of a 20-year onslaught by the most Radical of America s feminists those he thinks want superiority not Equality. Quot i think there is a Strong element of anti male rhetoric that is politically Correct in this culture Quot Baber its sort of the White men Are slime Era its definitely out there and i think it does affect the Joseph Boskon a Boston University professor and author who has examined humor As a social and political form says we Are watching history being made. Quot we re in a period now which i Call joke wars. For the first time in american history minority groups have been Able to retaliate against their oppressors in humor As they be never been Able to h of lighten up already says comedienne Ford. Quot this whole term male bashing if women did it for 30 years still would t even the score. I say learn to laugh at yourself like women have had to Over the years. Develop a sense of humor. Or Quot she adds with a Giggle Quot at least marry so you know Why dumb blonde jokes Are one liners so men can understand them what a the difference Between government Bonds and men Bonds mature. How do you Force that Man of yours to do sit ups put the to Remote control Between his toes. What does a Man consider a seven course meal hot dog and a six pack. Why s it a Good thing there Are women astronauts when the Crew gets lost in space someone will ask directions. Those and a half dozen other male busting jokes seemed to be circulating All around the country Quot i called my Mother up one Day Quot said College student Ted Thompson Quot and my Mother told me the whole Xerox copies passed among office co workers on both coasts and the Telephone carried them Back and Forth Between Distant offices. The National Prada corps heard a Bunch of them As the presidential campaigns toured the country. During the Republican and democratic conventions a group of women published a newspaper called getting it Gazette meaning men Don t that was peppered with humor deriding males. Even congresswoman reportedly got into the act faxing dumb men jokes to one another. But sociologists and comics say the Only thing new is the list of jokes humor poking fun at men has been popular for some time now. Witness Roseanne a top rated to series about a working class family the Conners starring comedienne Roseanne Arnold. Wisecracks about men Are a trademark of her stand up gigs and they remain part of the Loving barbs she trades with Dan her show Hubby played by John Goodman. After learning their teen age daughter has lost her virginity Dan says Quot it almost makes me want to go Back and apologize to your father for having sex with retorts Roseanne Quot of that s All right Dan. Its enough that you apologized to some observers believe this year of the woman and the latest round of men needling jokes was triggered by the outrage that resulted from supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. After Days of nationally televised testimony that held millions of americans transfixed Thomas was confirmed despite allegations by former employee Anita Hill that Thomas sexually harassed her invariably discussion of sex based humor draws up the bigger picture male female relations the history and Progress of or backlash against the women a and menus movements and who is reacting to whom. From Tho arrival of jewish american Princess jokes decades ago through last years Batch of dumb blonde jokes the wisecracks says Boskon Are Quot male retaliation against the women s movement and social change in the United states which affected their Alan Dundes a Berkeley anthropology professor specializing in Folk humor says Quot castration humor Quot and legends Are ancient in Many cultures and the recent Batch of male jokes is similar to a round of them compiled in books that compared men unfavourably to cucumbers. Many of them Are about sex but virtually All of them Quot Are Folk commentary on women a complaints about women have been ridiculed in humor for centuries he notes As have a variety of ethnic minorities from bad Driver and burned meat loaf jokes to Dingbat humor a la the honeymooners and i love Lucy. Quot it s bogus political consciousness to claim now that White men Are victims of political correctness Quot Boskin fumed. Quot when Wasp jokes appeared about the same time As the jewish american Princess jokes did wasps hollered loudly that Here they were being sullied. And one never heard from them when All the other ethnic jokes a anti Black anti female jokes a were being he noticed the men As Nincompoop jokes about the me school let out for Tho summer. Quot they May to around for a couple years or until the War Between Tho sexes balances one Way to do Battle bosom said is with ridicule and Quot one of the ways of doing that to through humor partly because its a socially acceptable form for feminist Susan Brownmiller author of against our will a landmark history of sexual violence dismisses the importance of the dumb Guy jokes. Quot i laughed at a few of them. I say its a big thing except that Tho last group to to criticized As a group seems to be White men. Its a positive but she added Quot i done to really care to dignify it by giving it a great significance. Its just a Blip on the screen Quot Greg Howard Minneapolis creator of the nationally syndicated Sally Forth comic strip about a spirited working wife and Mother Points out that comedy is almost always at someone s expense. And he believes that humor has historically been used to cast the Quot Downtrodden in a bad Light women most certainly included. His feminist minded Sally Forth character has launched her share of complaints about her husband Ted and her Boorish male Boss. Quot but they Are never a Howard says Quot vicious or relationship threatening comic strip husband Ted Forth spent considerable time bemoaning the male bashing trend. Quot stand up comics sitcoms comic strips. More and More its men who Are the butt of the jokes. Pretty soon Well be hearing jokes about How Many husbands it takes to Lix a faucet Quot Ted gripes. says his wife. Quot one to get out the yellow pages and one to dial the it s sort of the White men Are slime Era it s definitely out there and i think it does affect the culture a Playboy columnist Asa Baber i would t say it s a big thing except that the last group to be criticized As a group seems to be White men a a a it s a positive thing a feminist Susan Brownmiller
