Why Women Aren't Funny?

Humour is a funny thing. Take a man with a good sense of humour and combine it with a face that looks like his neck threw up on it and what you have is a stud muffin, who will have a crowd of beauties agreeing to throw their heads back for more than just laughing. But funny women, who may or may not be funny looking, never get the same response. Because ‘funniness’ is a trait that only men dominate. That’s a skill only men take pride in. Since there’s more value placed on being beautiful, women don’t mind falling into the role of the entertained rather than be the entertainers. Women let men be entertaining (despite how unentertaining they may be), because that trait doesn’t take them anywhere especially in a country like Pakistan.

The only place where a sense of humour is appreciated is when a woman recognizes a man’s joke and laughs on cue. However, when the humour is directed at them, men turn the tables and consider such offensive women ‘abrasive’. Even when it comes to Pakistani television, how many dramas or shows feature funny women? From what I have seen, women only play three roles – the pretty, yet abused woman, the vicious vamp or the vapid imbecile. And in most shows, it’s the latter category who whips out her vertigo to bring out the laughs. Precisely because humour is a sign of intelligence (and many women believe, or were taught by their mothers, that they become threatening to men if they appear too bright), it could be that in some way men do not want women to be funny. They want unease, which it would be too easy for women to exploit. But, Bushra Ansari made her place in Pakistani dramas as female comedian , dying the trend that only males can be great comedian set up by Moin ahktar , Omer shareef and Rangella ,the legends, in our Pakistan Entertainment Industry.