Hi Everyone
I just read the posting from Timothy commenting on the 'men jokes'. I
was thinking how much I enjoy hearing them so I needed to pause
and reflect on why they are funny.
I think 'men jokes' are funny because they point out and lampoon
some of the characteristics of men that are somewhat stereotypical
and seem silly. It is not often we get feedback on men's behaviour
and what generic behaviours are considered 'able to be ridiculed'.
This makes us self conscious. I suppose some of us think that's
funny and others don't.
I then had to think that this could be a positive thing. We can learn
about how other people perceive these 'ridiculous' behaviours. But
could it also be a negative thing too? (are behaviours given hero
status?)
The other question that arose concerned our ability to laugh at the
lampooning of such characteristics. If we did not have the
knowledge of, and an opinion of these behaviours prior to hearing
the joke, would the joke have any meaning to us? If you had no
opinion on these 'ridiculous' characteristics, you would say "so
what's the joke"?
That brought me to jokes about disability and people with a disability.
Why do people laugh at these jokes? How do jokes work? What do
they say about existing knowledge and attitudes regarding disability?
After all, people wouldn't think they were funny if they didn't already
think the subject was deserving of ridicule.
I guess at least if someone makes a 'man' joke about my beer gut
and I don't like it, I can choose to get rid of the beer gut.
So how jokes folks?
>
>
> Susanne Berg wrote:
> >
> > "not a completely serious posting"
>
> [deleted]
>
> >
> > And anyway the joke should have been (from a female angle):
> > Q What are the similarities between men and toilets.
> > A. They are either occupied or full of sh..
> >
> > So there....
> >
> > :-) Susanne
>
>
> <Sigh> At the risk of being told "it's only a joke," I want to point
> out that the joke above could be read a being not only offensive to men
> but demeaning as well.
>
> I understand the joke and am sure that it is hilarious to lots of
> people. Somehow, it just does not make me laugh.
>
> --
> ____________________________________________________
>
> Timothy Lillie [log in to unmask]
Best regards
Laurence Bathurst
School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Sydney
P.O. Box 170
Lidcombe NSW 2141
Australia
Phone: (62 1) 9351 9509
Fax: (62 1) 9351 9166
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Please visit the School's interim web site at
http://www.ot.cchs.usyd.edu.au
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|