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Hi Laurence, Alternately you can shoot the messenger, rgds John Laurence Bathurst wrote: > > 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 > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%