Women and Men Laugh at Different Things

In 1996, I am watching "The Nutty Professor," the Eddie Murphy version, with my 14 year old son. Morrie, my son, was laughing, and than laughing some more during the dinner table fart scene. He loved it. I, on the other hand, maybe laughed once or twice, and as the scene went on, I started to find the scene very crude. I thought it was just a matter of my son being 14, but when I explained the experience to my brother, age 42, he told me he loved that scene and the entire movie. That was when I really realized that women and men laugh at different things.

The September, issue of "Reader's Digest," Doug Colligan's article, "Why Men and Women Laugh Out Loud: The Secret to Tickling His or Her Funny Bone," confirms this.

"Stanford University psychiatrist Allen L. Reiss, MD, recruited 20
male and female college students. Inside an MRI, the men and
woman looked at 70 cartoons flashed on a small overhead screen
and rated them on a funniness scale. When the results came back,
Reiss made an unexpected discovery: Men and women process funny
differently. The analytical region of women's brains was more
active than the men's, suggesting women studied the cartoons
more. When they found the cartoon amusing, the reward region of
their brains lit up noticeably more than the guys.

All of which is a fancy way of saying women appear to think a little
more about whether they find something humorous. They don't
necessarily expect to laugh and so they enjoy it a lot more when
the joke works for them. With men, apparently it was more like.
Hey.... cartoon. Must be funny. Funny is good."

Regina Barreca, a professor of English literature at University of Connecticut, has been studying women and men and humor for years, and written the following books, among others: "Too Much of a Good Thing is Wonderful," "Women's Humor," Perfect Husbands (and other fairy tales) Demystifying Marriage, Men, and Romance, " New Perspective on Women and Comedy, " "Last Laughs," and "They Used to Call Me Snow White but I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor." Dr. Barreca suggests that "women bash men for having the sense of humor of a nine-year-old boy, but men strike back, accusing women of having no sense of humor at all. It's a misperception, Barreca says, based on three things. One is that women don't like crude. We don't do eye-poking, head-slamming humor. No woman has gone up to another women and said, 'Pull my finger.' Second, women don't tell jokes. They tell stories. When a woman says, 'I have something funny to tell you,' if you are smart, you'll sit down, because you're going to be there for a long, long time. Third, women don't enjoy humor that makes fun of others' physical shortcomings. If women laugh at anyone, it's at themselves and their quirks."

So, I guess that when it comes to humor, women just are more intelligent. I think that women might be more intelligent in every area.

Once when my son, Morrie, was about three he came into the room I was in, holding himself, and I asked if he needed to go the bathroom, and he said, "No, Mom, I am just thinking." And I got thinking, men must do lots of thinking, because they are constantly touching themselves or adjusting it. Just a thought.

Jana Ruth
Author of "Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
http://www.janaruth.biz/
http://www.laughandlivehappier.com/
http://www.laughingworld.blogspot.com/