Saying that women can’t be funny is a little like saying that men can’t wear pink. Absurd, ignorant, and so outrageously sexist that the words shouldn’t even be spoken without an accompanying admission of one’s wild stupidity. It’s also just wrong, which you’d think would go without saying.
And yet, the opposite conclusion was drawn following a new study conducted by YouGov. Asked whether men or women tend to be funnier, the 5,075 people surveyed largely agreed there was no difference, with 62 per cent saying as much. But don’t take that as a reassuring sign of our so-called progressive modern times: one in four (24 per cent) said that in general, men tend to be funnier. And a staggeringly low number – fewer than one in 10 people (eight per cent) – said that women tend to be funnier. Splitting the results by gender was just as bleak: just four per cent of the men surveyed said women were funnier, while 11 per cent of women said the same.
