Comedy can be a means to poke fun, but shouldn’t excuse blatant misogyny
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A killer award show opener can make A-listers crack a smile, reach non-cinephile spaces by going viral and even cement itself as an iconic pop culture moment on par with the esteemed films and actors of the season. Jo Koy’s monologue for the 81st Golden Globes was not one such opener.
Koy’s 10-minute long spiel was a painful example of the ever-pervasive misogynistic humor that plagues both women’s personal lives and stand-up comedy.
Instead of embracing the dual popularity of “Barbenheimer,” Koy chose to contrast the two by praising “Oppenheimer” with reverence even some critics didn’t dole out, before turning to say that “Barbie,” arguably the biggest blockbuster of 2023 and a total cultural phenomenon, was just “about a plastic doll with big boobies.”
Comedy can and should be a means to poke fun, but at its core comedy also must serve to uplift, subvert norms and reveal the truth about what is being addressed. Misogynistic comedy goes against these very functions and rather demeans, playing into the patriarchal status quo and failing to reveal anything insightful. It solely illustrates the comedian’s contempt for women.
Dealing with men’s poor attempts at humor is not new for women.
“If he’s mean to you, it means he likes you,” is often prescribed as sage advice to young girls when first encountering male cruelty, typically in the form of teasing. This sort of dismissive guidance not only deters women from standing up for themselves but also conditions men to feel comfortable embracing misogynistic mean-spiritedness. When masqueraded as jokes, free-for-all comments on women’s bodies, relationships and sex appeal aren’t off-limits.
Anti-women jokes also have real-life consequences. A 2015 study out of the University of Central Florida, “The Effect of Misogynistic Humor on Millenials’ Perception of Women,”found that “people who preferred sexist humor to non-sexist humor were found to have higher measures of sexism, particularly hostile sexism,” and “for sexist men, the exposure to sexist humor can actually promote discrimination and prejudice against women due to the social norm that has been created.”
Koy didn’t stop at the large breasts comment. He continued to say, “the key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite and flat feet — what casting directors call character acting!”
The audience had a less-than-enthusiastic reaction. From Greta Gerwig’s cringe to Robert DeNiro’s frown and Ryan Gosling’s dead-eyed stare, no one seemed impressed. Koy, embarrassed, blamed his lack of time to prepare and the writer’s room for the “Barbie” joke bombing. This insight did little to rectify the damage. Koy’s onstage attempt to pass the blame on others perfectly illustrates men’s lack of self-awareness. It was not a practice read-through of the Barbie jokes that made Koy pause, but real-time social repercussions.
Luckily, the audience’s reactions and online backlash Koy received proves that times are changing. It’s not cancel culture or “wokeism” that’s caused his jokes to be poorly received, instead, Koy’s jokes backfiring on himself can be attributed to a genuine cultural shift in what audiences find funny, especially among younger generations.
Society’s changes are also proven by the fact that Millennial college-aged students held less sexist beliefs than past generations, contrary to evidence previously observed which suggested equal rates of sexism among all generations. Researchers reasoned this may be “due to an increase in critical examination of media and a general recognition of injustice.” If generations after Millennials continue to remain cognizant of discrimination, Gen Z may also continue to reject chauvinism.
Building on this, the argument that cancel culture is killing comedy has shown to be without fact as “widespread criticism of a joke almost never leads to actual consequences.” For example, well-documented sexists have enjoyed continued success regardless of public outcry. Dave Chapelle was awarded a Grammy for best comedy album after receiving criticism for transphobic comments.
While Koy went viral for the wrong reasons, his performance’s criticism warns other comedians to take sexist and other biased humor out of their routines. Recently, TikTok famous comedian Matt Rife was under fire for his jokes on domestic violence. In the opening joke, Rife talks about how his friends were confused about why a waitress with a black eye wouldn’t be working in the kitchen.
“Yea, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye,” he responded, finishing the joke for his audience.
A former Gen Z favorite, Rife rose to prominence due to his majority-female fanbase. In light of his joke, even long-time fans refused to stand by him, rebuffing the expectation that women will just smile and laugh at their own expense.
Instead of telling women to endure demeaning humor, stop making misogynistic jokes and laughing along with comedians who do. Women deserve to be uplifted by the media, not made into a punchline.
Emane Haque is a senior Magazine journalism major. Her Column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at eohaque@syr.edu
