Timothy Birdnow

So last night I was watching the Three Stooges on Me TV and then this morning the topic of the Three Stooges cartoons came up. I said "women hate the Three Stooges" and my wife disagreed. She knew quite a few women who loved them.

I didn't know any. And I suspect there are reasons for that that go back to fundamental biological differences.

I looked for a poll that gave me numbers; how many men compared to women love the Stooges? But none could be found.

There is a lot of opinion out there but in the end it's just what people think.

At any rate, there was a study at Stanford years ago about male v. Female humor. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4413790.stm In particular they had men and women watch cartoons and give their views afterwards.

Women are far more particular and less likely to find them funny, and they go into the viewing not expecting to be tickled. The men always go into it expecting to laugh.

From the study:

They found areas of the brain involved in language processing, memory and generating reward feelings were more likely to be activated in women.

[...]

The latest study used sophisticated scans to monitor the brains of 10 men and 10 women as they watched 70 black-and-white cartoons.

The researchers found similarities between the way that male and female brains respond to humor.

But some brain regions were activated more in women, including both the left prefrontal cortex and the mesolimbic reward center.

The researchers say their findings suggest women place a greater emphasis on the language of humor, possibly employing a more analytical approach.

They also believe that the women in the study were less likely to expect the cartoons to be funny - so when they were, their pleasure center lit up with greater intensity than their male counterparts.

End excerpts. (excerpts edited for American spelling)

So the response to the Stooges is likely biological in nature.

I propose a test; make a trans person watch the Stooges and then see if he/she/xi laughs. If so it's a man. If not a woman.

Anyway, I knew a fellow from Eritrea and he loved the Stooges. Just loved them. He took videos of the Stooges back to Eritrea with him and he said the whole village was in an uproar with delight. well, the men were anyway.

(I so wish I could see them for the first time again; they were the funniest thing ever. Sadly we are just bored with them now.)

I suspect women don't care for eye poking or other acts of violence by the Stooges. Women are evolved to take care of people, especially children, and what men find funny - someone getting hurt - is probably less so to most women. Not all, surely, but most.

I know women are less likely to enjoy violent sports. Not that many female boxing fans until recently. Women are getting into such sports now, but then one wonders about hormone levels in women these days. Men have much less testosterone than did the older generations, and it is unclear why, but one must suspect it's part of the rising socialism and homosexuality and transgenderism we see today. I would suspect women have more testosterone at this point. So perhaps the Stooges will wind up pleasing everyone.

I could find nothing on changing hormone levels in women over the last hundred years, but then it's probably hard to evaluate as women go through menopause and this probably makes it much harder to study.

At any rate, changing reactions to the Three Stooges would probably be a good barometer on the hormonal health of our society.

So why are the Three Stooges funny? We always laugh at stupidity, and the Stooges are most assuredly that. If we can laugh at the folly and pain of caricatures we can salve our own wounds. Men are far more likely to believe they must endure pains, women want to nurse and heal. Therein lies the great divide, methinks.

And you'd better not disagree or I'll tear your tonsils out!

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 02:01 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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