The last couple of weeks we've had a couple of fantastic speakers at large group. They've both been women.
This has sparked an ongoing conversation with my wife about the challenge for women to find good models for public speaking. This is especially true in evangelical-Christianity land, where I spend most of my time...and especially to find good models for speaking to mixed-gendered audiences versus women-only audiences.
This has gotten me thinking about who shapes and decides what makes for a good public speaker. Which of course has gotten me thinking about comedians.
And here the market is decidedly male-dominated. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld, the Saturday Night Live crew past and present is largely male-dominated, "The Office" is, I believe, written by men and it's certainly a male-dominated culture that it's mocking.
There are certainly huge exceptions--Tina Fey, for example. But a couple of the more notable exceptions are Ellen Degeneress and Rosie O'Donnell.
Of course I'm not saying women can't be funny or that women can't be funny and be straight. I'm saying that humor is a huge part of how we communicate and connect and evaluate public speakers in our culture. And the men who dominate the humor market shape how we think about who's funny and who's not.
My guess is that as evangelicals in our country become more open to women teachers and pastors we'll see more and a wider variety of women who can serve as models for younger speakers.
And it'll be interesting to see how they use (or don't use--see John Piper for a guy who's not exactly bringing the house down with humor but who has a huge following) humor as a way to connect with their mixed-gendered-audience listeners.
2 comments:
Bit of trivia - THE OFFICE is co-written by Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly Kapur. But, I agree with your assessment of the gender bias.
Also, I'm glad that Wanda Sykes just launched a new Late Night talk show on FOX. It certainly doesn't have the same following, but it's a step...
And as for the church, I also hope to see more women as leaders and speakers. It is difficult, though, when so many churches still hold the belief that women cannot be lead pastors, which can often squelch a much-needed female voice. :(
Whew - two Piebald Life comments in one day! I'm on a roll. Miss you guys at IV :)
thanks, liz, for the trivia fill-in. i realized that i was making a leap into something that i really didn't know anything about with 'the office' guess. but i appreciate the correction mixed with support and your own insight.
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