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"SF,
loves to laugh, seeks SM with sense of humor."
|
|
Women advertise themselves as eager to laugh, while
men repeatedly declare themselves funny
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But
maybe it's not just a matter of gender inequality. Provine
also looked at 3,745 heterosexual personal ads in 8 major
metropolitan newspapers from the Boston Globe to the
San Diego Union-Tribune. About one eighth of advertisers
mentioned laughter or related behavior in some form. When
Provine sorted the ads by those who sought laughter versus
those who offered laughter, he stumbled into another gender
gap.
 |
 |
| Laughter
may be an essential step in the human mating dance |
|
Over
and over, women advertise themselves as eager to laugh, loving
to laugh, looking for men to make them laugh. Conversely,
men repeatedly declare themselves funny or in possession of
a good sense of humor.
"The evidence is clear," writes Provine, "Women seek
men who make them laugh, and men are anxious to comply with
this request." PICT: couple.PICT
In
this light, the "laugh gap" looks like just another strategy
in the dating game. But Provine proposes that the notion of
laughter as a mating cue and the idea of laughter as a social
badge are inextricably related. Do women seek men with enough
social status to poke fun at their colleagues, like the senior
staffers in Coser's psychiatric hospital? Are men seeking
women anxious to affirm their elevated status with a noisy
vocal display? It wouldn't come as a surprise to performer
Lisa Schurga.
|
|
Says
cast member Amy Roeder, "When I tell people I work at
the ImprovAsylum, I get 'Oh you take tickets there?"
|
|
When
she first meets a prospective boyfriend, Schurga feels compelled
to keep her profession somewhat under wraps.
"If
I go out with a guy," she says, "I'm not gonna show him this!"
"It's
not perceived as feminine to make people laugh," Gotcsik agrees.
Schurga
also notes men from the audience rarely ask the female performers
out after a show. Her colleague and ImprovAsylum co-founder
Chet Harding comments the male performers don't get many invitations
either.
"But
you're not cute like us!" Schurga retorts.
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