In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations that have apparently shocked nobody – which in itself is shocking – there have been plenty of reactions. There’s the #ROSEARMY formed in reaction to actor Rose McGowan’s Twitter suspension, the #MeToo campaign consisting of women sharing their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse and then there’s James Corden.
James Corden, who some say perhaps just needs to work on his timing. Who some say is a victim (ha-ha) of political correctness gone mad (mad I say). James Corden who agreed to reel off some jokes at a charity gala about the alleged actions of a man who, were he someone else might be… I don’t know… blocking out time in his diary for court rather than rehab.
Comedy writer Jack Bernhardt has written a brilliantly well measured piece about why James Corden’s jokes were in poor taste. I don’t want to go over that subject because I would end up just rephrasing Jack, who is spot on (plus I wouldn’t want you to miss the well deserved shout out to Rosie Jones). I do want to expand on the subject though as someone who runs a space in comedy for self identified women.
Last night we ran two heats for the Funny Women Awards in Dublin. A number of entrants said how much they’d enjoyed having the space to perform. One entrant even opened her set saying how relieved she was not to endure another comedy night of rape jokes.
It would be a lie to say we are never questioned about whether or not a comedy competition for new female talent is needed anymore. Some people – including past participants – have implied that a women only competition isn’t a real competition. Now, that could be a touch of sour grapes, or it could be a misunderstanding as to why we hold the Awards which is, let me emphasise, a new act competition.
Just as white people squirm when confronted with their racism and lash out with disgusting concepts such as ‘reverse racism’, people are still uncomfortable when confronted with their sexism. Do you have Facebook? A quick scroll down your newsfeed will probably throw up not just some #metoo posts* but, I bet, comments from men attempting to remove themselves from any complicity.
When you’re the default – and white men are the default, everything is geared at the root to their needs, right down to the liquid being blue in feminine care adverts – it’s hard when something isn’t for you. ‘Where am I in this?’ you might ask, and of course the answer in the #metoo campaign is ‘oh, I’m the instigator’ which is uncomfortable and might put you on the defensive. Now to salve that wound, you could announce #notallmen, you could say #notme, you could make a joke about it that dismisses it as feminist nonsense.
Or you could realise two things. Firstly recognise that the women are talking now. The uncomfortable fact is we’re traumatised. Which does not diminish any traumatic experiences men might have suffered. What can you really do to alleviate your discomfort at #MeToo? The answer is support women, call out sexist behaviour, abuse and harassment and ultimately allow women space.
Which allows me to neatly segue back to the Funny Women Awards and their relevance in 2017. I’m very pleased to say there are a great many more successful and talented women comedians getting recognition on the circuit and in the media today than when we began in 2003.
But the majority of line ups still fail to be a 50:50 gender split. Male comedians still mistake edginess with punching down – see Jack’s CiF article mentioned above and we still labour under the myth that women aren’t funny. Or, in 2017 we’ve only got as far as changing the myth to ‘women aren’t as funny as men’. Which makes the live comedy scene intimidating to new female acts.
This is where Funny Women come in. I am not ashamed to say yes, the Awards are a safe space for new women in comedy. In fact I am glad more women than ever have decided to take up our offer of space in comedy and involve us in the beginning of their comedy careers.
I sense a seismic shift coming. With more and more women refusing to remain silent. The onus is shifting and if you are a white man you better up your game. Because the women are coming.
*I’ve mentioned the racism here so it would be remiss of me not to highlight that this campaign was actually started a decade ago by activist Tarana Burke, but it took a famous white woman coming forward to kickstart it. You can read more about that here.
