Is “frigidity” an actual medical condition?
And I hardly think that a limp dick is comparable to cancer. Has anyone ever died from impotence?
So. Impotent huh?
Yes, I realize I’m about to get hammered for this but I just couldn’t resist. Oh, and I have tried Viagra too, for a brief time.
He guess what, this’ll make you guys laugh your fucking heads off…a lot of guys are on Viagra because of depression or anxiety and their meds affect their sexual response.
HEY HEY! Let’s make fun of guys for that! It can only make them feel 10000 times better!
I’m a straight woman who has gone through occasional periods (Ha!) of being angry at all mankind, but even at those times, male-bashing has always made me a bit uncomfortable. I don’t call myself “offended”, and I can appreciate a well-crafted joke, but I have always felt that that kind of humor was not going to improve the state of relations between men and women. Good on you for bringing it up, Mixie.
How’s about we don’t and just assume that the people who do are ignorant rubes? You know, just like the people who make fun of all men or all women or all blacks or all gays or all whatever?
Frigidity is a medical condition. It’s proper medical name is sexual arousal disorder.
And I wasn’t comparing the severity of medical conditions here. I was, however, referencing disorders exclusively suffered by women, for comparison’s sake.
The difference, of course, is those conditions aren’t a proper topic of humor in polite company. Impotence is a barrel of laughs to some people, though.
It all seems to come down to two different camps.
Camp one: Jokes that imply all men are dumb and incompetent is a stupid cliche. Not all men are dumb and incompetent. In fact, most men aren’t dumb and incompetent. As far as stereotypes go, it’s not even accurate for most of the population being stereotyped. I would be offended if any group were stereotyped based on a trait that obviously isn’t really a trait of even a majority of the group.
Camp two: It’s a joke. Those few men that are dumb and incompetent make us laugh. Besides, men have been the one making the jokes for years. About time they got their comeuppance.
The two camps seems split by the degree of offensiveness that each side gives to the propogation of the stereotype about the ignorant man. Some people think that any stereotype is bad, and a way to belittle others. Others think that, as far as stereotypes go, the big, dumb man cliche isn’t all that big of a deal, and certainly not as offensive as many other stereotypes.
I would suggest that stereotypes, and the tired cliches they produce, are not a good thing, but that, as far as stereotypes go, the big, dumb man stereotype is pretty low on the totem pole. The dumb man joke isn’t funny, in my opinion, and has become very overused, but others are free to disagree.
(Upon previewing this, I think I could have thrown in the word “Stereotype” another 5 or 6 times. Sheesh.)
I mostly agree with this, except that I think both the rudeness of the jokes and the subtle undermining they do of feminism are both problems. People comparing telling dumb man jokes to telling homophobic (for instance) jokes have got the wrong comparison: the right comparison is to not telling dumb man jokes.
In the same way that calling someone a skanky ho isn’t as bad as beating them up and taking their wallet, telling a dumb man joke isn’t as bad as telling a homophobic joke. That doesn’t make it okay to call someone a skanky ho or to tell a dumb man joke.
There is one dumb man joke that I like, though, and it’s good for a very specific, retributive occasion:
Q. Why are blonde jokes so short?
A. So men can remember them.
Daniel
When I read “MY HUSBAND DIOGENES”, I did a double take. “Since when is jarbaby married to Diogenes!? Man I really got to keep of SDMB events.” :eek: But I see I was just misreading the post. heh.
On topic: Lame man jokes don’t really offend me, but they are pretty tiresome. People have been poking fun at pompous white males since “The Honeymooners”, and it takes a good comedian to come up with fresh material on that premise. I liked Tim Allen’s stand up routine - but his sitcom got old pretty quickly.
I hate to jump on the old “political correctness sucks” bandwagon, but I believe the PC movement has made it too dangerous to make jokes about any other ethnic group.
Want to write jokes about human shortcomings? Don’t feel like worrying about that “dangerous line between funny satire and outright offense,” as Asimov put it? Easy solution: recycle those stale jokes picking on white males. Cue laugh track.
Yes, Diogenes and I had a gorgeous wedding at the Hall of Crime Wax Museum in Niagra Falls. We went to Arbys for an informal reception 
I get these jokes all the time from women in my email groups. I don’t find them funny either, basically because my fiance is a great guy who does his share of the housework, makes me laugh a LOT, and spends most of his free time in my company - by choice. (But don’t even get me started on the whole ‘He’ll change once you’re married - wait and see!’ people…grrr…)
One thing I’ve noticed is that many of the women who seem to send these jokes are the ones who are fairly unhappy in their marriages and vent about their husbands often. They’re also the ones who replied “My condolences” to the email telling them I was getting married. :rolleyes: .
It bothers me. My fiance is just as capable as I am of doing things around the house - there are times I get frustrated when he doesn’t know how to do something, but that’s not cluelessness, that’s because he’s never lived in a house or an apartment where some of these things are necessary! I’m not going to rag on him or other men because of it.
My email delete button is wonderful.
Ava
I see an offensiveness spectrum. For me, the dumb man jokes are toward the inoffensive end. Calling someone a skanky ho and telling homophobic jokes are far more rude, and are way over on the other side of the spectrum.
I genuinely don’t see the dumb man jokes as being rude, just…well…dumb. Granted, the OP doesn’t tell what jokes she heard, so they very well may be rude in my opinion. But as a rule, I don’t find them rude or offensive, just played out.
And, with all due respect, I don’t get how they would subtly undermine feminism.
Huh. If I tell a joke that says, “A group you belong to is stupid and contemptible!” how is that possibly not rude? If I tell a joke that says, “Someone you love is stupid and contemptible!” how is that possibly not rude?
I guess what I’d say to this is would be
“Do as I say, not as I do” is not a clarion battle cry for a political movement.
Daniel
Well, if it’s a joke. . .
Actually, I’ve written about a dozen different posts detailing why I don’t think it would be rude, but I’ve deleted them all.
You’re right. It would be rude. I was wrong when I said it wouldn’t be.
But this isn’t black and white. There isn’t simply rude and not rude. The degree of rudeness is, in my opinion only, slight when it comes to jokes about men.
Essentially, every joke in which a particular group’s perceived shortcomings is the punchline is a way of saying “a group you belong to is stupid and contemptible.” But, it’s still a joke. I think that one should look at the teller of the joke, the audience, and most importantly, the subject that the joke ridicules to determine the degree of rudeness or offensiveness of the joke. A joke at the expense of homosexuals as a group will most likely be perceived as offensive. A joke about men as a group will most likely not be perceived in such a way. It’s most likely because (in my opinion) a joke about men would likely be seen as more light-hearted and tongue in cheek than a joke about gays.
Of course, analyzing every joke like that sure sucks the fun out of telling jokes. 
And I do understand now how dumb men jokes could undermine feminism. Thank you.
Pretty lame ass joke there. Not funny at all. As a matter of fact, itr sounds down right hostile.
How does your extreme simplification apply to the examples I mentioned above of say Asimov telling Jewish jokes? Or Scotch jokes fo rthat matter?
Is that rude too?
Is it rude for my friend Mrs H to go on about the various aspects of the Jewish caricature that she shares? Should I tell her that she’s being rude?
You’re certainly right in that they don’t infuriate me the way they would if someone were sending out racist jokes, it’s a far lower level of vitrol. I find them mildly offensive. The offense I feel in response to hearing a male-bashing joke is equal to the irritation I feel at the women telling them–I always want to ask them how they’d feel standing around listening to a bunch of men telling sexist jokes directed at women. As far as subtly undermining feminism, that’s part of the reason I’m offended at the women passing these jokes around. With the huge social strides women have made towards equality in all spectrums of society, it pisses me off that they’d turn around and piss that away by treating men the way that women always demand not to be treated. Tired cliche and all, but I do well and truly believe that people should treat others as they wish to be treated. I respect those around me and wish to be respected in return. Part of earning respect is treating others well, that’s all.
Um, also, it’s a tired punchline, and just not funny. I can picture those “dumb daddy” commercials striking a chord with people when a woman’s work in the home began to be recognized, and women were recognized as being capable in that sphere–I can picture the joke being “hey, look, there’s this whole world that women control, something women are better at than men!” And of course, thirty, forty, fifty years ago the punchline would still have applied. Now? Plenty of couples, nearing most, I’d imagine, share the housework equally. The joke just doesn’t apply anymore, and aside from being pretty damn tired, it’s also inaccurate and fails to recognize the equalizing roles between the sexes, at home. I can’t imagine that belittling a man’s efforts at caring for his children and helping with housework is really all that helpful in encouraging and supporting his role in the same.
I don’t really like man-bashing jokes, but I shrug them off and go about my business. I do tend to think of the the joke tellers as bitter, man-hating shrews though.
I’m really posting here to ask Left Hand Of Dorkness a question:
Do you think organizations like MADD and NOW are still serving their initial purpose, or have they started to generate too much backlash? When you you feel like you’ve ridden the horse too far?
I’m only asking because I’ve been seeing this a lot lately, and I wonder if men might not be a “safe” target any more?
Funny, I’ve often thought something fairly similar about the “dumb husband can’t do laundry” type commercials – they’re sexist against women. They’re also sexist against men (“Ha ha, those silly men can’t perform simple household tasks!”), but isn’t the ultimate message of these commercials that a woman’s place is in the kitchen? Aren’t they saying that it’s a woman’s duty and responsibility to cook, clean, and care for children so her husband will be free to pursue appropriately “manly” activities? It’s not as simple as “women good, men bad”, it’s “women good at traditionally feminine activities, men bad at traditionally feminine activities”. That’s the sort of sexism that hurts both sexes.
I think it’s a mistake to interpret these sorts of things as statements about either how reality is or how things should be. I doubt if the creators of these commercials think these sorts of things about men and women and their roles or that they expect the viewers too. There’s no reason to expect the commercials to be accurate representations of reality nor representations of an ideal reality. That’s not what commercials nor jokes are about.
These caricatures are well known. That’s why they’re used. You don’t have time to develop character in a thirty second spot. Don’t havet he time to develop character in a two minute joke.
How have the commercials you’ve cited have hurt anybody?