# Why is it that the penis is funny and the vagina is not?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 12, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686 "2011-05-12T18:24:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/21 "2011-05-13T01:55:41Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#):
>
> The idea of penis is amusing. The handling of penis is cause for mirth. The conversations held between women and the penis are frequently highly hilarious.
Well, yeah. I mean, dude, look in a mirror.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/22 "2011-05-13T02:02:20Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#):
>
> That’s precisely what I was coming in here to say.
>
> As an aside, ladies and gay boys, have you ever watched the post-coital ball-crawl? That’s fucking HILARIOUS 😃
Oh, you mean the lava lamp thing? Yeah, I could watch that all day and laugh. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/23 "2011-05-13T02:06:13Z")
> [@Zsofia](#):
>
> Oh, you mean the lava lamp thing? Yeah, I could watch that all day and laugh. 🙂
Lava lumps 😃
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/24 "2011-05-13T02:15:34Z")
Tears of laughter… lava lamp…
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/25 "2011-05-13T02:35:48Z")
Penises go **Boing**.
Vaginas cannot replicate this feat. Pussy farts are the best they can manage, and boy can they be awkward.
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### Author:  [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/26 "2011-05-13T02:48:04Z")
Yeah, _South Park_ is trying with the queef jokes, but mostly they fall flat.
_The Vagina Monologues_ had some comedic bits, I understand, but mostly social commentary. Or so I’ve heard. I never saw the show.
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### Author:  [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_N.Cheese)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/27 "2011-05-13T02:54:44Z")
So much for penis envy.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/28 "2011-05-13T03:14:30Z")
Quoth **Scumpup** :
> [@](#):
>
> It’s funny because it’s all dangly and shit.
I think this is it. For comparison, the uvula is also inherently funny.
> [@](#):
>
> (unless we are talking about a hoohoo that age has turned into a leathery-winged lovebat).
_I, said the little leatherwing bat
I’ll tell you the reason that
The reason that I fly by night
Because I lost my heart’s delight_
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/29 "2011-05-13T03:40:17Z")
Because breaking taboos adds a frisson that can be funny, but if something is too taboo, or you break the taboo too blatantly, it’s not funny.
Penises are less taboo than vaginas. Calling someone a cock or a dick is less of an insult than calling them a cunt. Depicting or talking about penises is less verboten than depicting or talking about vaginas, particularly in mixed company.
All this stuff about it being because of differences in how they look and what they do is unconvincing. There isn’t anything inherently funny about penises. We wouldn’t find something that did what a penis did funny if it wasn’t a penis (or something that looked like one).
Further, women talking intimately with other women, or their boyfriend perhaps, do joke about vaginas. It can be funny in that context because talking about vaginas amongst gender or sexual intimates doesn’t cross the line of being too taboo.
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/30 "2011-05-13T03:47:04Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> Because breaking taboos adds a frisson that can be funny, but if something is too taboo, or you break the taboo too blatantly, it’s not funny.
>
> Penises are less taboo than vaginas. Calling someone a cock or a dick is less of an insult than calling them a cunt. Depicting or talking about penises is less verboten than depicting or talking about vaginas, particularly in mixed company.
>
> All this stuff about it being because of differences in how they look and what they do is unconvincing. There isn’t anything inherently funny about penises. We wouldn’t find something that did what a penis did funny if it wasn’t a penis (or something that looked like one).
>
> Further, women talking intimately with other women, or their boyfriend perhaps, do joke about vaginas. It can be funny in that context because talking about vaginas amongst gender or sexual intimates doesn’t cross the line of being too taboo.
Pussy.
😛
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### Author:  [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/surrounded_by_literalists)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/31 "2011-05-13T05:37:57Z")
So this may be a little off topic but when I was a student nurse one of the things they taught us, but not with much detail, was how to clean the various dainty bits of both men and women. Women, not problem. Men, at least the circumcised ones, were a bit wiggley and slidey, but not to awful. Uncircumcised men, however, **GOOD GOD WHAT A NIGHTMARE!** The whole rectracting the foreskin to clean underneath then moving it back into place **IS NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS OR LOOKS IN THE BOOK**! Why did nobody tell me this?
The first time I tried this I was just … the WORST at it. No traction, the skin just slid around, **AND THE MORE I TRIED THE WORSE IT GOT**! I am still having nightmares. Give me a ‘female perineal area’ to clean anyday. At least they stay in one place when you try to wipe em’.
I need a valium
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/32 "2011-05-13T12:24:25Z")
Like trying to clean one of [these](http://www.officeplayground.com/Water-Wigglies-4-inch-Glow-in-the-Dark-P1573.aspx)?
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/33 "2011-05-13T12:35:01Z")
Try cleaning it enough and it’ll settle down.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/34 "2011-05-13T12:37:02Z")
> [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](#):
>
> Uncircumcised men, however, **GOOD GOD WHAT A NIGHTMARE!** The whole rectracting the foreskin to clean underneath then moving it back into place **IS NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS OR LOOKS IN THE BOOK**! Why did nobody tell me this?
Oh, I KNOW! And you’re (by which I mean, I’m) standing there thinking, “these things are a \*\*lot \*\*easier to handle when they’re hard…ohgodohgodohgod, DON’T get hard, that would be WAY worse!” 😃
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/35 "2011-05-13T12:42:05Z")
**Why is it that the penis is funny and the vagina is not?**
The potential for blue waffles. Google it if you dare.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/36 "2011-05-13T12:46:50Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#):
>
> I guess what I don’t get is the “ugly” connotation. I don’t find either of them any uglier that any other part of the body
Oh goodness, no, they’re _adorable._ Like funny little naked animals.
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### Author:  [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/37 "2011-05-13T12:47:42Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#):
>
> The potential for blue waffles. Google it if you dare.
> Reply With Quote
IT’S A TRAP!
Extra text for caps.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/38 "2011-05-13T15:34:17Z")
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> Boys find that kind of humor funny and girls don’t.
I think this is supposed to be a joke about _Kindergarten Cop_:
“Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina.”
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/39 "2011-05-13T15:43:49Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#):
>
> Oh goodness, no, they’re _adorable._ Like funny little naked animals.
In fact, they bear a striking resemblance to the naked mole rat.
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### Author:  [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-that-the-penis-is-funny-and-the-vagina-is-not/581686/40 "2011-05-13T22:45:51Z")
I just raised this vital topic with my fiancée (I happened to have just stepped out of the shower at the time, which…aided the discussion, in a sense.)
Her verdict? “It’s funny…because it looks like a plant.”
Swell. I have a plant on my pelvis.
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