Rebecca Krefting's piece on Hannah Gadsby and the limits of satire actually really upset me at some points. The author discusses Hannah's struggles with gender expectations and roles as a lesbian, female comedian. The article quotes that as, "a lesbian, gender 'non-normal' woman performing comedy, she intentionally devalues her skills as a practitioner, as society has taught her to do in order to demand the power that comedy demands" (Krefting 94). In other words, she diminishes her self worth in order to please others or receive the same reaction from a crowd that male comedians obtain. Gadsby explains that this self deprecation is pressured on women in comedy in order to satisfy gendered cultural values and expectations of femininity. The text also goes into Gadsby's concerns with comedy's lack of compassion and emotion, but rather its need to generate laughter, which is often done in a harmful way. Gadsby fears these limitations and "what they may be doing to listeners occupying marginalized identities" (Krefting 95). Something else I found to be interesting from Krefting's piece was the emphasis that Gadsby described on society's expectation to address the fact that she is lesbian. But yet, society does not place this same importance on other aspects of her identity such as "culinary, recreational, media and athletic pursuits" (Krefting, 96). This points out a very frustrating idea. Instead of just being rewarded as a comedian, Gadsby was basically identified as the lesbian woman that tells jokes. And yet, she is expected to conform to this, and participate in devaluing comedic acts in order to succeed in her occupation. This really relates to the term parvenu, from Arendt, that is to give up our own perspective and agree to another worldview in order to preserve the peace. I think that this is exactly what Gasdby is doing. Preserving the peace.
I have experienced this personally in the workplace as well. In addition to my full-time job, I part-time waitress at a restaurant/ bar. I love working at this place, and it has had many benefits, but the way I get treated as a younger looking, five foot female is quite diminishing to my self esteem. To give further context, management at this restaurant calls me by the nickname, "little one". Now, I know that this is not the worst name to be called, but it definitely does belittle me, and make me feel less of a woman than I am.. Keep in mind, I am 21 years old- not so little! I also feel that due to my height, and perhaps baby face, I am looked down to at this job and treated as if I am younger than the rest of the staff. I am the same age, if not older than most other waitresses at this restaurant. But, much like Hannah, I want to please my managers and make money, so I allow it to happen without complaints. Never would my male managers call a male security guard the same age as myself "little one", but since it is me, a female, I am expected to take it and laugh it off.
I agree that Krefting's piece was a frustrating one. Obviously not because of the writing itself, but the content. Something I thought was interesting was that I was talking to my girlfriend about the Krefting piece once I left class and she was like 'Oh I've never really thought about how often I laugh things off'. She had been so socialized to put herself down that she was subconsciously filling this really unfair gender role. I also think it's really interesting to look at the positions from which people converse. I found your story about your work interesting; that, no matter what, you are still "Little One." People's upbringing, ability, appearance, and socio-economic background are a few things that can determine how they react and respond to situations. Apparently, your manager's been taught to think that it is okay to belittle based on their appearance and - whether they think so or not - gender.
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