They Used to Call Me Snow White . . . But I Drifted: Women’s Strategic Use of Humor

Contents

Acknowledgments ix Snow White Grows Up Twenty-Two Years of Women’s Laughter—Now What? xiii 1. Getting It Strategies for Recognizing and Using Gender Differences in Humor 1 2. Do Good Girls Laugh with Their Mouths Open? Why Making a Joke Is Like Making a Pass 39 3. Putting a Punch in Your Punch Line Strategies for Dealing with Aggressive Humor 71 4. The Laughter in the Kitchen Growing Up Female and Funny 101 5. Laughing All the Way to the Bank Humor and Strategies for Success 123 Contents ..................... vii 6. “It’s Hard to Be Funny When You Have to Be Clean” Sexual Differences in Humor Appreciation/ Differences in Sexual Humor Appreciation 145 7. How Many Feminists Does It Take to Change a Light Bulb? Power, Politics, and Women’s Humor 171 8. She Who Laughs, Lasts The Importance of Defining and Using Our Own Humor 193 Notes 203 Bibliography 217 viii · Contents ...