The joke's on us
by Shana D. Lebowitz and Lital Shair
Features | 3/4/08
Posted online at 11:19 PM EST on 3/3/08
/ Last updated at 5:09 AM EST on 3/3/08
"Teach your feminist daughters to fish," Lauren Antler said, "and they'll fight the patriarchy for a lifetime."
With impeccable comedic timing ,Antler delivered one punch line after another as she narrated her memories of growing up as the daughter of a modern-day feminist. The comedienne's chic, attractive appearance in a fashionably professional outfit and face-framing haircut was juxtaposed with photographs that captured a painfully awkward adolescence defined by giant glasses, bulky sweaters and being unavoidably one head taller than all of her friends.
Antler, daughter of Prof. Joyce Antler (WGS), was one of three comedians to perform at "I Thought It Was Funny: Gender… Race… Humor…," the annual Tillie K. Lubin Women's and Gender Studies symposium, held in a crowded Rapaporte Treasure Hall on Feb. 13.
Among the pieces of motherly advice that would have eased her tumultuous transition into womanhood, Antler told a highly entertained audience she wished she had known that "knee-high socks worn to bed do not count as lingerie."
The symposium consisted of a comedy performance and two panel events, "Perspectives on Humor" and "Comedians at Work," in which academics and comedians, some of them Brandeis alumni, offered new insights into the fine line between comic and offensive material.
Prof. James Mandrell (WGS), chair of the Women's and Gender Studies Department, said the controversy that occurred last year in the wake of an allegedly offensive advertisement in the humor magazine Gravity inspired this year's symposium.
Mandrell said prior to the symposium that he hoped the event would open up discussion on humor and its uses and implications.
"I think humor is a very tricky thing, and I think it opens up areas for misunderstanding and conflict," he said.
In dialogue interspersed with jokes and puns that panel members seemed unable to resist, Antler and comedians Oded Gross '93 and Micia Mosely '95 discussed their personal experience with offensive comic material, as well as the utility of comedy in opening dialogue about topics such as race and gender.
With impeccable comedic timing ,Antler delivered one punch line after another as she narrated her memories of growing up as the daughter of a modern-day feminist. The comedienne's chic, attractive appearance in a fashionably professional outfit and face-framing haircut was juxtaposed with photographs that captured a painfully awkward adolescence defined by giant glasses, bulky sweaters and being unavoidably one head taller than all of her friends.
Antler, daughter of Prof. Joyce Antler (WGS), was one of three comedians to perform at "I Thought It Was Funny: Gender… Race… Humor…," the annual Tillie K. Lubin Women's and Gender Studies symposium, held in a crowded Rapaporte Treasure Hall on Feb. 13.
Among the pieces of motherly advice that would have eased her tumultuous transition into womanhood, Antler told a highly entertained audience she wished she had known that "knee-high socks worn to bed do not count as lingerie."
The symposium consisted of a comedy performance and two panel events, "Perspectives on Humor" and "Comedians at Work," in which academics and comedians, some of them Brandeis alumni, offered new insights into the fine line between comic and offensive material.
Prof. James Mandrell (WGS), chair of the Women's and Gender Studies Department, said the controversy that occurred last year in the wake of an allegedly offensive advertisement in the humor magazine Gravity inspired this year's symposium.
Mandrell said prior to the symposium that he hoped the event would open up discussion on humor and its uses and implications.
"I think humor is a very tricky thing, and I think it opens up areas for misunderstanding and conflict," he said.
In dialogue interspersed with jokes and puns that panel members seemed unable to resist, Antler and comedians Oded Gross '93 and Micia Mosely '95 discussed their personal experience with offensive comic material, as well as the utility of comedy in opening dialogue about topics such as race and gender.
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