A WOMAN who told a joke at the expense of men has been instructed to imagine a bizarre fantasy world where instead women were the butt of cruel jibes.
Francesca Johnson’s attempt at humour, which portrayed men as lazy, sex-obsessed pigs, prompted colleague Roy Hobbs to picture a make-believe world where womankind is regularly belittled by patronising humour, and how that would feel.
She said: “It really made me pause and reflect. A world where women were reduced to naught but stereotypes about their looks and behaviours for a cheap laugh.
“The joke I made may have relied on my personal observations, but was underpinned by an unspoken contempt of an entire gender. That’s where the so-called humour came from. The thought of applying such an approach to women? Sickening.
“Where could the cruelty of a gag like mine lead? Maybe it would create some sort of societal glass ceiling that men, however talented, however hard-working, could never get past. God, I’m glad I was called out. It would be awful if that happened to anyone.
“And yes, my witty remark about a predominantly male foible did indeed mean all men ever, both living and dead, are guilty of it. Roy was very shrewd to pick up on that.”
Hobbs said: “Imagine it, a back-to-front world where women are treated as compliant sex objects and if they argue they’re humourless shrews. I do, all the time.”
