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| Young women are smashing it at Edinburgh as the #MeToo legacy kicks in | Young women are smashing it at Edinburgh as the #MeToo legacy kicks in |
| (5 days later) | |
| Why are men, who have the whole world at their mercy, not funny? Please do not pretend not to know what I am talking about. To subvert Christopher Hitchens’ infamous Vanity Fair piece: I’m not saying that men are humourless, or cannot make good wits or comedians. But, almost a year after a string of accusations by women against Harvey Weinstein kickstarted the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, male comedians simply aren’t having the most groundbreaking and hilarious conversations. | Why are men, who have the whole world at their mercy, not funny? Please do not pretend not to know what I am talking about. To subvert Christopher Hitchens’ infamous Vanity Fair piece: I’m not saying that men are humourless, or cannot make good wits or comedians. But, almost a year after a string of accusations by women against Harvey Weinstein kickstarted the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, male comedians simply aren’t having the most groundbreaking and hilarious conversations. |
| In Edinburgh, people keep joking that 2018 isn’t a great year to be a straight white man at the fringe and, to an extent, they are correct. Young female comics are grappling with big questions in their shows, in inventive, transgressive, and brilliantly funny ways. Really, in terms of who is smashing it jokes-wise, there’s no contest. | In Edinburgh, people keep joking that 2018 isn’t a great year to be a straight white man at the fringe and, to an extent, they are correct. Young female comics are grappling with big questions in their shows, in inventive, transgressive, and brilliantly funny ways. Really, in terms of who is smashing it jokes-wise, there’s no contest. |
| Two of the best shows I saw last week – both of which have been garnering four- and five-star reviews from critics – were by comics Rose Matafeo and Kiri Pritchard-McLean. Matafeo’s zany look at her own teenage sexuality and how it interacts with the internet (“Men with their shit together should be a porn category”) delves into her contradictory feelings about men and feminism (“I’d probably fuck the patriarchy if he had nice arms”). | Two of the best shows I saw last week – both of which have been garnering four- and five-star reviews from critics – were by comics Rose Matafeo and Kiri Pritchard-McLean. Matafeo’s zany look at her own teenage sexuality and how it interacts with the internet (“Men with their shit together should be a porn category”) delves into her contradictory feelings about men and feminism (“I’d probably fuck the patriarchy if he had nice arms”). |
| Pritchard-McLean’s show is altogether darker, though no less funny (full disclosure: in a bizarre inversion of the old boy network, McLean went to the same Welsh comprehensive as I did, though we are not close and, despite appearances, our school was not, officially at least, some kind of finishing school for angry feminists). Victim, Complex is the comic’s story of being gaslighted by the ex who cheated on her over the course of many years. The term is taken from the 1938 stage play Gaslight, and refers to a particular kind of emotional abuse which involves manipulating another person into doubting their own sanity. Since Donald Trump was elected, and in the wake of #MeToo, it has come into common parlance, spurred by Monica Lewinsky’s Vanity Fair article Emerging from The House of Gaslight and journalist Lauren Duca’s viral Teen Vogue column Donald Trump is Gaslighting America. | Pritchard-McLean’s show is altogether darker, though no less funny (full disclosure: in a bizarre inversion of the old boy network, McLean went to the same Welsh comprehensive as I did, though we are not close and, despite appearances, our school was not, officially at least, some kind of finishing school for angry feminists). Victim, Complex is the comic’s story of being gaslighted by the ex who cheated on her over the course of many years. The term is taken from the 1938 stage play Gaslight, and refers to a particular kind of emotional abuse which involves manipulating another person into doubting their own sanity. Since Donald Trump was elected, and in the wake of #MeToo, it has come into common parlance, spurred by Monica Lewinsky’s Vanity Fair article Emerging from The House of Gaslight and journalist Lauren Duca’s viral Teen Vogue column Donald Trump is Gaslighting America. |
| It’s a form of emotional abuse that feels familiar to many young women, but it’s groundbreaking to see it dissected like this. It’s just one example of how something many of us have long known to be true but rarely articulate for fear of the usual dismissals, especially from men, is suddenly out there in the open, taking up necessary cultural space. | It’s a form of emotional abuse that feels familiar to many young women, but it’s groundbreaking to see it dissected like this. It’s just one example of how something many of us have long known to be true but rarely articulate for fear of the usual dismissals, especially from men, is suddenly out there in the open, taking up necessary cultural space. |
| Pritchard-McLean’s show is perfectly constructed, and at times deeply moving to the point where some audience members were near tears, yet the pathos is undercut by true belly laughs – but don’t trust me, read the reviews. Or even better, go and see the shows, and those by other young female comics. In addition to Pritchard-McLean and Matafeo, Natalie Palamides, Athena Kugblenu and myriad others are using comedy to grapple with this political moment. | Pritchard-McLean’s show is perfectly constructed, and at times deeply moving to the point where some audience members were near tears, yet the pathos is undercut by true belly laughs – but don’t trust me, read the reviews. Or even better, go and see the shows, and those by other young female comics. In addition to Pritchard-McLean and Matafeo, Natalie Palamides, Athena Kugblenu and myriad others are using comedy to grapple with this political moment. |
| Feminist comics and theatre have been tackling difficult subjects for decades, but this year feels different somehow. People are listening, and responding, to young women’s voices. They are treating them as though they matter. They have always, mattered, of course, but now it’s less easy to dismiss them. | Feminist comics and theatre have been tackling difficult subjects for decades, but this year feels different somehow. People are listening, and responding, to young women’s voices. They are treating them as though they matter. They have always, mattered, of course, but now it’s less easy to dismiss them. |
| “We always have had something to say but they have to listen now,” Pritchard-McLean tells me. But things need to change structurally, too. “The big problem now is that most reviewers are middle-aged men. And pervy men with power – from directors to venue owners, producers, high-profile comedians – are well known and retain their power. It’s tiring that it has to be women to sort this, because when we speak up they ignore us anyway. You wonder how long, and how loud, you have to shout for.” | “We always have had something to say but they have to listen now,” Pritchard-McLean tells me. But things need to change structurally, too. “The big problem now is that most reviewers are middle-aged men. And pervy men with power – from directors to venue owners, producers, high-profile comedians – are well known and retain their power. It’s tiring that it has to be women to sort this, because when we speak up they ignore us anyway. You wonder how long, and how loud, you have to shout for.” |
| It’s not only in stage comedy that young women’s voices have been rising – writers and performers such as Michaela Coel, Issa Rae, Lena Dunham and Phoebe Waller-Bridge were tackling young women’s experiences long before #MeToo, and now there is an even greater appetite for these stories. Vicky Jones’s play The One, about a toxic romantic relationship, has been revived. It would be great to see the transgressive young female voices on the fringe make the jump to television. | It’s not only in stage comedy that young women’s voices have been rising – writers and performers such as Michaela Coel, Issa Rae, Lena Dunham and Phoebe Waller-Bridge were tackling young women’s experiences long before #MeToo, and now there is an even greater appetite for these stories. Vicky Jones’s play The One, about a toxic romantic relationship, has been revived. It would be great to see the transgressive young female voices on the fringe make the jump to television. |
| In literature, too, young women’s voices are being respected and rewarded. There are three women under 30 on the Booker longlist this year. Two of the novels – The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh and Normal People by Sally Rooney – have gender and abuse included in their themes, while Daisy Johnson’s Everything Under explores gender roles and gender fluidity. Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race has spent weeks in the bestseller charts, as has Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love (Alderton and co-writer Lauren Bensted are developing a TV comedy about Brexit). The poetry, plays and podcasts of young women are also thriving. | In literature, too, young women’s voices are being respected and rewarded. There are three women under 30 on the Booker longlist this year. Two of the novels – The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh and Normal People by Sally Rooney – have gender and abuse included in their themes, while Daisy Johnson’s Everything Under explores gender roles and gender fluidity. Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race has spent weeks in the bestseller charts, as has Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love (Alderton and co-writer Lauren Bensted are developing a TV comedy about Brexit). The poetry, plays and podcasts of young women are also thriving. |
| It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that 2018 is shaping up to be the year of young women. But it’s important to remember that amplifying voices is not enough. The commercial potential of young women’s voices, the existence of an audience interested in hearing them, is obviously being noted. But on its own it’s not enough. The cultural industries themselves need to change. “They want to monetise us but not make our lives any easier,” says Pritchard-McLean. “Men need to take some responsibility for harbouring perverts, manipulators and abusers. Just because they’re nice to them doesn’t mean they’re not a perv.” Unfortunately, such structural changes are likely to take a hell of a lot longer. | It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that 2018 is shaping up to be the year of young women. But it’s important to remember that amplifying voices is not enough. The commercial potential of young women’s voices, the existence of an audience interested in hearing them, is obviously being noted. But on its own it’s not enough. The cultural industries themselves need to change. “They want to monetise us but not make our lives any easier,” says Pritchard-McLean. “Men need to take some responsibility for harbouring perverts, manipulators and abusers. Just because they’re nice to them doesn’t mean they’re not a perv.” Unfortunately, such structural changes are likely to take a hell of a lot longer. |
| • Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author | • Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author |
| Comedy | Comedy |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| #MeToo movement | #MeToo movement |
| Edinburgh festival 2018 | Edinburgh festival 2018 |
| Television | Television |
| Women | Women |
| Feminism | Feminism |
| Rose Matafeo | |
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