Woman in Comedy: A really scary thing happened to me last night at a comedy show.

monkeyfrog:

Cary: 

This is what is happening in America. This stuff has always happened on a personal scale-be a female and walk by construction workers or even down the street or whatever and get cat calls or crude shouts or the like. It’s never been okay. But today’s America seems to deem this kind of behavior as acceptable. Today in the US we want to mandate rape by ultrasound or have ultrasounds mandated by ag committees; we want our Republican candidates to preach against birth control.

It isn’t about abortion, you know? Or contraceptive rights. It’s about the freedom to be a woman and live a life in the way you want to live it without this kind of fear. This fucking palpable fear. Why did no one just grab this guy and haul his ass out? Because they are willing to accept it up to a point that is way beyond acceptable.

I don’t know Gaby but I hijacked her post like a rude ass to say I am so sorry this happened to you, that this is happening everywhere, that we still live in a world where this is considered okay by an awful lot of people. 

gabydunn:

Part of me thinks it’s too soon to be writing about this because I don’t think I’ve completely processed how I feel, but I also think maybe this has happened to other women and I should talk about it in as raw a way as possible. I’m still really embarrassed and ashamed and garbled up inside, but maybe this can start a helpful discussion in terms of women and comedy.

Last night, I was on a stand up show in the East Village. The show started out with a small crowd and the host did an amazing job interacting with them and riling them up. By the time I got on stage, there were about 20 or so more people in the audience and the place had really filled up. The show was still kind of loose because of the back and forth between the host and the audience, so when I got on stage, I riffed a bit about the stuff that had happened before and then talked to one guy on the side of the audience who the host had dubbed “Banana Republic.” All joke-y. All in good fun.

Then, I start my actual set and do my first two jokes, which go pretty okay. I start another joke that is vaguely sexual - not crude, not crass - mainly silly and that goes well too. The next joke I do is about my boyfriend.

At a comedy show, when you’re on stage, usually you can’t see the audience because of the bright lights. So I’m looking into pitch darkness. As I start the joke, someone yells, “Does your boyfriend know?” referring to the sexuality joke I’d just told. I stop, laugh and say that he does because I think it’s just more of the loose environment that’s been going on at this show. I attribute it to an audience member just having fun.

I start to tell the joke about my boyfriend again, and at the midway point, the same voice yells something else derogatory about my boyfriend, homophobic and misogynistic towards me. I stop, confused. I can’t see who is talking to me so I make a HUGE mistake and say, “Sir, if you’re gonna talk to me, you need to come to the front because I can’t see you.” I think calling him out like this will shut him up.

Read More

(via rufustfirefly)

Notes

  1. annamaetezuka reblogged this from gabydunn and added:
    fuck, man. That’s...outright harassment. That crossed SO many lines.
  2. inamedmycomputerbones reblogged this from commodore-sparklebutt
  3. commodore-sparklebutt reblogged this from kristilynn
  4. thejollymonarch reblogged this from gabydunn and added:
    There’s always...things will get tense...uncomfortable when...
  5. avcnyc reblogged this from gabydunn and added:
    My friend Krista just shared...post with me. She surmised I’d “have a lot
  6. snapcracklehan reblogged this from gabydunn
  7. agoraphobiyeah reblogged this from gracehelbig and added:
    When things like this happen to women in our country every single day, it really makes me wonder just how deep the...
  8. alreadyopenedandhalfwayused reblogged this from gabydunn
  9. ahoudinicomplex reblogged this from gabydunn
  10. rogueballoon reblogged this from gabydunn and added:
    sad. Also they should...they actually did. Shit
  11. iamaliveshesaid reblogged this from gabydunn
  12. marchingqueen reblogged this from ganold
  13. kitmambo reblogged this from gabydunn
  14. lettersfromivojima reblogged this from gabydunn
  15. applequor reblogged this from gabydunn and added:
    happen because, dammit,...does. It happens...lot. It...
  16. arashikami reblogged this from stfuconservatives and added:
    By comedian Gaby Dunn (gabydunn):
  17. stopdropandbeauty reblogged this from stfuconservatives
  18. beccabooberrymuffin reblogged this from gabydunn
  19. edge-of-pink reblogged this from gabydunn
  20. illyngophobia reblogged this from gabydunn
  21. heylookneato reblogged this from gabydunn