LAUGHTER AND GENDER
HA HA HA or LOL?
Is online laughter gendered?
In an exemplary post giving men advice about how to stop giving women shit online, Jason Provencio calls out a particular kind of dude who posts comments on women’s Facebook pages:
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen women make a post about something in particular and a man comments something COMPLETELY random on the post.
Something that has nothing to do with the post. Usually followed with an “LOL”. I’m sorry, Chad. You’re not a 12-year-old girl, do NOT comment with an “LOL”. Man up and use “HAHAHA.”
To which I responded, in the comments section:
HA HA HA
Uh… I mean LOL.
I never knew laughs were gendered.
You learn something new on Medium every day.
But did I learn actually something new? Sure, Jason was just clowning around. But there’s always a truth at the heart of any good joke. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be funny. Which raises the question — are online laughs actually gendered?
Is Laughter Gendered?
How about ROFL? Is that male or female? Or is it nonbinary?
