Tweaking Thesis

After conferencing with Dr. Carignan, I've decided that I need to change my thesis and cut down on some of the ideas I had wanted to include in this paper because I wouldn't be able to adequately cover them in the number of pages assigned and still be able to go in-depth. I've decided to focus in on the idea that women aren't funny.

These are the changes I've made:
Research Question: Can women use humor as a tool to deconstruct patriarchal ideologies, specifically the idea that women are incapable of being funny or that they are less funny than men? How? What obstacles do they face in doing so? What affect does sexist humor have on social standards?

Thesis Statement: Humor can be a subversive and empowering tool for women, feminists, and other proponents of gender equality to deconstruct patriarchal ideologies and sexist stereotypes, such as the idea that men are inherently funnier than women or that women are incapable of successfully being humorous, and redefine gender roles. Historically, however, men have controlled the dissemination of humor, determined what is and what is not acceptable as humorous discourse, and have used humor and jokes to create and perpetuate patriarchal ideals, making it difficult for women to overcome such labels because they are accepted and adopted into social norms.

Summary: In my synthesis paper, I focused on the power relationship in joke telling that is proposed in Susan Purdie's essay "The Butt." The general consensus among the various articles the class was assigned was that men had the upper hand, and that women were often times the butt of the joke. Purdie asserts that in order for any butt to gain power, they must make jokes at their own expense in which they themselves act as the butt. Therefore, a woman would need to make jokes that women are the butt of to get any power, thus perpetuating any sexist stereotypes and discrimination that result because of these jokes. This idea interested me. I'd like to take a look at how jokes, humor, and comedy in general can create and maintain these stereotypes and what effects this has on social expectations and tolerance.

I think this is more manageable than what I had going in my research proposal rough draft. Hopefully I've narrowed it down enough. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!