vol. 4, issue 2: LOL!

“She dreamed by day of never again putting on tight shoes, of never having to laugh and listen and admire, of never more being a good sport. Never.”
― Dorothy Parker, Complete Stories

In a 2007 essay for Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens famously made the case that women are not genetically predisposed to being funny because they do not need a sense of humour in order to attract men. This is a patently ridiculous statement for any number of reasons (ie, we don’t care about your boner), but especially so in a popular culture landscape that has introduced us to the likes of Gracie Allen, Gilda Radner, Jessica Williams, Margaret Cho, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maria Bamford, Marjane Satrapi, Melissa McCarthy, Aisha Tyler, Tig Notaro…the list goes on. Yet at the same time as we’re being told we’re not funny, women are often asked to “lighten up” in the face of experiences and social realities that are no laughing matter. For the eleventh issue of cléo, we want to celebrate the idea that women are, and always have been, hilarious.

Cover Art: Desi Pop Artist Maria Qamar depicts the life and times of first generation Indians living in the west.