cartooning
14 Nov 2008
A Woman Walks Into A Bar...
newmatilda.com cartoonist Fiona Katauskas puts paid to the theory that chicks aren't funny
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me why there are so few female cartoonists, I'd be able to put a hefty deposit on a chunk of Sydney's choicest waterfront real estate. If I had a dollar for every time I was able to give a clear, comprehensive and rational explanation why this is so, I wouldn't even be able to afford a copy of the Tele to cover myself while I slept on a park bench.Basically, I don't have a definitive answer. I have, however, a handful of theories and postulations that I've managed to collect in the 10 years that I've been wielding the pen.
Thanks to Fiona Katauskas
There's one theory I'd like to debunk at the outset. It's not one of mine but can be most recently attributed to that wine-stained purveyor of piss, vinegar and invective, Christopher Hitchens. Women, he says, are unable to be funny. Hitchens must hang out with the wrong kind of chicks. I know many enormously funny women and men. The difference between them is that the men constantly tell you how funny they are and the women don't — some even clam up entirely around their male counterparts rather than compete for the limelight. I also know lots of unfunny men who proclaim their comic genius so loudly and so often that people just assume it's true.
This leads me to my first theory. Part of the reason that there are so few female cartoonists around is because women, on the whole, find the old self-promotion thing doesn't come naturally. Of course there are successful, assertive, talented exceptions to this rule but generally I think women find it harder than men. In her piece on women in cartooning, US cartoonist Jen Sorensen writes of the "cockiness gap" between men and women, but also notes that "it might have something to do with ye olde double standard that ambitious women are perceived as you-know-whats".
Speaking for myself (and only myself), I've always found the freelance hustle excruciatingly difficult. Whenever I feel I should start hassling some editors, I lie down until the feeling goes away. Well, I may be exaggerating — but only slightly. It's ridiculous and totally counterproductive but I can't help it. I'm always amazed by, and admiring of, the effortless chutzpah of my male colleagues.The cut-throat world of the mainstream media can be a pretty blokey place. With few female cartooning role models and many art departments populated solely by male cartoonists, women may be hesitant about trying to break in. Similarly, there may be an (unconscious or otherwise) reluctance on the part of art directors or editors — male and female — to hire women, because of the perception that cartooning is something that blokes do and so are naturally better at and that the rare female cartoonist will probably focus on softer issues, gentler gags or — god forbid! — feminist perspectives. When they think "cartoonist", they automatically think "male".
Of course this is all impossible to quantify and I'm certainly not saying it's prevalent across the media or true of every workplace but I think that perception can exist.
I've had a few experiences that would definitely not have happened to a male cartoonist.
The art director of one major newspaper arranged a folio showing for around midday. He then declined to look at my folio until "after lunch" and I was forced to go to a local pub and sit with him for an hour while he leant back and expounded at length his own greatness. I had to pay for my own lunch. When we returned to his office, he glanced at the unopened folio before saying "I should let you know that we've got no work" then, to show his magnanimity, generously flicked through it before sending me on my way.
In subsequent encounters he was either mildly sleazy or ignored me entirely. I don't think this was aimed at me personally, but rather was just the way he dealt with women in general. As a pretty blokey kind of girl, I wasn't intimidated by his attitude but I certainly wasn't encouraged by it either. After a while I gave up on that publication altogether. A less blokey kind of girl might have given up sooner... or given up on trying to get published at all.
But I don't want to play the victim here either and do not wish to imply that these things happen all the time to every female. However, a perception of a boys' club attitude could be part of the reason why female cartoonists may be reluctant to aim for mainstream publication.
While there are few women in cartooning, there are also few women in cartoons. Cartooning's everyman is usually ... well ... a man. Being female, my everyman characters are women — not because of any conscious agenda on my part but just because they usually say what I want to (and would) say. To my surprise, some people find this problematic. I've had blokes tell me on several occasions that they didn't understand one of my cartoons. Each time the cartoon has been quite straightforward but the female protagonist caused confusion — "Oh, I get the gag, I just don't get the feminist angle," they say. When I explain that there is no feminist angle, there just happens to be a woman in the cartoon, the reaction is always "well, why didn't you just use a guy instead?"
Well-known cartoonists like Cathy Wilcox, who often uses an everywoman, have helped to put females in the frame but even now this perception survives. Fellow female cartoonist and winner of the newmatilda.com prize for political cartooning, Sarah Parsons, recently told me that she had encountered this attitude too: "[It's] as if we can all identify with males as humans, whereas female characters automatically become about a female issue". A male cartoonist from a major newspaper told me that he didn't use women in his cartoons as it "gets too confusing" for the reader.
Thanks to Fiona Katauskas
While it's certainly not always the case, there can be a risk that drawing females leads to the marginalisation of the females who draw. Women who always use women in their cartoons can be defined not as cartoonists per se, but "female cartoonists", which cuts your audience in half.
Again, this is just a theory based on anecdote rather than any concrete evidence. It's probably less of a theory than a convoluted chicken and egg proposition — to borrow (and butcher) an argument from Jen Sorensen, there'll be more females in cartoons when there are more females in cartooning and there may well be more females in cartooning when there are more females in cartoons.
Unlike Britain or the US, Australia does not have a wide range of mainstream and sustainable alternative publications - our population simply cannot support them. Which leads me to my final theory: it's just bloody hard to get work. Decades ago editorial cartooning was the exclusive preserve of the blokes but cartoonists like Jenny Coopes, Cathy Wilcox and Judy Horacek drew the line under that. However, while newspapers may now be open to employing women, they're also far more open to counting beans and that means they're less open to employing anyone new at all. Staff positions are as rare as executive salary increases aren't, and daily editorial cartoonists are all long-termers who will stay — as Sydney Morning Herald cartoonist, Alan Moir, once described it — "until they fall off their stools".
Across the world, newspapers, the traditional employers and nurturers of political cartoonists, are struggling to survive. Cartoons and illustrations are now seen as luxuries rather than an important part of the publication. There has been a marked decline in opportunities for freelancers as belts are tightened across the media and once cartoon-filled publications like the Bulletin, wither and die.
It's getting harder for established freelancers but even harder for those without a history of publication. The up‘n'comers who are scribbling away at home might have a few female role models to follow, but nowhere to follow them to.
The blogosphere may not pay just yet, but I suspect young aspiring cartoonists will go directly to the net rather than entangling themselves in mainstream media. If they do, it'll be interesting to see if more female cartoonists emerge.
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huh? Your points might be valid and honestly I guess most cartoonist seem to be blokes but I disagree that having women in cartoons in itself makes a cartoon less appealing or amusing or too confusing. A good cartoon is a good cartoon, perhaps men are more easily satirised since men occupy more high profile public positions and as such offer a more ready target.
In some ways having women comment in a cartoon is delightfully subversive and I think its less used than it could be, which seems to me to reflect more on the creativity of the artist.
Qedqed,
I also disagree that having women in cartoons makes them less appealing or amusing or too confusing. What I was saying was that this was a perception I encountered in others- including some male cartoonists. It certainly wasn’t anything I’d ever thought about until people who felt that way commented on it to me.
Again, I don’t believe that everyone thinks this way at all but it’s been interesting to see that some people do and that this perception can influence the way some people read or draw cartoons. I’ve heard of one female cartoonist sticking to drawing animals as characters to consciously avoid making them any gender at all and so avoid having to deal with these perceptions.
As for having women in cartoons, I don’t think it should have to be a subversive act. Ideally the gender of a cartoon protagonist shouldn’t be an issue at all, and for lots of people, it’s not.
Hi Fiona,
I agree with much of your article, but think you made an unfortunate choice with the last example cartoon, which plays into the theory postulated by a number of my friends regarding women stand-up comedians. They argue that women do jokes about periods, babies and men while men do jokes about everything else.
While I don’t subscribe entirely to this view, female comics and cartoonists have been happy to mine these fields for a long time. I look forward to the day women can joke more freely about politics and religion, while male comics can explore the untapped hilarity of female stupidity and genital weirdness.
I wish someone would tell me how to make the self-promotion thing come naturally to me. Now I feel like a woman.
Dr Dog,
Fair enough. I had a few minutes to choose a cartoon for this article and just pulled that one out of my files thinking I had to use one which had a gendered message. I shouldn’t have. It’s certainly not representative of my work in general- most of it is about politics or social issues and not about men at all. That’s probably the only one. When I drew it, I meant it not so much as a criticism of men but of the idea of intelligent design and humans in general- that was the context.
I think the female comedian thing is really interesting. I’ve heard it said that when female comics do their schtick about other stuff they are held up to far greater scrutiny and criticism than their male counterparts and when they do the men/babies/periods/shopping schtick they’re instantly dismissed as "womens’" comedians which, I suppose, is valid when men feel they’re excluded from or criticised by that humour.
"cartooning is something that blokes do and so are naturally better at"
How are you even supposed to know its a female cartoonist? For the most part, the only identifier you see is the squiggle of signature on the bottom, (which doesn’t give away a gender) I reckon just go for it.
And as for "Cartooning’s everyman is usually … well … a man" Thats because Men are easily accepted as the butt of humour. Everyone is happy to laugh at a man’s expense. Make the butt of humour a woman, and it makes people uncomfortable and self concious because they don’t know how to react "Am I a bad person for laughing at a woman’s expense?"
Case in point… the cartoon by Fiona Katauskas. Old Joke, but funny. I liked it. But let’s say the man was replaced with a woman, and the highlighted areas were the Brain and the Uterus? Would it still be funny, or would it be "sexist?"
QEDQED,
I reckon its got less to with men or high profile positions - but anyone who takes themselves too seriously are a dead cert to have the mickey taken. Julie Bishop, the Appalling Oxleymoron, Janette H., and the Offensive Palin and Hillarious are examples of women who demand to be satirised - it’s harder to draw Julia’s voice - although I reckon Fiona could find a way.
Fiona
Maybe the problem is that, in general, a woman with a sense of humour moves on to the next observation too quickly to manage the endless repetition required by men: the female cartoonist is retentive [NB"just pulled that one out of my files", what files, where?] which could add a new dimension to the bookclub.
Christopher
Great article, Fiona. Your piece, and the comment from thehays, actually reminds me of a story I heard about another cartoonist (don’t recall the name). He used to draw cartoons that made light of the situation of disabled people. One example was a cartoon of a black man on the street corner with sunglasses, holding a sign that said, ‘please help - I’m black, I’m blind and I have no rhythm.’ As expected, he got lots of complaints over his work, until he pointed out to people that he was paraplegic. His argument was that people with disabilities should be able to make light of their situations just like everyone else and that distinguishing a group as somehow beyond the realm of humour was actually a form of segregation, discrimination and/or unwanted pity. Likewise, we should be comfortable laughing at or about women just as we do about men, as long as it’s done in the right spirit. Just personally, I really liked the intelligent design cartoon.
I agree about your work Fiona and voted for you a couple of times in the matilda competition (the weeks I didn’t enter admittedly). One of reasons I felt alright bringing up the female comic thing is that you most certainly don’t rely on those classic ‘female’ topics.
I think in general that sort of women’s comedian is on the way out anyway, gone the way, hopefully, of the ‘take my wife’ vaudvillian male comic.
Also I think there might be something about the willingness to do verbal violence that skews toward men. A lot of the ‘funny’ stuff said in my peer group would be considered abuse in another context.
Only a dipstick would say there are no funny women or make a statement resembling that.
If a man cannot find any woman funny, that’s his problem, and it’s a big problem.
I find quite a few women funny, including cartoonists, such as Bretecher and our own Wilcox. Kerry Millard is a f*cking genius when she’s on. She’s actually Canadian by birth, but we’ve co-opted so many foreigners as our own why stop now?
We have a largely unreported history of great Aussie women cartoonists, Mollie Horseman (she was a Pom to start with), and Joan Morrison both worked for Smith’s Weekly.
Horseman was no cream puff. She was hit by a car as a frail old lady, leaving her paralysed and unable to use her drawing hand. So she used her other one and kept on painting.
What I have no time for is the assumption that because a bloke don’t get you, there’s something wrong with him or even blokes in general.
I don’t get Victoria Roberts. That doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me, it means she’s crap. Using fey, oblique rubbish as material only works in a market which is afraid to point out the emperor has no clothes. Similarly a lack of drawing ability is often construed as illustrative talent by people who can’t tell the difference between the brilliant Quentin Crisp and some idiot who draws with a bent Rotring.
I’m not having a go at women either. Bill Leak phones it in these days, and that was before he landed on his scone trying to feed the parrots. My relatives came over from the UK in July and they can’t believe that he and Nicholson are the top of the tree here. And yes, they are art lovers, they understand drawing. They LOVE Bruce Petty.
I think it’s crap that people don’t get. Whether it’s dished up by a woman or a man is immaterial.
Hi Leo,
I certainly wasn’t saying that if a bloke don’t get you, there’s a problem with him or blokes in general- that would be assuming my cartoons are always perfectn or that there is a uniform male response, which there obviously is not.
THis is not an attack on men at all- please don’t see it that way. I’m not saying men are the problem. It was a response to the question I am ALWAYS asked about why there are so few women in political cartooning (usually only around 5%- 10% max of cartoonists are female and that seems to be true for other countries too). Female political commentators abound, as do journos, so it’s strange that this is the case as it’s obviously not to do with an interest in politics. As I say repeatedly in the article, I dont’ know why but here are a few theories- and only theories- based on observations and discussions with lots of other people.
I hate Victoria Roberts too (the New Yorker doesn’t). Kerry Millard rocks but I never see her stuff any more.
Thehays- the "everyman" is not the butt of jokes but the main character- usually the one who makes the gag or says what needs to be said. That’s not to say the butt is women- the butt is also usually a man, usually a politician. The confusion I encountered with drawing women was that people sometimes thought that because a woman said a punchline or something political then she was making a specifically feminist statement, not just a political statement. That was why the male cartoonist I mention above did not draw them either.
And thanks for the feedback- any other theories on why I’d be really happy to hear.
…and TheHays-
I’m not talkign about readers thinking men do cartooning better, I’m talking about editors and art directors- the people who choose cartoons for publication. Not all of them do, of course and perhaps some of those who do don’t even realise it.
I could be totally wrong- again it’s a theory,.
I think it’s Ego, Fiona.
Cartoonists are auteurs, scripting, directing and casting their own movies. It’s a man thing because it’s a loner thing. Men are more likely to live the anchorite existence, holed up in a remote desert or mountain, the better to pursue their goal, and often the maintaining of their lone existence is the goal itself.
Men tend to like being alone, the shed is the urban Coober Pedy cave for the bloke who wants desperately to travel the full looney hermit trail, but wants to be back for tea.
Women tend to take the -almost- mad cat lady route, surrounding themselves with objects of love and affection and emotional responsibility, even if that affection isn’t returned, but of course cats and dogs and friendships need care, and care takes up time. Men prefer to spend that time tinkering under an anglepoise, designing a blueprint for a neutron blaster to sell to NASA.
Or cartooning.
That’s why you, as a woman cartoonist, are a relatively rare breed, and will remain so.
Hi Leo,
There’s probably much in what you say. It’s an interesing thought. Over the past ten years I’ve got to know most of the editorial cartoonists in Australia and the majority are very outgoing characters but they’re certainly very focussed when it comes to their work.
Comic book writing and graphic novels are even more male-dominated so perhaps it;s something in the form itself. Jen Sorensen’s piece (which I link to in the article) refers to that too in a way. As far as editorial cartooning goes, maybe it’s somethign to do with being the class clown as well. Quite of few of them seemed to get their start in cartooning through drawing funny pictures at school and making people laugh.
PS Bruce Petty is widely considered the Patron Saint of Australian Political cartooning. He is loved by pretty much everyone in the cartooning world. We dips our lids.
Hi Fiona
Great article and good on you for replying to everyone too!
I am finding some of the replies depressing though as they suggest that we are not allowed to identify gender difference as a structure any more whereby a mates club, patronage and power continues to work against funny women (cartoonists and comedians). Instead some of the replies tell us to look at individual, unrepresentative cases. Pointing out gender is not about having a go at men (we all know some quite nice ones!)- it’s about trying to understand persistent inequality.
I’m a co-author of the only women authored Australian politics text book. It also features wonderful cartoons by a female cartoonist - Fiona. I’m proud of our book but I do wonder why it has taken so long for an all woman production. Politics itself still remains very unequal for Australian women. Why?? The answers are not easy nor do they lie with simplistic notions of individual ‘choice’.
Ariadne
Fiona,
The editorial cartoonists all have in-house jobs. Yes, some might work from home, but they are pretty much cosseted. No need for a troglodyte existence. If they were paid on a you’re-only-as-good-as-your-last-cartoon principle, they’d be recluses.
I’m pretty disappointed (as you may have gathered) at the standard of Australian editorial cartooning, but mostly at the efforts of those who have the highest profiles. They have become soft, predictable and arrogant. I know that most of the News Ltd cartoonists are on secure contracts (maybe three years at a time) and I feel this is a huge mistake. Editorial cartooning should be the most insecure job on the planet. No newbies are ever going to try storming the citadel whilst they know that the occupants are protected by an indulgent editor. It’s a waste of their time. Cartoonists of professional standard (or potential) don’t want to spend months or years working on spec. They want to earn MONEY.
I noticed that one paper’s illustrator was even given some editorial cartooning to do when the regular editorialist was on holiday! He was garbage!
This is a problem that transcends gender. Neither man nor woman with any talent will waste their existence continually throwing trial cartoons at a disinterested editor whose priority is keeping the artists who are already on the payroll busy.
News Ltd should sack the perennial no-hopers like "Lindsay" and let a fresh talent have a go.
…and yes, if you want to see "Lindsay" as part of a boy’s club, I’ll agree with you. It works the same with comedians. Why the hell are Will Anderson or Rove McManus on TV? They stink.
Hi Fiona,
My favourite Australian comic book is mainly done by Trudy Cooper.
www.platinumgrit.com
Leo,
Just out of interest, who do your UK rellos think is good in Ole Blighty? Steve Bell from the Guardian has his moments as do many others but I think everyone phones stuff in from time to time. I’ve heard that Australian cartoonists are highly regarded by UK newspapers. The gag cartoons in the Spectator and Private Eye are-to my taste- 80% crap.
No matter whether you’re a regular cartoonist, columnist or journo (or any other job whatsoever, whether it’s media related or not), you’re going to have your good days and your bad days. THat’s a reality. If everyone was judged on their bad days and fired accordingly, there’d be nobody working anywhere at all for longer than a week. I agree that having a locked market can make people stale but at the same time, I think that the good days for most cartoonists outweigh the bad days- even if their work isn’t necessarily to your taste. Those whose duds outnumber their nuggets of gold (and I’m talking about columnists and journos too) are often so entrenched that, to management, their work becomes invisible. As long as the space is filled it doesn’t really matter (case in point with illustrators being used to fill cartoonists’ spots- a triumph of beancounting over quality control). This is true of all businesses and professions and there’s not much anyone can do about it.
The main issue for me and other locked-out or partially employed cartoonists is the size of the market- we dont’ have the middle range of publications you find in the US with the alt-press and in the UK so it’s much harder in Australia to get a break, learn the ropes and prove yourself. With such a limited market, it’s a talent for self promotion rather than a talent for cartooning (although the two are certainly not mutually exclusive) that can get you high profile work …if there is any to get.
Avromen!
That’s what I was trying to say in the article- that I think there probably are structures in place and this could help explain why there are so few female cartoonists. Of course, it’s impossible to quantify and prove and I’ve had to rely on anecodotes and observations from a range of people and from my own experience. When there are exceptions, which of course there are, that doesn’t necessarily mean the structures dont’ exist. In the case of female politicians, just because there are some women in parliament it doesn’t mean all obstacles are instantly overcome. It might, however, mean more aspiring female pollies have role models to follow and that might- hopefully- smooth their path just a little (if it doesn’t deter them entirely!)
It’s a tricky balancing act- I definitely don’t want to sound like a victim- I am not. I’m aware of my lack of mainstream success and do not in any way wish to defensively imply it’s because of my gender or that I’ve been hardly done by. However, I do think there can be limitations- sometimes self imposed- for aspirant female cartoonists.
It’s in no way meant to be an attack on men or male cartoonists or male editors (or female ones either) or to imply that there’s a calculated sexism but to try to examine how some of these perceptions might work.
Graeme F-
Queenie Chan http://www.queeniechan.com/ is another young Australian female comic artist/cartoonist who’s broken into that traditionally male world and is doing really well
Fiona,
It’s not that Australian cartoonists are highly regarded in the UK, it’s the fact that our system allows for so many of them, and many are of a high artistic standard.
My rellos are a couple, bro-in-law and his wife, one (wife) is a childrens book illustrator and the other (bro) an ex editorial cartoonist on a paper which, though not a national daily, still has a readership in the millions. They do take a professional interest in the standard of editorial cartooning and newspaper illos that other people wouldn’t.
They’ve stayed with us before, so I’m familiar with their views. Basically they love the Australian scene, but can’t see how Leak and Nicholson hold down their jobs. I agree.
Personally I think Nicholson hits the mark occasionally, but both have announced that they draw using a pen tablet, and I think their work has deteriorated as a result. They obviously feel that merely by putting pen to tablet they are doing us a favour.
Leak is feted as a portrait painter. In actual fact he’s a very bad one, but do we cut him some slack because he’s a cartoonist? Like the quote about the dog standing on its hind legs, do we marvel not that it’s done well but that it’s done at all?
The Brits like good drawing, (maybe they’re old fashioned) and Steve Bell is a good drawer, However, in my opinion it’s his laborious cod Robert Crumb style which has kept him in work. His political comment is puerile and rarely reaches the level of first year Sociology student.
On the Australian scene the rellos have pinpointed Rowe as a standout, and amongst the NewsCorp crowd (they basically only read the Oz), their "obvious" picks are Krygsman, Newman and Lobbecke, but I think they’re a yawn.
I used to live in the ‘Gong and Canberra, and I like O’Farrell and Pryor, so there is talent there in the boondocks too.
I have a liking for the lesser-known (to Poms) artists like Atchison, and younger guys like Matt Golding, Hinze, Kudelka, Jellet, Follett (sp?) and Campbell. (I’m ASSUMING they’re all younger), but it seems they are the real treasure trove of Australian cartooning, not overrated, underdone Scarfe wannabes like Leak.
Great points Fiona, and great discussion!
As an aspiring female cartoonist (and one mentioned in this article) I’d like to add a couple of things from my rare vantage point.
I find in my own cartooning that I use a lot of females, whether the issue is in the female domain or not. I do this, because I like to, and I identify a little more with the female protagonist than male. And yep, I don’t mind if it tests the interpretive powers of the mind by potentially confusing the joke. But, at the same time, I’m highly aware that it feels stubborn to do so.
Unfortunately, I think that it is true that the default protagonist character is more readily identified with when it is male. And that as a male, it is seen to represent a human first, before a male. When the protagonist is a female, it is seen to represent a female before a human. I believe this is a subtle, mostly unconscious process, which may be due to socializing - the reason I say this is that I’ve heard in the children’s book publishing industry that books sell better if the main character is a boy (girls can still identify with the boy, but boy’s can’t so easily identify with the girl). It already starts really young and maybe it continues… So, when your mind starts interpreting a cartoon, I think it looks for the joke in the context of all clues; and a female character stands out as a clue - when it might not if it was a male (or an Anglo male that is - I should qualify that!).
You only have to draw cartoons with females, wave them around, before you soon get to know that this is an issue! Try it sometime. I use females anyway, and the more they appear as protagonists in all sorts of media, the more this will change.
I totally agree with Fiona - I’m astounded as a newbie to all this that there are so few women doing cartooning, let alone political cartooning. It is definitely still very much a boys game - but won’t be forever I hope. Sometimes I wonder if it’s about feeling OK to make public comment about politics and contentious isses? Or about it feeling OK to be the funny one? The witty one? I notice some of the best humour I’ve heard from women are when there are no men around… Or maybe it’s about having the time to devote to this sort of thing in the first place when you’re run ragged (it’s a labour of love, not cash, for a long time).
Why are there so few female cartoonists? And cartoonists who are not ethnically Anglo? I think it’s important to have diversity in cartoonists, because that means more diverstiy in public debate.
Leo,
I think it really boils down to a matter of taste. There’s no way I’m going to say whose work I like and whose I don’t but I disagree strongly with you on a few of your opinions- doesn’t mean I’m right and you’re wrong but that we like different things. That’s my personal taste and, like your relatives, I understand the various thought processes that go into making a cartoon and, whether I like them or not, I can see how they are crafted. I’m sure your family have views as professionals but there’s a wide range of opinions on who is good and who isn’t, whether you’re professional or not. It depends on what kind of humour you like, what kind of drawing styles you like etc. Often, even if I’m not keen on their stuff, I respect most cartoonists’ craft and on the whole, cartoonists are a very generous bunch when it comes to respecting eachothers’ work.
Fiona, I suspect that when cartoonists get together they’re like every other profession - pleasant on the outside but quite bitchy in private, in their little cliques.
The fact remains that there’s little or no point in complaining about how few women are in the industry, or debating whether they are funny or not, when no-one (man or woman) really gets a good go at it because of the security of tenure that some cartoonists enjoy.
I’ve said I don’t like Leak’s work and that he’s overrated. As a non-cartoonist, not only is that my right, it’s my duty as a lover of the form to point out that the emperor has no clothes (to use a tired cliche - somewhat apt when talking about certain editorialists).
You have decided to point out what you feel are irksome attitudes you encounter as a woman cartoonist. I’m saying there’s a much bigger picture that you have either not seen or have chosen not to address because it might upset your fellow professionals.
Leak, Nicholson, Leunig and others of their overrated ilk should be given less work to do, and more young (or simply new) talent should be blooded. I don’t have anything against those blokes and I hope Bill’s head gets better, this is strictly business.
As always, it’s those of us outside that particular business who are more free to comment. You should give thanks, Fiona, that there are people out there like me who care enough to protest, and I suspect that in private you do.
V dear Fiona, I am a great admirer of your work and already subscribe to your cartoons. Now I have just subscribed to your writing articles.
If the male cartoonist was working for the Melbourne Herald Sun; he was probably telling the truth.
You may not believe the sincerity with which I may the following comment. But it’s there.
I honestly believe that men don’t see ‘people’ when they think about women. If one is a woman they will try condescension, superficiality, tyranny etc, etc. And I happen to like men a lot. It’s almost as if they are trying to wear their bollocks around their necks.
An example may be found in NM’s discussion on the abortion issue. In response to an articulate and well researched comment by a woman, a male contributer asked her if she rolled her own tampons. Can you believe that? Worse, he appears in the comments approps your own article. (being a mere, weak woman I will decline to name names).
I agree with Dr Dog, in that women do have a tendency, as stand-up comics, to harp about women as opposed to getting to the part where they get stuck into politics, religion, and sport. Far more fertile fields, no pun intended, to be mined.
Thanks once again for the article.
Venise,
You say:
"I honestly believe that men don’t see ‘people’ when they think about women. If one is a woman they will try condescension, superficiality, tyranny etc, etc. And I happen to like men a lot."
Yeah, right. And some of your best friends are black.
Look, women never actually preface anti-male comments by saying "you should take into account that I am a confirmed man-hater" and that’s probably because they don’t believe they are, but I believe YOU are.
If it walks and talks like a duck, etc…
Oh, and New Matilda left my "roll your own tampons" comment in because it was F.U.N.N.Y.
I had to spell it out, because I believe you have no sense of H.U.M.O.U.R.
"I have a liking for the lesser-known (to Poms) artists like Atchison, and younger guys like Matt Golding, Hinze, Kudelka, Jellet, Follett (sp?) and Campbell."
Forgive my sense of smug satisfaction (to anyone who comes to check these old stories), but I do believe Kudelka won a Walkley last week.
Let’s hope these younger guys increasingly get the recognition they deserve. They are the future. I’d also like to see more talented women in there vying for the honours, we need the new Coopes and Wilcox to take up the standard, but sadly none are to be found.