Ever felt Monopoly was a bit sexist? LIFE a tad heteronormative? Enter Cards Against Humanity: a game familiar to millennials in which players show their literal and figurative cards -- revealing just how dark and outrageous they can get before hilarity gives way to horror.
However, the game is vulnerable to accidental sexism, (and racism, and basically every "-ism"), and the most obvious and upsetting instances were addressed and removed by its creators. We appreciate the adjustments, but wouldn't the game be even funnier if it incorporated more women’s humor? A tampon here, a Tori Amos dedication there. So thought Kate Stayman-London, whose parody Tumblr “Ladies Against Humanity” went viral last week.
“I started the Tumblr because a friend pointed out to me that all eight founders of Cards Against Humanity are dudes, and it's a real missed opportunity for more lady-centric jokes,” Stayman-London told HuffPost Women over email. “I absolutely adore CAH, so blending my kind of humor with their amazing format seemed like a natural fit.”
Indeed, cards like “Dying your hair red like Angela Chase” and “The blue liquid in tampon commercials" are universally hilarious, but would probably only occur to women to put to paper. Stayman-London reminded us that even with the increasing visibility of women in comedy, men often remain the tastemakers of what we find funny.
“For me, the blog is a statement about how we don't notice that the voice in American entertainment that we think of as 'regular' or 'default' is actually pretty explicitly male. (And white, and straight, and economically privileged, etc.)," Stayman-London said. "My blog is about drawing that contrast, saying ‘See? See all the great stuff we're missing out on when we only listen to what one group of people has to say?’”
While most memes come and go quickly, we hope Stayman-London’s will stick -- the site has already received over 1,000 submissions. “It makes me insane that women are still only 20 percent of writers in Hollywood, and still only get paid 80 percent as much as men. I hope people who read my blog say, like, ‘Wow. That was a f**ked up thing she said about tampons. I wish I saw more of that on television.'"
Yep, I think we could all do with a few more references to the ashes of Gloria Steinem's bras and Peggy Olson's cutthroat ambitions.
Sometimes, there is nothing funnier than the absolute absurdity that can come with being a woman -- and no better feeling than laughing at it with each other. Comrades in female-dom, we invite you to indulge your "fantasies of Mindy Lahiri and a sumptuous coffee cake" right along with us.
Head over to Ladies Against Humanity for the entire, ever-growing collection, and check out some of our favorites in the slideshow below.
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