By Anita Gill
Recently, I came across Olga Kazan’s article from The Atlantic entitled “Plight of the Funny Female.” According to a mess of studies with smart people writing on notepads, women are not seen as funny.
Many women don’t consider themselves funny. Humor is for men. When going to a comedy club, you’ll see the mostly male line-up of comedians and one woman shoved in there so they seem inclusive.
Part of the problem is that men have made women think they aren’t funny. But according to Kazan’s article, men are more aggressive when it comes to being funny. They try and fail and try again. And with that, they have a higher success rate of scoring a laugh.
Gee, why does that sound familiar? Oh right! Because it’s the same thing men are doing in the publishing world.
As you probably already know, there are loads of literary journals available for your poetry, prose, and other creative media projects. But if you’re like me, and you occasionally write the snarky satiric piece, something that you feel deep down can’t be put out in the world, you may feel lost. It’s a bit more challenging to find a journal or website that showcases funny writing. The hits are old and contain several sites with broken links or closed journals.
It’s like nobody sees humor as quality writing here.
In the efforts of getting my fellow funny ladies and non-binaries more exposure, I’d like to share an updated list of places that accept humor. And if you’re thinking “Well, I don’t write in prose,” I’ll have to stop you there because I even have a site for POETRY that you’ll want to check out. On top of that, all of these places have no submission fee.
Shouts and Murmurs: Sure, this is The New Yorker and it’s a long shot, but why not? Think of this as like your Paris Review of funny places to submit. I should note that they usually want things that aren’t topical (all the immediate jokes about the world seem to go to Andy Borowitz here). Even if it doesn’t work out, you’ll get a nice little rejection message from The New Yorker in your inbox. And getting to say “I got a rejection from The New Yorker” is a fun achievement in itself.
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: I’ve loved this site for years and I come back to read certain pieces over and over because they make my sides hurt (see: “If Women Wrote About Men the Way Men Wrote About Women”). The pieces here are sharp. The Editors usually get back to you within two weeks. Also, just because they didn’t accept one of your funny stories doesn’t mean they won’t take the next. After I first got published here, they rejected my next two submissions and then accepted the third one.
The Rumpus – Funny Women: This column in The Rumpus caters specifically to humor written by women and gender non-conforming writers. Not only that, but if you get a rejection from them, they give you a list of other places that accept funny writing. I got rejected from here once and it allowed me to find The Big Jewel, where I found a home for another piece.
The Offing – Wit Tea: I love the play on words, and this one is definitely what it says—witty. Maybe it’s the sleek webpage, but whenever I read this column, I feel like I should be drinking tea while laughing and exclaiming, “My! What a romp!”
The Hairpin: You may already know about this site. It’s aimed at women and has quite a following. For examples of what they publish, check out “Sex Tips from Queen Elizabeth I.”
Reductress: I feel like this is the feminist version of The Onion. I mostly just read the headlines out loud because they’re amazing and everyone within earshot guffaws. Go to their Contact page and email them about submitting. They will occasionally send out emails asking for about 10 pitches of article headlines.
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest: I’ve been getting this email every year. Apparently, there’s a humor contest for best funny poem. There’s no submission fee. The winner receives $1,000 and even the Honorable Mentions get $100. The deadline is April 1st, and this seems to be an annual contest. Why not make a little poem and submit? The worst that could happen is that you win the $1,000. Then you have to take Anita out for a drink. She likes pinot noir.
Defenestration: This is a website that accepts a wide variety of humor in fiction, nonfiction, fake nonfiction (it’s a thing?), and poetry.
The Big Jewel: This site has more of a blog feel, but they publish a lot of humorous pieces. They ask for writing that’s under 1,000 words.
Recently, there was a Twitter thread about places that accept funny writing. The following journals replied and welcomed humor. I wanted to send these along because they’re definitely worth looking into.
The Daily: The Daily is The Paris Review blog and they sometimes publish funny pieces. Most of their humor stems from topics related to writing and craft. They ask submitters to send a query first and that pieces shouldn’t be over 2,000 words. Here’s an example by Ann Beattie: “Six Tips on Writing Inspired by My Farmers Market.”
Barrelhouse: They have some humorous articles in their online mag. See “Eat Them, I Don’t Know: John Mayer’s Guide to Foraging #2.”
HelloGiggles: If you have a personal essay that’s humorous, but also meaningful, this is a great place to check out. HelloGiggles is an online site that showcases articles for women on culture and empowerment. The site seems to have a good following, so if you have some writing that’s heartfelt, but also makes someone chuckle, this might be a good fit.
Humor is a tricky beast since it’s so subjective. Fortunately, there are a slew of editors out there with a range of opinions for what makes something funny. Whatever the case, there’s a home for your funny quirky writing.
Anita Gill was given this name when she was born so that her grandparents could pronounce it, but they called her “Annie” instead. Her humor has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Rumpus, Brevity’s Blog, Defenestration, and elsewhere.