New term, concept: "Shecksism"

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on September 5th, 2006

Over the years, we’ve heard stories of comedians experiencing poor treatment at the hands of the media, the pop culture, club owners, hoteliers, etc. We’ve even been the object of such poor treatment ourselves. The folks who’ve been on the receiving end of such treatment have been old, young, black, white, male, female– but always sharing one thing: their occupation as comedians.

We get worked up at the injustice of it all. We rarely, however, view the mistreatment specifically as ageism, racism, sexism, homophobia, misogyny, misandry or xenophobia. We tend to think that the abuse derives primarily from a deep-seated resentment toward comedians!

So, we’ve developed a new term, a new “ism,” so to speak: Shecksism. That’s right. From now on, when we see a comedian done dirty, we shall declare the action to be “shecksist.” And we shall hold that the perpetrator is indulging in shecksism. (Rhymes with “sexism.”) Use it three times and it is yours! And, we’re expecting a phone call from the folks at Merriam-Webster any day now telling us that the new term has been incorporated into the newest edition of their dictionary. What the heck– if “booty call” and “ollie” can be legitimized, so can this one.

We understand that we’re veering dangerously close to proclaiming victim status for an entire group. What the hell? Everybody’s doing it!

Shecksism (shĕk’siz’əm)

1 : prejudice or discrimination based on employment in the field of humor; especially : discrimination against standup comics
2 : behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on making one’s living telling jokes

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