Feminist Humour

Humourous button by Ladies Against Women.

This subsection contains items that use humour, or discuss the use of humour, as a tool for feminist critique and resistance.

Archival Materials

Buttons

Button with slogan "A Woman's Place is Everywhere"
A Woman’s Place is Everywhere

  • Year created:

    1981

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
A button proclaiming that A Woman's Place is in the Front!
A Woman’s Place is in the Front

  • Year created:

    --

  • Language:

    English
Adam was a rough draft

  • Year created:

    --

  • Language:

    English
This button was a play on a well-known and often-quoted phrase calling on citizens to stand up and contribute to building a better society.
Ask not what a lesbian can do for you, but what you can do for a lesbian

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Undated button that says "Behind These Lips Lies a Real Woman"
Behind These Lips Lies A Real Woman

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
better gay than grumpy

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
This undated button pokes fun at "ladies".
C.L.A.W. Canadian Ladies Against Women

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Cinderella Married for Money 

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Emily Carr's words about old women are featured on this button.
Emily Carr

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Feminism to the max!
Feminism to the max!

  • Year created:

    --

  • Language:

    English
The button's slogan is a challenge to the prevailing social pressure for girls and women to be thin.
How Dare You Presume I’d Rather Be Thin

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
I am a F.A.K.E. Woman

  • Year created:

    --

  • Language:

    English
I Am a Pseudo Feminist in Social Work

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
I Like Older Women

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
I Love Lesbian Tongues

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Humourous button by Ladies Against Women.
I’d Rather Be Ironing!

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
If We Can Send One Man to the Moon Why Not Send Them All?

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
This undated button puts a clever twist on the revolutionary slogan, "Workers unite in armed struggle".
Lesbians Unite in Armed Snuggle

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Undated feminist button: "moan, groan, grumble, bitch, complain"
moan groan grumble bitch complain

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
This is an undated humorous button on motherhood.
Motherhood self-destructs in 20 years

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Patriarchy The Great Phallusy

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
This button rewords a traditional Christmas message.
Peace on Earth …. Good Will Toward WOMEN

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Tupperware Preserves The Family

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
The slogan Uppity Women Unite was used in response to the idea that women should know and stay "in their place".
Uppity Women Unite

  • Year created:

    --

  • Language:

    English
What If Prince Charming Never Shows?

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Button calling on women to organize for change.
Women- Don’t Agonize, ORGANIZE

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
"You Don't Need a Prick to Lay a Brick"
You Don’t Need a Prick to Lay a Brick

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
 Behind every successful woman is herself

  • Year created:

    --

  • Language:

    English

Documents
Half Human, Half Heartache: A Passe Muraille Seed Show

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Lorna Boschman – Feminist Stand-up Comedienne

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English

Films

Kathleen Shannon: On Film, Feminism & Other Dreams

  • Year created:

    1997

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Gerry Rogers

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)
Still from the film "Portrait of the Artist--As an Old Lady" featuring Paraskeva Clark, an elderly white woman with grey hair wearing a red checkered blouse, singing animatedly.
Portrait of the Artist–As an Old Lady

  • Year created:

    1982

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Gail Singer

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)
Still from the film "The Glass Ceiling" featuring one of the subjects, a young black woman, working as a receptionist.
The Glass Ceiling

  • Year created:

    1992

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Sophie Bissonnette

  • Language:

    English and French

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

Periodicals

Diva: A Quarterly Journal of Women of South Asian Origin

thumbnail of Diva: A Quarterly Journal of South Asian Women – Vol. 03 Issue 04 – January-March 1993
Diva: A Quarterly Journal of South Asian Women – Vol. 3, Issue 4 – January-March 1993

  • Year created:

    1993

  • Publisher:

    Diva: A Quarterly Journal of South Asian Women

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English

Photos

Like most library picketers during the Metro Library Strike in 1984, CUPE Local 1582 Vice-President Linda Cornwell was seldom without a book.
Metro Library Strike – Reading on the Picket Line

  • Year created:

    1984

  • Photographer:

    Rob Laycock

  • Region:

    Ontario
Photo of The Clichettes taken by Pamela Harris. Left to right: Louise Garfield, Johanna Householder, Janice Hladski. Used with permission of photographer.
The Clichettes

  • Year created:

    --

  • Photographer:

    Pamela Harris

  • Region:

    Ontario
Undated photo of The Clichettes. From left to right: Janice Hladski, Louise Garfield, Johanna Householder. Used with permission of photographer Pamela Harris.
The Clichettes

  • Year created:

    --

  • Photographer:

    Pamela Harris

  • Region:

    Ontario
Janice Hladski, Louise Garfield, and Johanna Householder as The Clichettes in an undated photo by Pamela Harris. Photo used with permission of photographer.
The Clichettes

  • Year created:

    --

  • Photographer:

    Pamela Harris

  • Region:

    Ontario
Undated photo of The Clichettes. Left to right: Louise Garfield, Johanna Householder, Janice Hladski. Photo by David Hlynsky.
The Clichettes

  • Year created:

    --

  • Photographer:

    David Hlynsky

  • Region:

    Ontario
Undated photo of The Clichettes, Left to right: Janice Hladski, Louise Garfield, Johanna Householder. Photographer: David Hlynsky
The Clichettes

  • Year created:

    --

  • Photographer:

    David Hlynsky

  • Region:

    Ontario
Photo of The Clichettes performing Go to Hell in "She-devils of Niagara" (1986) created my Marni Jackson and The Clichettes. Left to right: Louise Garfield, Johanna Householder, Janice Hladki. Photo: David Hlynsky
The Clichettes: Go to Hell

  • Year created:

    1986

  • Photographer:

    David Hlynsky

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)
The Clichettes sing "Having My Baby" in 1986 photo. Left to right: Johanna Householder, Louise Garfield, Janice Hladski. Photographer: David Hlynsky
The Clichettes: Having My Baby

  • Year created:

    1986

  • Photographer:

    David Hlynsky

  • Region:

    Ontario
The Clichettes in Out for Blood, performed at the Factory Theatre Studio Cafe Lab. Louise Garfield (standing, left), Janice Hladski (standing, right), Johanna Householder (seated). Photo by David Hlynsky.
The Clichettes: Out for Blood

  • Year created:

    --

  • Photographer:

    David Hlynsky

  • Region:

    Ontario
Photo of Louise Garfield, Johanna Householder, and Janice Hladski performing as The Clichettes in Out for Blood. Photographer: David Hlynsky.
The Clichettes: Out for Blood

  • Year created:

    --

  • Photographer:

    David Hlynsky

  • Region:

    Ontario
Photo of Janice Hladki, Johanna Householder, and Louise Garfield performing as The Clichettes in She-Devils of Niagara at Factory Theatre in Toronto. Photo: Ben Lechtman Photography.
The Clichettes: She-Devils of Niagara

  • Year created:

    --

  • Photographer:

    Ben Lechtman Photography

  • Region:

    Ontario