InStyle
  • Fashion
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Lifestyle
  • Podcasts
  • Women Of Style
  • Video
InStyle
  • Fashion
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Lifestyle
  • Podcasts
  • Women Of Style
  • Video
Subscribe
Prince George & Princess Charlotte Get Their Own Christmas Trees, Kate Middleton's Mom Reveals
Watch 0:54

Prince George & Princess Charlotte Get Their Own Christmas Trees, Kate Middleton's Mom Reveals

{headline}

{headline}

Women of Style: Juliette Wright

Women of Style: Juliette Wright

Women Of Style: Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE

Women Of Style: Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE

Women Of Style: Melissa Doyle

Women Of Style: Melissa Doyle

Women of Style: Nikki Warburton

Women of Style: Nikki Warburton

{headline}

{headline}

How The InStyle Team Get Red Carpet Ready For Women Of Style

How The InStyle Team Get Red Carpet Ready For Women Of Style

Women Of Style: Megan Larsen

Women Of Style: Megan Larsen

Moments You Missed From The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards

Moments You Missed From The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards

{headline}

{headline}

Shop The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Gift Bag

Shop The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Gift Bag

Congratulations To The Instyle And Audi Women Of Style 2018 Award Recipients!

Congratulations To The Instyle And Audi Women Of Style 2018 Award Recipients!

All The Must-See Red Carpet Looks From The InStyle & Audi Women Of Style Awards

All The Must-See Red Carpet Looks From The InStyle & Audi Women Of Style Awards

10 Years Of Women Of Style: Dr Dharmica Mistry

10 Years Of Women Of Style: Dr Dharmica Mistry

10 Years Of Women Of Style: Melanie Perkins

10 Years Of Women Of Style: Melanie Perkins

10 Years Of Women Of Style: Dr Emma Fulu

10 Years Of Women Of Style: Dr Emma Fulu

10 Years Of Women Of Style: Yassmin Abdel-Magied

10 Years Of Women Of Style: Yassmin Abdel-Magied

  1. Home
  2. Women Of Style

Women of Style: Gloria Steinem

In an exclusive essay, Steinem, one of the influential feminist activists to have ever lived, reflects on the power of humour - by Gloria Steinem
  • 18 Nov 2019
Women of Style: Gloria Steinem

Laughter is the only free emotion. It is the essence of humanity and free will, an orgasm of the mind. If you think this is overstating the importance of laughter, here is a fact: laughter is the only emotion that cannot be compelled.

We can be forced to fear—and a good thing too—because it’s part of the reason our species survives. We can be compelled to love, because if someone is dependent for long enough, love of self and love of another become intertwined by our instinct for survival. This may mean captives loving their captors, as in the Stockholm syndrome, but the point is that this, too, is a response to the will to survive. But laughter! Ah, laughter has no tactical purpose. It can’t be compelled. It is the ultimate proof of our humanity. It just explodes from within like a great aha!

Laughter arrives when two opposites collide and suddenly create a third, when we have a flash of understanding, when a punchline changes everything that has gone before, when we glimpse a new possibility. Albert Einstein once famously said that he had to be very careful while shaving, because if he had a new idea, he laughed and cut himself.

Laughter is the most contagious of all emotions. Our pulse and blood pressure go up. We breathe faster and send more oxygen to our brains. A doctor found that a minute of laughter stimulated his heart as much as 10 minutes of rowing. It’s a full-on collaboration between mind and body.

Because the power to say things that create laughter really is a power, women are not supposed to have it. Female comics are relatively rare and new. This may also be because studies show that what women fear most in men is violence, but what men fear most in women is ridicule.

In a political candidate, we should look for an ability to laugh at oneself. I bet there's an inverse relationship between authoritarianism and a sense of humour.

Gloria Steinem quote

Any single one of these benefits would be enough to make us value laughter, but the big one is this: laughter is a proof of freedom. No-one, but no-one, can force us to laugh. When we experience this orgasm of the mind, we are truly free.

So use laughter as a guide: try to stay away from places where you’re not allowed to laugh, including religious ones. The absence of laughter is a giveaway that the religion in question is more political than spiritual, more about a hierarchy with God at the top than about godliness in all living things.

Try to stay away from workplaces where laughter is absent. The degree of freedom where you work is indicated by the presence or absence of laughter.

Try to stay away from social settings with no laughter. Your ability to laugh is a sign that you’re doing the right thing with the right people in the right place. Laughing together creates instant community.

Whatever makes us laugh is a good thing, from elaborate jokes to stand-up comedy, but I have a special fondness for spontaneous, in-the-moment laughter.

There is an old tradition in Native American culture, where laughter is personified by the “Trickster”, a male or female or male-and-female spirit, who may turn up anywhere. Unlike the “court jester” or the “circus clown” who make the powerful laugh, the Trickster is free, a paradox, a crosser of boundaries who breaks into sacred spaces and lets laughter out.

Since one Indian country belief is that a sacred space can be pierced only by laughter and prayer, there is also a belief that if we can’t laugh, we can’t pray. Laughter is the ultimate in “you have to be there”. I hope you will let laughter be your guide to freedom.

Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman 1970

Steinem with her Ms. magazine co-founder Dorothy Pitman Hughes at a rally in 1970

Women Of Style
Woman Of Words

Woman Of Words

Celeste Barber Is Our April Cover Star!

Celeste Barber Is Our April Cover Star!

Women of Style: Juliette Wright

Women of Style: Juliette Wright

Women Of Style

Woman Of Words

Woman Of Words

Celeste Barber Is Our April Cover Star!

Celeste Barber Is Our April Cover Star!

Women of Style: Juliette Wright

Women of Style: Juliette Wright

Marta Dusseldorp On Using Her Platform For Change

Marta Dusseldorp On Using Her Platform For Change

How Melinda Gates Is Opening Doors for Women in Tech

How Melinda Gates Is Opening Doors for Women in Tech

Nicole Warne Shadbolt Is Our February Cover Star!

Nicole Warne Shadbolt Is Our February Cover Star!

Women Of Style: Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE

Women Of Style: Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE

Women of Style: Gloria Steinem

Women of Style: Gloria Steinem

Women Of Style: Anna Spiro

Women Of Style: Anna Spiro

Women Of Style: Melissa Doyle

Women Of Style: Melissa Doyle

Women Of Style: Kate Bosworth

Women Of Style: Kate Bosworth

Women of Style: Nikki Warburton

Women of Style: Nikki Warburton

Inside The 2019 Georg Jensen x OCRF Luncheon

Inside The 2019 Georg Jensen x OCRF Luncheon

Women of Style: Dr Chantel Thornton

Women of Style: Dr Chantel Thornton

5 Amazing Australian Business Women Who Are Striving For Change

5 Amazing Australian Business Women Who Are Striving For Change

9 Women-Led Brands You Need To Know About

9 Women-Led Brands You Need To Know About

Every Look From The 2019 InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards

Every Look From The 2019 InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards

7 Lessons We Learnt From 2019's Women Of Style

7 Lessons We Learnt From 2019's Women Of Style

Celeste Barber Turns Heads On The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards Red Carpet

Celeste Barber Turns Heads On The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards Red Carpet

P.E Nation’s Pip Edwards And Claire Tregoning On Women Empowering Women

P.E Nation’s Pip Edwards And Claire Tregoning On Women Empowering Women

Phoebe Tonkin’s Unexpected Beauty Hack For Surviving A Long Night

Phoebe Tonkin’s Unexpected Beauty Hack For Surviving A Long Night

Elyse Knowles Talks Style And Sustainability On The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards Red Carpet

Elyse Knowles Talks Style And Sustainability On The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards Red Carpet

Marta Dusseldorp On Celebrating Women

Marta Dusseldorp On Celebrating Women

Julie Bishop Proves She's A Style Icon At The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards

Julie Bishop Proves She's A Style Icon At The InStyle And Audi Women Of Style Awards

Anna Heinrich Shares The One Fashion Tip She’s Learnt From Her Mum

Anna Heinrich Shares The One Fashion Tip She’s Learnt From Her Mum

SPONSORED BY AUDI, VEUVE CLICQUOT, CAROLINA HERRERA FRAGRANCE AND CLARINS
InStyle
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
InStyle Magazine Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Brands

  • Beauty Crew
  • Home Beautiful
  • marie claire
  • Who

Our Network

  • Better Homes and Gardens
  • BHG Shop
  • New Idea food
  • New Idea
  • That’s Life
  • All Recipes
  • Practical Parenting
  • 7plus
  • 7News
  • Health Engine
  • Starts at 60
  • The West Australian
  • Perth Now
  • Airtasker
  • Society One
  • Bounty Parents
© 2021 Are Media PTY LTD
Get more from InStyle

Magazine Subscription Offer

FREE Edible Beauty ‘& Gold Rush’ Eye Cream-SAVE 36%*

Shop This Offer
FREE Edible Beauty ‘& Gold Rush’ Eye Cream