Humor is a Difficult Concept

Fanfiction
Title:	Humor is a Difficult Concept
Author(s):	Robin Hood
Date(s):	1985
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Humor is a Difficult Concept is a Kirk/Spock story by Robin Hood.

It was published in One Night Stand #3.

Summary

"While in Janice Lesterʼs body, Kirk realizes Spockʼs love for him but his misunderstanding of Spockʼs reactions causes him to think Spock wants Lesterʼs body, not his."

Reactions and Reviews

1985

"Humor is a Difficult Concept", by Robin Hood, deals with an important issue. I do not believe that it deserves to be sloughed off casually. Yet that is precisely what the story does. Confronted with Kirk in the body of Janice Lester, Spock says that Janice's female body is "more appropriate" for sex. Kirk becomes upset, considering this a rejection of his own body, which it is not. It is a rejection of homosex in general. Spock is not saying that he isn't physically attracted to Kirk as Kirk, but he definitely made a statement indicating conflict and discomfort in his own mind concerning that attraction. This is internalized homophobia rearing its ugly head again. But Spock doesn't deal with it at all in this story. Instead, his statement is dismissed as merely a joke. I am not denying that Spock was joking on the conscious level. It was a very bad joke and a hurtful one. Why do people make jokes? We make jokes to release tension. They are usually about people and situations that make us uncomfortable. We feel helpless in dealing with what we are joking about. Ethnic jokes are made by people who are uncomfortable about their own racism, but have no other way of dealing with it. Sexist jokes are made by rnisogynous people who are unable to overcome their misogyny. And homophobic jokes are made by people who are troubled by their own homophobia. The fact that Spock, in "Humor Is A Difficult Concept," didn't have the honesty to confront his homophobia, didn't bother me so much as Kirk seeing it and then abandoning his insight — allowing Spock to get away with an inner fakery which can only cost both Spock and Kirk much pain in the future of their relationship.

1989

Here the author is attempting to deal with an issue that is too complex for a vignette. When Kirk is in Janice Lester's body, Spock said that he found Kirk more "acceptable" sexually in a woman's body. Then Spock passed it off as a joke, and Kirk decided to forgive him. End difficulty. I'm sorry, but this can't be that simple. First, it isn't just a joke. Homophobia is a serious issue. Even if it were a mere joke it would be in bad taste. Nevertheless, regardless of what Spock intended consciously by that remark, it couldn't be easily dismissed. No one says something like that unless they really mean it on some level. Kirk and Spock should definitely have hashed out this issue at length. Accepting Spock's remark as only a joke makes the story seem pointless at best. At worst, it is offensive because it trivializes the issue of homophobia as something that can be joked about without any need to examine the motivation behind such joking.