“The potential for laughter is just astonishing in our lives.”

Gina Barecca, professor of English literature and feminist theory at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, editor of the Penguin Book of Womens Humors and columnist for the Chicago Tribune and Hartford Courant, conjured laughter from a crowd of nearly 200 Thursday night in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. She spoke about “Humor and Creativity in Women’s Lives.”

Twining through stories of Italian aunts, women’s bathroom talk and the less-than-feminine nature of true women’s laughter, was a message of humor as a means of empowerment and relating to one another.

Focusing on women’s humor, Barecca elicited guffaws when she demonstrated the difference between the “silver bell tinkling laughter” of polite women who, while wanting to acknowledge the speaker, aren’t really listening to the loud, boisterous squawk of someone who is truly tickled. Barecca physically demonstrated the various stages of women’s laughter, from “mascara wiping” to “bust-holding.”

Barecca focuses on humor as a way of studying female roles in culture. Women’s fear of hurting another, she said, limits their expression of humor, leaving them instead to coo and compliment.

“Nurturing and caring is good, but not if it puts a gag on you,” Barecca said. “Women are taught to doublethink everything they say.

“I’m interested in who has a powerful voice in our culture and why, and maybe change it a little bit.”

While appreciative of the differences between men and women’s humor, especially concerning the antics of the “Three Stooges,” she laughed at the idea of men being from Mars and women from Venus.

“We’re all from the same planet – the women are just in a poorer neighborhood,” Barecca said.

Feminism is not what you can’t do, but what you can, Barecca said. Several girls approached her on the first day of a class she taught, telling her that she “didn’t look like a feminist.”

“I assume that everyone’s a feminist,” Barecca said. “You have to give them the benefit of the doubt.”

Stacy Brinker, sophomore in speech communication, had not attended any of the Women’s History Month lectures, but was drawn to Barecca’s because the topic sounded upbeat and comical.

“I found it interesting because it deals with women . I’m interested in the topic,” Brinker said.

Barecca recounted an Oprah experience when she met the authors of “The Rules for Women,” an instruction manual for women on catching a man. She questioned the women, asking them why the book tells women to “never laugh out loud in front of a guy they find attractive” and to “stay cool, no matter how hot the sex is.”

Barecca laughed as she said, “The only reason to give another adult your house keys is laughter and hot sex.

“There is still all this encouragement for women to shut up,” Barecca said. “We miss the opportunity to make our voices heard.”