Reductress, the “first and only” satirical women’s magazine, is conducting a satire writing workshop at UNC in February.
This workshop is a part of the UNC Comedy & Arts Festival, a celebration of representation in media and performance that lasts four days.
The Reductress Satire Workshop, led by an editor of Reductress and hosted by UNC female-focused comedy group I Just Said That, will teach the fundamentals of satire writing with a fresh take on the feminist perspective. There will be a focus on headline writing, drawing ideas from current events, and crafting a well-formed piece.
“Reductress makes me laugh out loud on a daily basis," Erin Terry, a comic in the Chapel Hill area, said. "As a standup comic, I know I can tap into my rusty writing habits — this workshop seems like it’s just what I’ve been looking for.”
This workshop is part of comedian Shea Stanley’s UNC Honors thesis, focused on representation in media. It is being supported by the Sarah Steele Danhoff Undergraduate Research Fund, administered by Honors Carolina. Stanley runs I Just Said That and the workshop.
“I thought bringing Reductress here would help Chapel Hill residents have better access to and understanding jobs in media and comedy,” Stanley said.
Stanley worked at Reductress this past summer and said that she “really loved working there.”
I Just Said That’s mission is to balance the gender disparity in comedy by “creating opportunities for dope, unique material,” according to their Facebook page. They are also hosting a femme and gender non-binary comedy show in late February.
Reductress and I Just Said That are two organizations with similar values. Reductress' mission is “to take on the outdated perspectives and condescending tone of popular women’s media, through the eyes of the funniest women in comedy today,” according to their website.
