What in the World?!: A Southern Woman's Guide to Laughing at Life's Unexpected Curveballs and Beautiful Blessings

In What in the World?!, Leanne Morgan describes the specific gendered expectations that exist in the traditional, conservative communities of the Southern United States, including that men be strong providers and women stay home to take care of the house and the children. In certain respects, Morgan was happy to conform to these expectations, but in others, she struggled to fit in. Comedy became the place where she could negotiate her identity on her own terms and be more than just a wife and a mother, subverting traditional gender roles.

Growing up in Adams, Tennessee, Morgan was brought up within traditional notions of gender roles. She was taught that girls should “be pretty to find a good husband” (18). They could be smart, too, but “just as long as it didn’t scare off a man” (18). Once she got to college, Morgan realized she would have to be more than “cute” and “fun” to be successful, and her failed first marriage taught her that she couldn’t necessarily rely on a man to support her. Then, however, she married Chuck, with his ultra-traditional concepts of gender roles. Chuck was the stereotypical macho provider, unable to communicate his feelings and believing that “[t]he man made the decisions, and the woman went along with whatever the man did” (208).