The key to understanding humor is the superego. Men appreciate humor based on castration fear because their superego has been founded in a solution to this problem with the father. Women appreciate humor for a different reason since their superego is made up of part objects using persecutory rather than castration fears. The woman's humor is more masochistic and she may laugh inside at the ludicrous male exhibition. Those rare women who are comics take on the role of a castrated male. The clown is at the same time a castrated male and a monstrous, potentially uncontrollable figure.