History YMMV / Lysistrata

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The play is somewhat reliant on a culture that believes AllWomenAreLustful to work. Since the trope is a CyclicTrope with AllWomenArePrudes, the humor is harder to get for readers during the times that trope is prevalent.

* {{Squick}}: Some of the...''detailed'' descriptions of the effect the men's sexual frustration was having on their private parts.

* ValuesResonance: Became popular during the Iraq War for the emphasis on peace being stopped by corrupt politicians.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Now that the LysistrataGambit is something women are not only allowed, but ''[[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland required]]'' to do, the humor can be hard to get for modern readers.

--->'''Lysistrata''': [''tapping her 'baby bump'''] There's something hard here.
--->'''Woman''': I'm going to have a boy.

** The entire scene with Reconciliation, where the pent-up Athenians and Spartans manage to negotiate a settlement ''very'' quickly with a naked woman to serve as their map. For a bonus, there are a lot of jokes about Spartans preferring to play the "back nine."
* HarsherInHindsight: The same year the play came out, people displeased with the management of the Peloponnesian War actually did seize power in Athens- but rather than the city's womenfolk, they were noblemen, and their plan to fix things involved [[DemocracyIsBad ending Athenian democracy]]. Fortunately, [[DystopiaIsHard it was restored a few months later]], but the idea of Lysistrata seizing control of the acropolis probably wouldn't have gotten as many laughs if it had been performed a year later. However...
* HilariousInHindsight : The leader of the real coup was [[ReallyGetsAround the least likely ]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcibiades person in Ancient Greece]] to perform a LysistrataGambit.

** Myrrhine drives her husband nearly to distraction by agreeing to have sex with him -- once they have a bed... and a mattress... and a pillow... and a sheet... and some lotion... and some oil... anything she can think of. Then she scampers off anyway when she runs out of items to suggest and clothing to take off.

* ValuesDissonance: A lot of modern readers interpret the play as being feminist and/or pacifist, but it was definitely not the former and only partially the latter. The play was funny (at the time) because the following things were absurd in Aristophanes' day: 1) women being out in public at all, let alone taking a hand in civic affairs; 2) women being able to abstain from sex; and 3) men -- who had access to boys, slaves, and prostitutes -- being driven mad by not being able to have sex with their ''wives''. Further, while ''Lysistrata'' does portray the end of the Peloponnesian War as a good thing, it's because the war has been protracted and mismanaged, not because peace is so valuable.

* ValuesDissonance: A lot of modern readers interpret the play as being feminist and/or pacifist, but it was definitely not the former and only partially the latter. Much of the comedy derives from the total [[RefugeInAudacity absurdity]] of women involving themselves in politics and even taking over the city of Athens, and while the play does support an end to UsefulNotes/ThePeloponnesianWar, Lysistrata at one point chides the men for thinking of allying with barbarians.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments

* CrowningMomentOfFunny

* ValuesDissonance: A lot of modern readers interpret the play as being feminist and/or pacifist, but it was definitely not the former and only partially the latter. Much of the comedy derives from the total [[RefugeInAudacity absurdity]] of women involving themselves in politics and even taking over the city of Athens, and while the play does support an end to the PeloponnesianWar, Lysistrata at one point chides the men for thinking of allying with barbarians.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny