Humor is a significant weapon in interpersonal and intergroup conflict and competition. Through the use of humor and jokes, males have been able to create and perpetuate patriarchal ideals, relationships, and structure. Proponents of gender equality, including feminists, also try to use humor to deconstruct these patriarchal ideologies and sexist stereotypes.
Ford, Thomas E., Eric R. Wentzel, and Joli Lorion. "Effects of exposure to sexist humor or perceptions of normative tolerance of sexism." European Journal of Social Psychology 31.6 (2001): 677-691. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 March 2010.
Exposure to sexist jokes and humor helps to create a perceived social norm of sexism, thus building a tolerance for it. When men are in environments in which sexist humor is very prevalent and this normative standard exists, they feel less self-directed negative affect when they behave in a sexist manner.
McVittie, Chris, and Karen Goodall. "Harry, Paul and the Filipino Maid: Racial and Sexual Abuse in Local Contexts." Journal of Health Psychology 14.5 (2009). 651-654. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 March 2010.
This article takes a look at a British television sketch broadcast. The authors believe that the sketch offensively reflects and reproduces patterns of social injustice, including racial and sexual injustices, through its attempts at humor. The author argues that constructing the show in socially unjust terms justifies the abuse. I was planning on using this source to support my argument that humor can perpetuate sexism and even justify it because it cites a specific example of it, and I thought that a specific example would be more effective than a hypothetical or more general one.
Western Carolina University. "Sexist Humor No Laughing Matter, Psychologist Says." ScienceDaily. 7 Nov 2007. 7 March 2010.
A Western Carolina University psychology professor did a research project that indicated that sexist jokes or jokes about blonds or bad women drivers, etc. are not just harmless fun and games. The professor cane to the conclusion that exposure to sexist humor can lead to the toleration of hostile feelings and discrimination against women.
Purdie, Susan. "The Butt: The Third Person." Comedy: The Mastery of Discourse. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993: 58-70. Print.
In Susan Purdie's essay "The Butt," she proposes a power relationship that exists within joke telling. She argues that in order for any butt to gain power, they must make jokes at their own expense in which they themselves act as the butt. The articles we read as a class seem to acknowledge and agree that men have the upper hand in this power struggle, and often times women are the butt of the joke. If this is the case, a woman would need to crack jokes that women were the butt of to get a share in any of the power. This would only help reinforce preexisting sexist stereotypes and discrimination.
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