Humor and Sexism – Part II

In the last post, we explored sexist jokes that marginalize women. Therefore, in the interest of fair representation, I’d like to examine a few examples of jokes that involve negative stereotypes about men. While these jokes are rarer, they certainly exist. Usually, jokes that ridicule men focus on their perceived stupidity, emphasize a lack of sophistication, and assume a general slovenly demeanor.

The humor site “jokesaboutmen.net,” which I don’t recommend,* offers a variety of jokes about men, many of which are critical. To offer a few examples:

• How are husbands like lawn mowers?
They're hard to get started, they emit noxious odors, and half the time they don't work.

• Why do men need instant replay on TV sports?
Because after 30 seconds they forget what happened.

The first joke characterizes men as stubborn, lazy and crude. The second compounds this with a description of men as unintelligent and confused. These are hardly positive characterizations. Instead, they play on negative male stereotypes. This, you will remember, is similar to sexist jokes about women, which usually depict them as domestics or harpies.

Jokes about men (or about women) also involve an opposing characterization of the other sex – the wife is practical and mature in contrast to her husband (and usually exasperated by his behavior). This multi-leveled representation of both sexes reinforces negative stereotypes, and might contribute to an “us vs. them” attitude between the two. To conclude our not-so-lengthy two-part series on humor and sexism, it is apparent that sexist humor, which usually involves the use of stereotypes, can harm both men and women. Resenting jokes that marginalize your gender while laughing at those that criticize others is hypocritical, and can create societal tension.



*I don’t mean to criticize the site – it delivers exactly what is promised – but it’s not really my type of humor. Also, it appears to have been created years ago, and features a stunningly minimalist (by which I mean unattractive) format. And lots of brown.