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Liberated jokes: Sexual humor in all-female groups
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Janet Bing
Published/Copyright:
December 4, 2007
Abstract
Females have formerly been under-represented in jokes. Many scholars have claimed that joke making is primarily a male activity, particularly in the domain of sexual jokes. In this paper, I discuss sexual jokes that women share with each other both in all-female groups and by e-mail. After reviewing some widely held assumptions about women and jokes, I explore liberated women's jokes, including their structure, use of stereotypes, and subversive ideas. Finally, I discuss why humor theory is incomplete without the inclusion of a female perspective and suggest that women should tell more jokes.
Keywords: Feminism; joke telling; sexual humor; stereotypes; women and language; women's sense of humor
Published Online: 2007-12-04
Published in Print: 2007-11-20
© Walter de Gruyter
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Articles in the same Issue
- Liberated jokes: Sexual humor in all-female groups
- Humor comprehension: Lessons learned from cross-cultural communication
- Interdiscourse humor: Contrast, merging, accommodation
- The ambivalence over the Levantinization of Israel: “David Levi” jokes
- Book reviews
- Contents HUMOR Volume 20 (2007)
Keywords for this article
Feminism;
joke telling;
sexual humor;
stereotypes;
women and language;
women's sense of humor
Articles in the same Issue
- Liberated jokes: Sexual humor in all-female groups
- Humor comprehension: Lessons learned from cross-cultural communication
- Interdiscourse humor: Contrast, merging, accommodation
- The ambivalence over the Levantinization of Israel: “David Levi” jokes
- Book reviews
- Contents HUMOR Volume 20 (2007)
