Exposure to Sexist Humor and Rape Proclivity: The Moderator Effect of Aversiveness Ratings

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the effect of exposure to sexist humor about women on men’s self-reported rape proclivity. Earlier studies have shown that exposure to this type of humor increases rape proclivity and that funniness responses to jokes are a key element to consider. However, the role of aversiveness responses has not been studied. In a between-group design, 109 male university students are randomly exposed to sexist or nonsexist jokes. Participants are asked to rate the jokes according to their degree of funniness and aversiveness. Participants’ levels of hostile and benevolent sexism were also measured. Results about the relationship between sexist attitudes and sexist humor and the relationship between sexist attitudes and rape proclivity are consistent with those of earlier studies. However, exposure to sexist humor affects rape proclivity only when aversiveness shown to this type of humor is low. The results are discussed in the light of the prejudiced norm theory.

Keywords

humor appreciation sexism rape proclivity disparagement humor

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bohner, G. , Reinhard, M. , Rutz, S. , Sturm, S. , Kerschbaum, B. , & Effler, D. ( 1998). Rape myths as neutralizing cognitions: Evidence for a causal impact of anti-victim attitudes on men’s self-reported likelihood of raping. European Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 257-268.

Cameron, C. ( 1977). Sex-role attitudes. In S. Oskamp (Ed.), Attitudes and opinions (pp. 339-359). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Carretero-Dios, H. , Pérez, C. , & Buela-Casal, G. (2009). Content validity and metric properties of a pool of items developed to assess humor appreciation. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 12, 773-787.

Expósito, F. , Moya, M. , & Glick, P. ( 1998). Sexismo ambivalente: medición y correlatos [Ambivalent sexism: Measurement and correlates]. Revista de Psicología Social, 13, 159-170.

Ferguson, M.A. , & Ford, T.E. ( 2008). Disparagement humor: A theoretical and empirical review of psychoanalytic, superiority, and social identity theories. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 21, 283-312.

Ford, T.E. , Boxer, C. h., Armstrong, J. , & Edel, J.R. ( 2008). More than "just a joke": The prejudice-releasing function of sexist humor. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 34, 159-170.

Ford, T.E. , & Ferguson, M.A. (2004). Social consequences of disparagement humor: a prejudice norm theory. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 79-94.

Ford, T.E. , Wentzel, E.R. , & Lorion, J. ( 2001). Effects of exposure to sexist humor on perceptions of normative tolerance of sexism. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31, 677-691.

Glick, P. , & Fiske, S. ( 1996). The ambivalent sexism inventory: differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 70, 491-512.

10.

Malamuth, N.M. ( 1981). Rape proclivity among males. Journal of Social Issues, 37, 138-157.

11.

Masser, B. , Viki, G.T. , & Power, C. ( 2006). Hostile sexism and rape proclivity among men. Sex Roles, 54, 565-574.

12.

Ruch, W. ( 2001). The perception of humor. In A. Kaszniak (Ed.), Emotion, qualia, and consciousness (pp. 410-425). Tokyo, Japan: Word Scientific Publisher.

13.

Ruch, W. , & Hehl, F.J. ( 2007). A two-model of humor appreciation: Its relation to aesthetic appreciation and simplicity-complexity of personality. In W. Ruch (Ed.), The sense of humor: Explorations of a personality characteristic (pp. 109-142). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

14.

Viki, G.T. , Thomae, M. , Cullen, A. , & Fernández, H. (2007). The effect of sexist humor and type of rape on men’s self-reported rape proclivity and victim blame. Current Research in Social Psychology, 13, 122-132.

15.

Viki, G.T. , Thomae, M. , & Hamid, S. ( 2006). Why did the woman cross the road? Sexist humor and male self-reported rape proclivity. Manuscript submitted for Publication.

16.

Zillmann, D. ( 1983). Disparagement humor. In P. E. McGhee & J. H. Goldstein (Eds.), Handbook of humor research: Vol. 1. Basic issues (pp. 85-107). New York/ Berlin : Springer-Verlag.