The enjoyment of sexist humor, rape attitudes, and relationship aggression in college students

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  May, 1998  by Kathryn Ryan,  Jeanne Kanjorski

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The current study extends prior research showing attitudes are an important predictor of sexual aggression in men. It also builds on theory and research on motives underlying sexist and hostile humor. It does so by exploring the relationship between the enjoyment of sexist humor and rape-supportive attitudes, sexually coercive behavior, and courtship violence in college men and women.

Attitudes are an important predictor of sexual aggression in men. The most commonly-studied attitudes are Rape Myth Acceptance, Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs (Burt, 1980), and Hostility toward Women (Check, Malamuth, Elias, & Barton, 1985). All of these attitude measures have been positively correlated with college men's estimates of their own likelihood of forcing sex and self-reported sexual aggression (e.g., Christopher, Owens, & Stecker, 1993; Koss & Dinero, 1988; Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987; Malamuth, 1988). In addition, traditional attitudes toward women and gender have been associated with sexual aggression in college men (e.g., Byers & Eno, 1991; Koss, Leonard, Beezley, & Oros, 1985; Lisak & Roth, 1990). And, hostile attitudes and Adversarial Sexual Beliefs have been associated with courtship violence in college men (Bookwala, Frieze, Smith, & Ryan, 1992; Malamuth, Sockloskie, Koss, & Tanaka, 1991). However, because all of the research is correlational, we cannot be sure whether sexist and rape-supportive attitudes predict sexual aggression or whether the use of sexual aggression promotes sexist and rape-supportive attitudes. Nevertheless, it appears that there may be a danger in young men holding such attitudes and beliefs. In a study of Roman humor, Richlin (1992, pp. xxviii) noted that, "cultures where rape is a joke are cultures that foster rape." An unobtrusive measure of rape-supportive and sexist attitudes may be found in young men's enjoyment of sexist humor.

Freud (1905/1960) believed that humor can express hostility, especially hostile and sexist humor. Freud described two varieties of humor: non-tendentious and tendentious. Non-tendentious humor includes "innocent" jokes that involve word play, substitution, absurdity, and the like. In contrast, tendentious humor has a particular aim, usually sexual or hostile. Sexual jokes may be used to test the waters with potential sex partners. They may be used to express repressed desires. Or, they may be used in a hostile manner. "By making our enemy small, inferior, despicable or comic, we achieve in a roundabout way the enjoyment of overcoming him- to which the third person, who has made no efforts, bears witness by his laughter" (p. 103). Thus, hostile jokes may be used simultaneously to attack one person or group while affiliating with another person or group. In this manner, the audience becomes an essential component of tendentious humor. By laughing, the audience affirms the point of view expressed in the joke. Obscene jokes can reinforce the norms of a group (Fine, 1976). Hostile humor can be used to reject and exclude people (Hertzler, 1970). Sexist humor can be "a token of camaraderie among coworkers" (Pryor, 1995a, p. 160) or it may reflect a discourse of power and an expression of patriarchy (Richlin, 1992). Humor can be used to express power and dominance in a group (Coser, 1960). Finally, sexual teasing, jokes, and remarks are the most common form of sexual harassment (Pryor, 1995a, 1995b).

Freud's theory led to a considerable amount of research on aggressive and sexual humor, most of it on college students. For example, several researchers explored the role of catharsis in the enjoyment of hostile humor. Some have found that humor, including hostile humor, decreases arousal and aggressive responses (e.g., Landy & Mettee, 1969; Singer, 1968). In contrast, Berkowitz (1970a) found that aggressive humor increased aggression. In addition, Ziv and Gadish (1990) found that humor instructions increased aggressive imagery in TAT stories, especially those written by men.

Men tend to prefer hostile to other forms of humor (e.g., Byrne, 1961; Epstein & Smith, 1969). In addition, men high in need for aggression enjoy aggressive cartoons more than men low in need for aggression. Furthermore, experimentally-induced hostility increased the appreciation of hostile humor and experimentally-induced sexual arousal increased the appreciation of sexual humor (e.g., Dworkin & Efran, 1967; Strickland, 1959). Finally, hostile humor is preferred when women are the butt of the joke, especially by men (e.g., Cantor, 1976; Losco & Epstein, 1975).

In addition, men like sexual and sexist humor more than women (e.g., Chapman & Gadfield, 1976; Love & Deckers, 1989; Neuliep, 1987). Nevertheless, Johnson (1991) found that men and women were equally likely to tell sexual and aggressive jokes, although men were more likely to blend sexual and aggressive themes. The usual targets of the blended jokes were women or gay men. Women were more likely than men to say they didn't tell jokes or that they told non-tendentious jokes. Men and women with nontraditional attitudes toward women enjoy sexist humor less than those with traditional attitudes (e.g., Chapman & Gadfield, 1976; Moore, Griffith, & Payne, 1987). In addition, attitudes toward women influenced the interpretations of sexist incidents such that those with nontraditional attitudes towards women found the incidents to be more sexist and less funny than those with traditional attitudes (Bill & Naus, 1992). Thus, the enjoyment of sexist humor appears to be associated with gender and attitudes toward women.