Gender Humor

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Gender Humor

• by Alleen Pace Nilsen and
• Don L. F. Nilsen

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Gender Differences
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The Male Perspective
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(No Transcript)
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Gender Differences
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• Greatest Dad Catches Ever
• https//www.facebook.com/virginmorningshow/videos/
  1129537503740953/
• Mens Brains and Womens Brains
• http//www.youtube.com/embed/ulP6f9zXtTs?rel0

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How Men Think
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(No Transcript)
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The Perfect Man
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Yarn BombingHow Women Protest
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Gender Roles

• This is Ritas Role

• This is Rosies Role

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Reversed Gender Roles
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Then theres Oscar WildeThis is a statue in
London, England
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Male Priorities
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Male Solutions
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More Male Solutions
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IM A MAN. I CAN FIX THAT

• http//www.world-wide-ed.com/2010/11/22/im-a-man-i
  -can-fix-that-part-i

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Humor and Gender Stereotyping

• We need to study gender stereotyping so that we
  can recognize the stereotypes in literature, sit
  coms, standup comedy, etc. where
• . . . The humor might come from the stereotypes
  being adhered to.
• . . . Or from the stereotypes being reversed.
• . . . Or from additional gender stereotypes that
  are even funnier
• because listeners might not have thought of
  them before.

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These Three Are the Major Differences Physical
Of course males and females have different
bodies, but even here we arent sure how much of
the difference is caused by inherent biology and
how much by the way we raise boys and girls.

• Emotional Women are assumed to be more caring
  and more emotional than are men. They are
  stereotyped as sentimental and sweet.

• Intellectual Men are viewed as the protectors
  and providers of their families, which in pre-
  industrialized society meant being stronger, but
  today may mean being smarter.

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The one irrefutable difference between males and
females is that the female gives birth and cares
for the youngwhich can be a long and arduous
process.
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A Mans Man True or False?

• Edgar Watson has observed
• No man would listen to you talk, if he didnt
  know it was his turn next.

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The joke here is obviously related to a physical
difference.

• Some differences relate to our plumbing and our
  reproductive organs.
• There are many jokes about whether the toilet
  seat should be up or down.

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• Tina Fey and Sarah Palin Roasting Don Rickles
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vCwJEWJqvNuk

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Is this a male or a female? What is your
evidence?
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Guess What Day This Is? How can this one cartoon
relate to all three characteristics Physical,
Emotional, and Intellectual?
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What characteristics were at the root of the
Betty Boop icon created in the 1930s?
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TAYLOR MALI (ON GIRLS LENDING PENS)

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v44sXwJgqUycNR1

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Breast Cancer A Part of Womens Lives

• During Breast Cancer Awareness month, Arizona
  high school cheerleaders were reprimanded for
  wearing T-Shirts with the message, Save Our
  Boobs!
• In the summer of 2011, waitresses at Oreganos
  were wearing T-shirts with the message Watch
  for our Haboobs (Arabic for dust storms) until a
  few customers complained.

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If Women Designed Bowling Alleys.
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If Women Designed Parking LotsNOTE A City in
Germany Recently Marked Bigger Places for Women
Drivers.
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Explain woman barber, male nurse, woman
driver, mailman, and the Powder Puff Derby
for women pilots.

• Male Female
• Adjutant Helpmate
• Chef Cook
• Clerk Typist Secretary
• Medic Nurse
• To Doctor To Nurse
• Duke Duchess
• King Queen
• King-Sized Queen-Sized

• Male Female
• Maitre D Hostess
• Major Majorette
• Orderly Cleaning Lady
• Paternity Maternity
• Suit Suit
• Professional Professional
• Tailor Seamstress

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Animal Sexual Discrimination

• What is a sexter at chicken hatcheries? Is
  this an example of reverse discrimination?
• The phrase Cock of the Walk comes from the fact
  that on farms only one rooster is needed for a
  flock of chickens.
• Explain cocky, to cock a gun, to strut like
  a rooster, to crow about something.

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• On a farm or cattle ranch, most of the male
  cattle are castrated to become steers and soon
  slaughtered as beef, because they cannot produce
  milk or calves.
• How does peacock compare to peahen go against the
  farm animal system?
• Which is the male, and which the female, in such
  pairs as goose vs. gander, and cow vs. bull.
• Lady bug, Black Widow, and Sea Cow are female
  generics. What does this tell you about female
  stereotypes?

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So, Is It a Compliment to Call a Female A
Chick?

• The chicken metaphor tells the whole story of a
  girls life. First, a young woman is a chick
  then she marries and begins feeling cooped up, so
  she goes to hen parties where she cackles with
  her friends.
• Then she has her brood. And when they leave the
  nest, she begins to henpeck her husband, and
  finally turns into an old biddy.
• This shows that gender and aging stereotypes are
  related.

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A Serious Side of Human Sexual Discrimination

• When the Nilsens visited an orphanage in
  Afghanistan they found mostly male orphans.
• At first we assumed that families worked hard to
  keep their daughters home, or that cute little
  girls were adopted first, but then they learned
  that female babies were more likely to have been
  abandoned and left to die.
• A March 10, 2008, BBC news story, Chinese Facing
  Shortage of Wives, warned that by 2020 China is
  expected to have 30 million more men than women.
• The ability to determine the sex of a baby before
  birth has resulted in the abortion of many female
  fetuses so that the difference between boys and
  girls in the South of China is already as great
  as 130 boys to 100 girls.

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This Tool Kit for Women is making fun of women as
handymen

• Such jokes are to be expected as women venture
  into roles formerly reserved for men.
• In contrast there is I Can Fix This Im a Man,
  which includes dozens of photos of haphazard
  home repairs.

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GREATEST CATCH OF ALL TIMEBY THE BALL
GIRLOOPS, ITS ACTUALLY A GATORADE COMMERCIAL

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vcFiUyttp1-s

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Chick Flicks

• In a 2009 article entitled In Defense of the
  Chick Flick, Gloria Steinem suggested that the
  chick flick is not such a bad genre
• It has more dialogue than special effects, more
  relationships than violence, and relies for its
  suspense on how people live instead of how they
  die.

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Girl Movies and Boy Movies

• Steinem suggested that the opposite of the chick
  flick should be called the p flick. These
  would include
• All the movies that glorify war,
• All of the movies that glorify bloody deaths and
  vigilantism,
• All the movies that portray violence,
• Especially violence against women, preferably
  beautiful, sexy, half-naked women,

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A Husband Shopping with His Wife
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Girl Behavior vs. Boy Behavior

• In a London, England study, toddlers at a
  day-care center were dressed in opposite
  colorsboys in pink and girls in blue.
• The researchers found that the little boy babies
  (dressed in pink) were socialized morethe
  caregivers talked to them and checked on them
  more frequently.
• The little girls (dressed in blue) were allowed
  to go off on their own, climb on furniture, and
  get into all kinds of mischief.

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• What Moms Do in a 24-Hour Period
• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vA0ZpuA8_YYk

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This speedometer goes from STOP, to QUICKISH, to
OOH!, to HOLD ON, and to BITE LIP, SHUT EYES, and
STOP NOW. Is it sexist? Why?
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(No Transcript)
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Common Observations about Male vs. Female
Language Strategies

• Men are lecturers women are listeners Men hold
  the floor longer.
• Men use more negative face women use more
  positive face.
• Men are more exclusive women are more inclusive.
• Mens language is vertical (competitive) womens
  language is horizontal (social).
• However for many men and women, these tendencies
  are becoming reversed.

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The First Humane Humor Rule

• Emily Toth is responsible for the first Humane
  Humor Rule "Never target a quality that a person
  can't change.
• The original humane humour rule appeared in
  "Female Wits" by Emily Toth The Massachusetts
  Review Vol. 22, No. 4, (Winter 1981).

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Additional Humane Humor Rules

• Target yourself, i.e. use self-deprecating humor.
• Target your own ethnic group or gender, but no
  other ethnic group or gender.
• Never target the victim.
• Always target a strength so that it empowers
  rather than humiliates the target.
• Be sure that there is spatial, temporal and
  psychological distance before making fun of a
  tragedy.
• Remember Tragedy Time Comedy

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A FAMOUS RETORT BY AN EARLY LESBIAN CELEBRITY

• At a fashionable social event, Noel Coward
  (1899-1973) approached Edna Ferber (1885-1963),
  who was wearing a mannish looking suit. He
  looked at her and said, You look almost like a
  man.
• Her response was, So do you.

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What does a feminist look like?
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L G B T Q
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THE GREAT FLYDINI (STEVE MARTIN on JOHNNY CARSON
SHOW)

• http//rubytooth.com/link/45516

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People who say that Computers Are Female base
their logic on the ideas that . . .

• No one but the Creator understands their
  internal logic.
• Also, the language they use to communicate with
  other computers is incomprehensible to everyone
  else.
• Even your smallest mistakes are stored in
  long-term memory for later retrieval.
• As soon as you make a commitment to one, you
  find yourself spending half your paychecks on
  accessories for it.

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People who say that Computers Are Male base
their logic on the ideas that...

• in order to get their attention, you have to turn
  them on.
• Also, they have a lot of data but are still
  clueless.
• They are supposed to help you solve problems, but
  half the time they are the problem.
• As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if
  you had waited a little longer, you could have
  had a better model.

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What do these two images communicate about male
vs. female stereotypes?
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Four Really Talented Ladies

• http//www.reshareworthy.com/amazing-quartet-blew-
  audience-away/HlDc3TMGOGULZGi4.01