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Why did the woman cross the road? Sexist humor and male self-reported rape proclivity

Thomae, Manuela, Viki, G. Tendayi (2013) Why did the woman cross the road? Sexist humor and male self-reported rape proclivity. Journal of Social, Evolutionary and Cultural Psychology, 7 (3). pp. 250-269. (KAR id:35368)

Abstract

Previous research has shown that exposure to sexist (vs. non-sexist) humor results in more tolerance of sexist discrimination (Ford & Fergusson, 2004). In the current research, three studies investigated the effects of exposure to sexist humor on men’s rape proclivity. In Study 1, male students were exposed to either sexist or non-sexist jokes. Males exposed to sexist jokes reported higher levels of rape proclivity in comparison to males exposed to non-sexist jokes. Study 2 was an online study in which we replicated Study 1, but also measured male participants’ levels of hostile and benevolent sexism. Study 3 was a replication of Study 2, in which we controlled for the sexual content of the jokes. Overall, the results of Study 2 and Study 3 indicated that men who scored high (vs.low) on hostile sexism reported higher levels of rape proclivity after exposure to sexist versus non-sexist jokes. No such effects were obtained for benevolent sexism.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled keywords: Hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, sexist jokes, humor, rape proclivity
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: M.L. Barnoux
Date Deposited: 03 Oct 2013 10:38 UTC
Last Modified: 10 Dec 2022 02:50 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/35368 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Viki, G. Tendayi.

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