Is sexist humour just a joke?
C. Bry University of Reading N. Hall University of Reading R. Spears University of Cardiff The expression of explicit prejudice is generally unacceptable in modern society, unless such prejudice is conveyed as a joke. We specifically investigated how females respond to sexist humour. We predicted that perceivers would show reactance to gender stereotypes by endorsing stereotypically female careers less, and stereotypically male careers more, after exposure to sexist statements but not after exposure to sexist jokes. This is because instatements the sexism is explicit whereas in jokes the sexism is more ambiguous. The sexism was either pitched at stereotypical female competencies (housework) or stereotypical male competencies (technology). Eighty-four female participants were randomly assigned to a 5 (Condition: control jokes; sexistjokes (female-competence); sexist statements (female-competence); sexist jokes (male-competence); or sexist statements (male-competence) between-subjects de
