Obscene Humour, Gender, and Sociability in Sixteenth-Century St Gallen*

Abstract

Abstract Over the last few decades, studies of early modern satires, Shrovetide plays and printed joke collections have gone a long way to establishing humour as a valid subject of historical research. Yet unfortunately these sources rarely shed any light on the role of jokes in everyday life. When writing about the social function of sexual humour, historians have therefore often relied on sociological and psychological studies which depict obscene jokes as a form of aggression, in particular against women. Through a detailed analysis of the obscene jokes recorded by the St. Gallen linen merchant Johannes R�tiner (1501-1556/7), this article shall propose an alternative perspective on sixteenth-century sexual humour. Based on the premise that in order to get the joke, we need to place it within both its social and cultural context, the analysis of R�tiner’s joke collection shall be twofold: first, the article will discuss obscene humour as an important element of sociability, in particular among the town’s educated elite. It will also examine how jokes circulated orally and in print, and highlight some of the creative processes and social skills involved in making a successful joke. Subsequently, R�tiner’s collection of jokes shall be analysed and placed within its broader cultural context. I shall argue that sexual and scatological jokes were closely linked through both medical discourse and a common set of metaphors, and that this type of humour primarily targeted the male body and his fluids. Rather than representing a safety valve for men’s aggressions against women, R�tiner’s obscene jokes first and foremost offered a platform on which acceptable forms of masculinity could be circumscribed and reaffirmed.