Subversive humor against sexism: Conceptualization and first evidence on its empirical nature

Abstract

Through its many faces, humor may perpetuate inequalities and intergroup differences (disparagement humor) or, on the contrary, it may question such inequalities and differences and try to subvert hierarchies and social asymmetries (subversive humor). This research focuses on the kind of subversive humor that questions and confronts sexist ideology and behaviors and has come to be called subversive humor against sexism or feminist humor. Despite repeated allusions to the subversive function of this type of humor, no empirical evidence shows that subversive humor against sexism constitutes an empirical entity independent from other types of humor. After conceptually defining subversive humor against sexism, in Study 1, five experts analyzed the content validity of a pool of subversive humorous stimuli compared to stimuli from other humor categories (i.e., man disparagement humor and neutral humor). In Study 2 (n = 203), exploratory factor analysis (EFA) empirically isolated three related factors identified as subversive humor against sexism, man disparagement humor and neutral humor. Study 3 (n = 229) replicated these results through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and provided evidence on the specific relationships among this type of humor, feminist identity and collective actions for gender equality.