Offensive Jokes Research Articles

Puns and pain in Palestine

Ahmed Masoud’s The Shroud Maker packs a powerful punch in using the implicative potential of black comedy as a site of resistance. Masoud deploys black comedy to resist and assert control over the exploitative discourse and action against the Palestinians living in Gaza. He does this by using black humour as a tool of alienation to detach people from their trauma, break the fourth wall to make the audience complicit, as a weapon to challenge Israeli dominant discourse, and to assert Palestinian control over the war’s narrative. Dark humour walks the thin line between humour and conflict in the play where “battered by injustice, but still defiant,” the eighty-four-year-old protagonist, Hajja Souad, a shroud maker by profession, introduces trauma through humour and then tips the balance in favour of trauma. Through her offensive jokes and satiric thrust, the play confronts the desensitisation of violence against Palestinians by evoking a reaction in the audience—laughter, followed by reflection on their laughter. While the balancing act between humour and trauma is maintained, The Shroud Maker argues that humour is perhaps the most effective way of communicating and ascribing responsibility to its spectators. Ahmed Masoud puts forth an alternative way of discussing political violence and war beyond the dominant western narrative that marginalises the Palestinian voice. Relaying the tragedy of violence and culture wars through dark humour underscores the message of resistance, coping and persistence in Palestine.

The Problem Of Multicultural Attitudes in Fourth Grade Students

Multiculturalism is a response to the growing primary school population and demands for equal rights for all primary schools. Through this education, students are taught to avoid discrimination, understand tolerance, respect other people's views, build empathy, and create a culture of mutual respect. This research is motivated by awareness of the importance of multicultural attitudes that occur in elementary school students. The aim of this research is to find out what problems arise in the interactions of students who interact in a multicultural atmosphere at school. To explore the issue of multicultural attitudes in elementary schools, this research uses a case study method. Data was obtained through observation, interviews and documentation which was analyzed using tabulation and comparison techniques to obtain conclusions from the data. The subjects of this research were fourth grade teachers and 5 students. The results of the research concluded that the problem of multicultural attitudes still often occurs in elementary schools, especially in interactions between students. These problems include making jokes that offend beliefs/religions, offensive jokes can hurt the feelings of students whose religion is used as material for encouragement. This can cause low self-esteem, anxiety, and discomfort in the school environment. Another problem found was mocking parents' professions, which has the potential to make students feel embarrassed, low self-esteem, and have problems socializing because their parents' professions are used as material for socializing. The problem of dominant multicultural attitudes occurs when students interact outside of study hours.

Recognition of situations of sexual harassment in medical students at the Concepción Campus of the Andrés Bello University, Chile

Introduction: sexual harassment is defined as unwanted or non-consensual sexual behavior that occurs in verbal, non-verbal, physical, psychological, or visual forms and is experienced at different ages and contexts. Aim: to describe the level of recognition of situations of sexual harassment in medical students at the Andrés Bello University, Concepción, Chile. Methods: this is a descriptive cross-sectional study. A total of 94 students from first to seventh grade participated voluntarily and anonymously. Data were obtained through the application of an online survey and then analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics v.20 software. Results: the age was 23,1 ± 1,9 years. Most of them were in their third year of college and identified as women. A total of 42,6 % (n=40) admitted to having suffered sexual harassment at some point on or off the university premises, with the most frequent situation being the direct receipt of offensive jokes, jokes or compliments with sexual intent (51,1 %; n=48). Women were the ones who most recognized situations of sexual harassment. Conclusions: a considerable proportion of the participants, mostly women, acknowledged situations of sexual harassment

Mikroagresyon ve Japon Müslüman Kadınlar

Microaggressions are subtle, mostly unintentional and not ill-intended but discriminatory or biased behaviours, actions or conversations that have negative impacts towards minorities, disadvantaged or marginalised groups. Even though they are not intentional or not ill-intended, due to their cumulative nature, they still can have harmful effects on those who experience them. These effects include emotional ones such as anger, stress, frustration, anxiety, self-doubt and depression as well as stress-related physiological diseases: hypertension and heart diseases. Therefore, they significantly impact the life of those who are exposed to them. Microaggressions can take three forms: microassaults, microinsults and microinvalidations. They are several types of microaggressions: racial, sexist, albeit or ageist, or religious. 
 Japan has approximately 150.000 Muslims. A majority of them are immigrant Muslims, and only %10 of them are estimated to be native Japanese Muslims. This makes Japanese Muslims a minority among a minority. Although both immigrant and Japanese Muslims are quite contented with their lives in Japanese society, Japanese Muslim women are easily identified as Muslims in the society due to their hijab, and come across microaggressions from time to time. This work is an ethnographic study focusing on religious microaggressions that Japanese Muslim women encounter during their daily lives in Japan. The data is obtained during the researcher’s almost two and half years of studies in Japan, Tokyo. The participant observation, semi-structured interviews and field notes data are analysed thematically to discover the religious microaggression types of Japanese women experience and their responses towards them. It is also aimed to see to what extent religious microaggressions have an influence on their lives.
 It is discovered that Japanese Muslim women encounter three types of microaggressions: being mistaken as a foreigner, underestimation of personal agency and offensive jokes. Due to a lack of familiarity with Japanese society about hijab-wearing Japanese Muslim women, they are frequently assumed to be foreigners and approached in English, and this is the first microaggression, being mistaken as a foreigner. The second one is when society assumes it is their Muslim husbands or boyfriends who convinced them for religious conversion and for hijab as well, thus, underestimating Japanese Muslim women’s personal agency. The last one is offensive jokes: jokes on stereotypes such as terrorism and jokes on their mental health. These three microaggressions affect Japanese Muslim women’s lives in four ways: frustration, efforts to prove themselves, leading double lives, and last but not least, detachment from the society. The first step is getting frustrated. Dealing with daily assumptions on them frustrates them. Next comes more serious steps. Some get into an effort of proving their decision to be correct: showing the society the rightness and/or the beauty of Islam. Some, rather than dealing with the society, prefer to hide their religious identity and continue their daily lives as secret Muslims. They do not wear hijab in front of their non-Muslim friends, family and acquaintances, but wear it while attending to Islamic events. They do not pray openly and they find excuses for not eating non-halal. They lead double lives. Lastly, some, perhaps the most serious impact of microaggressions, distance themselves from Japanese society. They leave their jobs. They do not socialise with non-Muslim friends. Due to microaggressions they experience, they detach themselves from the society.
 Microaggression is still a new discussion topic among social scientists and the public. Due to the suspicions of its nature or harmful results, awareness-raising activities are not widespread enough. Therefore, in order to understand migroagression and its harmful results better, and to create more equal and inclusive societies, it is necessary to increase the microaggression studies.

‘Yo Dumbfucks!’: Problematising “Transgressive” White Humour and the Use of Blackface in the Artworks of South African Visual Artist Anton Kannemeyer

ABSTRACT Since the early 1990s, blackface has seen a resurgence in South Africa. In 2010, Pappa in Afrika, the artwork of White Afrikaner artist Anton Kannemeyer elicited public criticism. Interrogating Kannemeyer’s Pappa in Afrika, this paper questions assumptions of blackface’s parodic satire as inherently critical and transgressive, examining whether blackface can possibly be read as a “trickster” figure in its current usage. In analysing Kannemeyer’s use of parody and joke-work, it is argued that his ahistorical use of blackface seems rather to give psychic access to racially offensive visualisations prohibited by post-apartheid’s climate of political correctness, thereby producing pleasure via racial stereotypes under the guise of ‘social criticism’. The strategies used to safeguard the pleasure generated by offensive jokes are examined (which include refuting discordant readings of the work, foregrounding authorial intent and invoking a spirit of White victimhood). Drawing on the discourse of visual fetishism of the Black body by curator Okwui Enwezor, the mask of blackface is exposed as continued White economic and cultural power. The paper probes roles of responsibility and accountability to be asked of visual artists in this continued trade of Negrobilia emanating from “post-colonial” South Africa.

American Girl Dolls as Professionals

American Girl Dolls as Professionals

Hate speech in adolescents: A binational study on prevalence and demographic differences

Hate speech, or intentional derogatory expressions about people based on assigned group characteristics, has been studied primarily in online contexts. Less is known about the occurrence of this phenomenon in schools. As it has negative consequences for victims, perpetrators, and those who witness it, it is crucial to characterize the occurrence of offline (i.e., in the school) and online hate speech to describe similarities and differences between these two socialization contexts. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of hate speech witnessing, victimization, and perpetration, in a sample of 3,620 7–9th graders (51% self-identified as female) from 42 schools in Germany and Switzerland. We found that 67% of the students witnessed hate speech in their school, and 65% witnessed online hate speech at least once in the past 12 months. Approximately 21% of the students self-identified as offline perpetrators and 33% as offline victims, whereas these percentages were lower for online hate speech (13 and 20%, respectively). In both settings, skin color and origin were the most common group references for hate speech (50% offline and 63% online). Offline hate speech mainly came from classmates (88%), unknown sources (e.g., graffiti; 19%), or teachers (12%), whereas online hate speech mostly came from unknown persons (77%). The most frequent forms of offline hate speech were offensive jokes (94%) and the spread of lies and rumors about the members of a specific social group (84%). Significant differences by country, gender, and migration background were observed. Girls reported more offline victimization experiences, less perpetration, and a greater frequency of witnessing hate speech. This difference was larger in magnitude in the online setting. Students in Switzerland reported being exposed to hate speech more often than students in Germany. Students with a migration background reported higher hate speech victimization based on skin color and origin than students without a migration background. The high prevalence of hate speech highlights the need for school-based prevention programs. Our findings are discussed in terms of the practical implications.

ETHICS GAP IN ADOLESCENTS’ ONLINE COMMUNICATION

The results of contemporary Internet communication studies often conclude that the Internet environment contributes to formation of such attitudes and behavioral patterns as aggressive behavior, verbal abuse, fraud, trolling, bullying and etc. To describe this phenomenon C. James uses the term “the Ethics gap” and refers the loss of sensitivity to the moral and ethical aspects of behavior to it. The aim is to identify to what extent adolescents rely on e-communication and what its content is. From March to June, , an empirical study on the specifi cs of digital socialization of adolescents was conducted on the basis of MSUPE. The study focused on the aspects of online communication among adolescents and included  participants at the age from  to  years. Besides the questionnaire aimed at fi guring out the goals, preferences, potential threats and consequences of adolescents’ online communication and self-disclosure the study included The Problematic Social Networks Use Scale (Sirota N.A, et al, ). Due to the scale results two groups were determined and compared: and  teenagers with low and high levels of problematic use, accordingly. The study fi xed that girls as well as teenagers from one-parent or troubled families are more likely to use social media problematically. The data demonstrate that the majority of adolescents comply with ethical norms of behavior while using social networks. However, violations of moral principles are more common among adolescents with a high level of problematic social media use. They practice obscene language and offensive jokes twice as actively. They are more likely to become victims to online derogatory actions and abuse. More than a half of them experience negative emotions (anger, irritation, pain and annoyance) when they are criticized. At the same time, a third of them listen to the opinions of others and try to work at themselves.

A Case Study Analysis of Pregnancy Discrimination and Women-Friendly Workplaces in U.S. Engineering and Technical Organizations

Women represent 50% of workers in the United States but only 28% of the employees at 51 of the top U.S. engineering and technology organizations. Engineering and technology firms have experienced significant challenges in creating more women-friendly cultures. According to Women Who Tech’s most recent survey, 75% of female employees have experienced offensive jokes, 54% experienced unwelcome physical contact, 51% had sexually-oriented comments directed at them, and 35% were propositioned for sex. The purpose of this project is to investigate the consequential impact of organizational dynamics bias and discrimination against women TECH 2022, which is a healthcare information technology and biotechnology consulting firm via a management consulting organizational development (OD) framework case study analysis.

Portrait of Filipino healthcare workers’ discrimination experiences during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundAt the core of a global health crisis, healthcare workers are tasked to perform crucial and life-threatening roles. Despite the heavy-laden responsibilities amid COVID-19 pandemic, these workers are subjected to various forms of stigma and discrimination. ObjectivesThe primary intent of this paper is to investigate the existence of discrimination among healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Further, it aims to test the following hypotheses: (1) Discrimination experiences among Filipino healthcare workers are dependent on certain demographic characteristics; and (2) Discrimination experiences vary significantly according to the type of healthcare workers. MethodsThis exploratory study used a two-part survey questionnaire consisting of the baseline data of the respondents and an 8-point Likert-type scale to identify the different forms of discrimination experienced by Filipino healthcare workers. Data yielded by the instruments were descriptively (frequency, mean and percentage) and inferentially (Pearson R, Kendall tau, t-test, and One-Way Analysis of Variance) treated. ResultsAmong the Filipino healthcare workers, the Radiologic Technologists experienced the most forms of discriminatory acts, followed by Nurses and Medical Technologists. Those who work in high-risk duty assignments experienced the most discriminatory incidents such as insulting gestures and physical/social loathing, social media bashing and offensive jokes. ConclusionThe discrimination experienced by Filipino healthcare workers is a valuable platform for health policy interventions at the local and global levels to safeguard the physical, social and psychological well-being of healthcare workers, especially in battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ethics in Comedy: Essays on Crossing the Line

Ethics in Comedy: Essays on Crossing the Line

Ethics in Comedy: Essays on Crossing the Line

Ethics in Comedy: Essays on Crossing the Line

The Use of Humor as a Pragmatic Device in Indonesian Studium Generale Lectures

This paper concerns the use of humor as a pragmatic device in academic discourse. The previous studies in this area has shown that, though unlikely, humor is commonly used in academic discourse—both that of written and spoken nature. Among many aspects analyzed in the studies of academic discourse, some are related to academic cultures. With a deliberate consideration of this existing body of literature, this research aims to contribute in area by examining the use of humor in a specific academic environment, Indonesia. The data analyzed are selected transcripts from chosen YouTube videos of studium generale lectures by three Indonesian political figures. The usage of humor will be identified and analyzed pragmatically, and further classified on a table based on the classification of humor by Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Grey Weir (2003). The findings of this study show that in Indonesian studium generale lectures, all four types of humor in the theory occurred, and the most frequently used type of humor is aggressive humor, to which offensive jokes belong.

Homoseksualumo atsiskleidimą aprašančių straipsnių komentarų turinio analizė

Both researchers and society agree that those who decide to disclose their sexual orientation can find acceptance and even support in these experiences, while others are met with negative reactions, such as anger, rejection or bullying etc. There are lots of controversial studies about the differences in reactions to the coming out of homosexual men and women. It is agreed that these attitudes could be defined as multidimensional constructs comprised of cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. A content analysis of comments on articles describing coming out of homosexual individuals has not been yet performed in Lithuania. The aim of this study was to analyze the content of comments as reactions to the articles describing homosexuality disclosure in order to reveal the prevailing beliefs, emotions and behavioral reactions toward the disclosure of homosexuality and to compare any differences in responses while taking into account the sex of a disclosed person. A content analysis of 380 comments collected on the websites lrytas.lt and delfi.lt was carried out. The validity of the content categories was assessed with a second-rater procedure. The agreement percentage among the raters ranged from 84 to 100 and Cohen’s kappa from 0.42 to 1 throughout the categories. After the first evaluation of the content and after an objective selection of the comments for this research, 156 comments, which were suitable for further analysis, were selected. The analysis has shown that commentators tend to have negative perceptions regarding the disclosure of a homosexual individual’s sexual orientation. In the comments of the articles describing homosexuality disclosure, it was most often expressed that homosexuality is an unnatural thing or a perversion; that homosexual people should not disclose their sexual orientation; that homosexual people should not be allowed to raise children. At the same time, any positive attitude was expressed rarely. The most prevailing positive attitude is the following: homosexual people are just as normal as heterosexual people. Negative emotions, such as anger or disgust, as well as homophobic bullying (offensive remarks, jokes, and name-calling), were dominating in the comments. The accepting behavior (not encouraging someone to change), positive emotional reactions, such as support and suggestions to emigrate, were the rarest. The content analysis of the comments revealed the different reactions of the readers to homosexual men and women. The negative attitude toward raising children and the emotion of anger are more often addressed toward homosexual women than to homosexual men. The results of this study indicate the prevailing negative attitude toward the public disclosure of the sexual orientation of homosexual persons.

Unruly Women and Carnivalesque Countercontrol: Offensive Humor in Mediated Social Protest

At the Women’s March in January 2018, many protest posters featured offensive jokes at the expense of Trump’s body and behavior. Such posters were shared widely online, much to the amusement of the movement’s supporters. Through a close analysis of posts on Instagram and Twitter, we explore the role of “vulgar” and “offensive” humor in mediated social protest. By highlighting its radical and conservative tendencies, we demonstrate how we can understand these practices of offensive humor as a contemporary expression of “the carnivalesque” that is complexly intertwined with social change.

The impact of social power on the evaluation of offensive jokes

AbstractThe current research examined whether social power affects what people find funny. In two experiments, participants’ psychological state of social power was experimentally manipulated and their evaluations of offensive jokes were assessed. Results showed that participants in a psychological state of high power – as compared to low power – evaluated offensive jokes as less inappropriate, less offensive, and funnier. Mediation analyses showed that power increased the funniness of offensive jokes through decreasing the perceived inappropriateness of these jokes. Implications for research on power and humor are discussed.

Socially Critical Humor: Discussing Humor with Erich Fromm and Theodor W. Adorno

This article brings Erich Fromm and Theodor W. Adorno back into dialogue by discussing the cultural phenomena of humor and laughter based on their theoretical writings. I argue that what is typically considered socially critical humor, like offensive jokes or harsh satire, often fails to meet the preconditions of criticism in the light of Adorno’s and Fromm’s thinking. Humor, to be socially critical, has to be life-affirmative and non-positional, and it has to challenge the limits of humor. It is also claimed that in this scope, humor cannot be instrumental.

Profane Relations: The Irony of Offensive Jokes in India

ABSTRACTOn the shopfloor of an Indian automobile plant, a multi-ethnic workforce exchanges potentially offensive ethnic jokes with one another while remaining largely silent on actual incidences of communal violence. This paper shows how silence and profane humour are important aspects of an inter-ethnic sociality in the workplace, which distances itself from the retaliatory logics of communal violence. Speaking in the indirect register of irony, I argue that jokes about one another's religion and ethnicity are a means by which cultural intimates articulate anti-communal perspectives on public life. I suggest that profanity is a style of interaction that relates to an anti-communal sociality which distances itself from the politics of sanctity.

Black-faced, red faces: the potentials of humour for anti-racist action

ABSTRACTAmong incidences of everyday racism, offensive jokes are writ large as a way of establishing and maintaining social norms and policing the boundaries of the social body. Yet humour's possible deployment toward anti-racist ends constitutes an under-researched problem. This paper examines an incident of supposedly humorous blackface performance on an Australian family variety television show. The incident was notable as an occasion where humour was used with racist effects but also to anti-racist ends. Literature on anti-racist action commonly assumes that responses to racism should have the gravity commensurate to the problem. We argue that humour enables actors to take a ‘decommitted’ relationship to their actions, creating the perception of distance between themselves and the action. While this capacity to decommit enables racist actions to masquerade as ‘just a joke’, it may also form the basis of a less confrontational, but potentially powerful, form of anti-racist action.

Professionalism: Social media mishaps

The “add photo” option on Facebook should probably be renamed the “you’ll soon regret posting this” button. Actually, social media in general has proven to be a virtual breeding ground of self-induced embarrassment — offensive jokes that seemed funny at the time, off-the-cuff comments