How Many Feminists Does It Take to Make A Joke? Sexist Humor and What's Wrong with It

Hypatia 1 (1):63 - 82 (1986)
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Abstract

In this paper I am concerned with two questions: What is sexist humor? and what is wrong with it? To answer the first question, I briefly develop a theory of humor and then characterize sexist humor as humor in which sexist beliefs (attitudes/norms) are presupposed and are necessary to the fun. Concerning the second question, I criticize a common sort of argument that is supposed to explain why sexist humor is offensive: although the argument explains why sexist humor feels offensive, it does not place responsibility for the offense in the humorist or audience that enjoys sexist humor. I develop an alternate account of the offense in sexist humor that places responsibility for offense in precisely those quarters.

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Citations of this work

The Ethics of Humor: Can Your Sense of Humor be Wrong?Aaron Smuts - 2010 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 13 (3):333-347.
Racist Humor.Luvell Anderson - 2015 - Philosophy Compass 10 (8):501-509.
Superiority in Humor Theory.Sheila Lintott - 2016 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 74 (4):347-358.

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