The enjoyment of sexist humor, rape attitudes, and relationship aggression in college students

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  May, 1998  by Kathryn Ryan,  Jeanne Kanjorski

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Table IV. Item Intercorrelations for CTS2 Subscales

                                                   Males
                                 Psychological    Physical    Sexual

Physical                            .47(a)
Sexual                              .36(a)         .39(a)
Partner Injury                      .27(a)         .45(a)     .03

                                                  Females
                                 Psychological    Physical    Sexual

Physical                            .57(a)
Sexual                              .29(a)         .23(a)
Partner Injury                      .38(a)         .50(a)     .21(a)

a p [less than] .01.

DISCUSSION

As predicted, the enjoyment of sexist humor was associated with rape-supportive beliefs (i.e., Rape Myth Acceptance, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, and Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence), behavioral intentions (i.e., the self-reported likelihood of forcing sex), and behavior (i.e., sexual and physical aggression) in men. In addition, the enjoyment of sexist humor was also associated with psychological aggression in men. Thus, in support of Freud's theory about the relationship between tendentious humor and hostility, the current study showed that sexist jokes may be enjoyed by men who are hostile toward women and aggressive with their partners. In addition, the results of this study argue against a catharsis hypothesis that would suggest an inverse relation between the enjoyment of hostile humor and hostile beliefs and behaviors. Instead, it supports previous research that found a direct relationship between anger arousal and hostile humor (e.g., Berkowitz, 1970a; Dworkin & Efran, 1967; Strickland, 1959). As Berkowitz (1970b; 1993) suggests, expressing anger may not decrease aggression, it may increase it. Nevertheless, two limitations in the current study must be noted. Two of the scales showed unacceptably low alphas (Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence and Sexual Aggression) and several of the effects are significant only at a p [less than] .05. Thus, some of the current results must be replicated before they can be accepted with confidence.

In women, the enjoyment of sexist humor was significantly associated with Adversarial Sexual Beliefs and Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence, but not with Rape Myth Acceptance nor with any of the measures assessing relationship violence. Lonsway & Fitzgerald (1995) suggest that both Adversarial Sexual Beliefs and Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence, as measured by the Burt scales (1980), are related to hostility toward women. That is, they describe Adversarial Sexual Beliefs as the belief that women are "sly, manipulative, and self-centered" (p. 708) and they feel that Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence assesses the belief that violence against women in acceptable. Thus, these two measures may reflect a "multidimensional misogyny" (p. 709) in women, as well as men. This could explain their association with the enjoyment of sexist humor. Women who have relatively more hostile beliefs about women may enjoy sexist and hostile humor about women more than those who don't. In contrast, Lonsway and Fitzgerald (1995) note that Rape Myth Acceptance may serve different functions in men and women. In men, Rape Myth Acceptance justifies male sexual violence against women, so it should be closely related to hostility toward women. In women, Rape Myth Acceptance serves to deny their personal vulnerability. Thus, it may not be as reflective of hostility toward women in women as are Adversarial Sexual Beliefs and the Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence. It is interesting to speculate why some women are more hostile in their beliefs about women than others, but it is clearly beyond the scope of this study to explain this. Future research should explore the motives which underlie the relatively hostile attitudes toward women and enjoyment of sexist humor shown by some women in the current study.