Do Sexist Jokes Make Us Sexist?

Unfortunately, stand-up comedy is not always fun and games. We live in a world of increasing sensitivity and it is nearly impossible to make a public statement today without offending someone in the crowd. Some of the most highly discussed topics in stand-up humor are race and gender, yet they are also some of the most personally sensitive subjects. Therefore, I think it is important to address whether or not it is possible to make a joke with a race or gender reference and not consider the joke to be racist or sexist.

I would like to start with a discussion of a comedian who I have only recently become to appreciate, despite his television show already being in its third season making me somewhat behind the curve, Daniel Tosh. Many of Tosh's jokes contain racial references, but his most significantly low brow humor involves sexual references and can easily be construed as sexist.

It might be somewhat premature to include a gender joke before concluding whether or not inclusion of the joke makes me, or the joke teller inherently sexist, but I think it lays out a helpful context for the discussion.

This is the most blatant example of a gender biased joke I could find. When listening to the joke, I did in fact catch myself laughing, yet I recognize that I do not agree with the message and consider women to be on the same playing field as men. Even more amazingly, Daniel Tosh himself is quoted as saying," “I’m not a misogynistic and racist person... But I do find those jokes funny, so I say them” (Full Quote Here). So how do I reconcile this obvious problem, I laugh at a joke with sexist undertones but disagree with what is being said. This is where I think the important distinction needs to be made on this type of humor. I believe that we can recognize humor in another individual's point of view without agreeing with that perspective.

But what exactly are we laughing at? Is it the ridiculousness of the claims being made? I do not think that this entirely explains the humor. Maybe we are laughing at the recognition of how controversial the claim is and we sadistically enjoy knowing that there is a group of people that are somewhat offended by the humor. Perhaps instead we laugh mostly at the delivery of the joke and the conviction with which the comedian makes these incredulous assertions. I personally believe that it is a combination of these things and possibly a few others. However, I hope that of all of the reasons for which I find humor in this somewhat bigoted joke, none of those reasons include a personal agreement with the statements conveyed. I consider myself to be a strong proponent of sexual equality and I would like to believe that laughing at this humor does not actually make me sexist. However, maybe this is just wishful thinking...