Between Feminism and Fun(ny)mism: Analyzing Gender in Popular Internet Humor

This study analyzes popular Internet humor about gender, based on a content analysis of 150 verbal and visual comic texts, carefully selected using a novel sampling method. Results suggest, on the one hand, that men and women are targeted equally and that in new humor genres (e.g., lists and dictionaries) that are gaining Web popularity, men are scorned even more. On the other hand however, stereotypical representations of men and women still prevail. Moreover, whereas the essentialist theme of gender differences is central in many texts, humor about gender inequalities is marginal. The discussion contextualizes these findings to a backlash interpretation of postfeminism

Publisher: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 21, 2008
Year of Publication: 2008