Men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme

This paper investigates the use of humour in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme to reinforce or challenge stereotypical conceptualisations of men and women. It is argued that these acts of humour uphold gender hierarchies and inequalities in a few ways. Traditional stereotypical portrayals of wome...

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Main Author: Yoong, Melissa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Equinox Publishing 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60953/
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author Yoong, Melissa
author_facet Yoong, Melissa
author_sort Yoong, Melissa
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper investigates the use of humour in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme to reinforce or challenge stereotypical conceptualisations of men and women. It is argued that these acts of humour uphold gender hierarchies and inequalities in a few ways. Traditional stereotypical portrayals of women still prevail, and these characteristics are naturalised by appealing to assumed shared common sense. Although both sexes are mocked in some instances of humour, when analysing why men and women are ridiculed, it was found that the men were targeted for two conflicting reasons: for exhibiting stereotypical feminine characteristics and for attempting to produce a hegemonic masculine identity. On the other hand, women were mocked for embodying traits culturally ascribed to masculinity. It is concluded that this works to legitimate men’s social dominance over women.
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spelling nottingham-609532020-08-17T07:51:09Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60953/ Men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme Yoong, Melissa This paper investigates the use of humour in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme to reinforce or challenge stereotypical conceptualisations of men and women. It is argued that these acts of humour uphold gender hierarchies and inequalities in a few ways. Traditional stereotypical portrayals of women still prevail, and these characteristics are naturalised by appealing to assumed shared common sense. Although both sexes are mocked in some instances of humour, when analysing why men and women are ridiculed, it was found that the men were targeted for two conflicting reasons: for exhibiting stereotypical feminine characteristics and for attempting to produce a hegemonic masculine identity. On the other hand, women were mocked for embodying traits culturally ascribed to masculinity. It is concluded that this works to legitimate men’s social dominance over women. Equinox Publishing 2017-03-28 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60953/1/Yoong%20%282017%29%20Men%20and%20women%20on%20air.pdf Yoong, Melissa (2017) Men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme. Gender and Language, 11 (1). pp. 30-50. ISSN 1747-633X gender stereotypes postfeminism humour media talk Malaysia https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/GL/article/view/21035 10.1558/genl.21035 10.1558/genl.21035 10.1558/genl.21035
spellingShingle gender stereotypes
postfeminism
humour
media talk
Malaysia
Yoong, Melissa
Men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme
title Men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme
title_full Men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme
title_fullStr Men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme
title_full_unstemmed Men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme
title_short Men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a Malaysian radio phone-in programme
title_sort men and women on air : gender stereotypes in humour sequences in a malaysian radio phone-in programme
topic gender stereotypes
postfeminism
humour
media talk
Malaysia
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60953/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60953/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60953/