-VIDEO : “SORRY TO BURST YOUR BUBBLE, BUT GENDER ISSUES STILL UNRESOLVED”…to be screened on gigantic cinematic-type projection either in a movie theatre or on a large wall from the edge where the floor meets wall.
Notes on video: The Unbearable lightness of being
Daily “serious” Cypriot newspapers publish naked women on daily bases. The two leading newspapers inCyprus
'It is hard to touch what is real', burst all the balloons
After the Washing-Up Ladies’ performance video “hurting the washing-machine” in which they kick and bash up a washing machine, along the same lines comes another humorous video piece;
Tower high-heels pop pink balloons in a candy-pink painted room.
It’s the sort of wonderfully “inappropriate” behaviour that channels every woman’s inner Power Puff Girl – while also busting a hole (literally) through traditional notions of femininity. Earnest and deadpan, the artists, dressed in very feminine regalia, like a cocktail dress and high heels, takes on some mildly preposterous “physical-cathartic” challenge with feminist overtones, entertaining and enigmatic. If somebody came along and burst your balloon you had would you be annoyed?
-60% of girls in a study said that glamour modelling was their perfect career…Living Dolls; The return of Sexism where appearances are everything..and the contradictory notion that Pretty is not necessarily passive and submissive…Pretty is more multi-dimensional than one might think. Have we really moved on somewhat from feminism to femininity and how much we can use it… The leg talk series questions gender issues and where we stand now…
-TISSUE BOX: The design has two references from two sources. The first is based on pantone color card sample: Merry Pink/Child’s Play/Prominent Pink/Ice Plant. The other reference comes from a pack of cigarettes, in which at the bottom a black frame outlines the warning that cigarettes kill. The targeted audience was younger women. The aim of the message was to make a visually stimulating box to attract their attention even on an overcrowded supermarket shelf yet include yet include (like a cigarette box), serious messages.
The tissue box which also symbolizes tears, will be given, instead of pop-corn, during the screening of the video “SORRY TO BURST YOUR BUBBLE, BUT GENDER ISSUES STILL UNRESOLVED”.
Sexist Jokes are Not OK, it condones and normalises male violence against women
According to the British Crime Survey there are over 40,000 rapes every year, and over 300,000 sexual assaults. Conservative estimates suggest that at least one in six children suffer sexual abuse. While male violence against women and children continues to rise the conviction rate continues to fall. Currently the rape conviction rate in this country is at its lowest ever, hovering above 5%, one of the lowest in Europe . The conviction rate for rape is indeed a joke, but the fact that men get away with such serious crimes against women is certainly not; and should never be trivialised or normalised.
Most common sex jokes:
-What do you tell a woman with two black eyes?
-Nothing, you already told her twice.
-Nothing, you already told her twice.
-What's the first thing a woman does when she gets back from the battered women's clinic?
-The god damned dishes if she knows what's good for her.
-The god damned dishes if she knows what's good for her.
-Why do women get married in white?
-So they match the kitchen appliances!
-So they match the kitchen appliances!
-Whats the difference between your wife and your dog?
-Walking the dog is relaxing.
What have you done wrong when you wife comes out of the kitchen and starts nagging you?
You made the chain too long.
Why did the woman cross the road?
Wait, better question, why is she out of the kitchen!?
What's the first thing a woman does after getting out of a battered wives shelter?
The washing up if she knows what's good for her.
Wait, better question, why is she out of the kitchen!?
What's the first thing a woman does after getting out of a battered wives shelter?
The washing up if she knows what's good for her.
- Wanna hear a funny joke?
Women's rights. - - Why did the feminist cross the road?
- Have you heard the one about feminism?
Women are cute and cuddly - every man should own one.
How many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One, and it's not funny. - How many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Two: one to screw in the lightbulb, and one to chase off any men who try to help.
- How many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None: They can bitch in the dark.
- How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb? It's a trick question, feminists can't change anything!
- How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb? Sixteen, one to screw in the lightbulb, fifteen to form a support group.
To laugh or not to laugh?
the purpose + the meaning behind sexual humour
may disguise attitudes toward gender roles/ gender relationships and may be used to maintain an existing organizational structure.
Humour Sends a Serious Message
Hearn and Parkin (1987) present four “fronts” of sexuality in organizations: (a) visible, such as open sexual liaisons; (b) secret, such as sometimes uncirculated documents that pertain to sexuality in the organization; (c) unseen, such as sexual fantasies and desires; and (d) elusive, which overarches the visible, secret, and unseen fronts. The primary front of sexuality in organizations is the elusive because, as Hearn and Parkin (1987) write, “On the one hand, we have discovered the ‘ever-presentness’ of sexuality in organizations and the ways it can permeate, influence and be powerful; on the other, sexuality almost always remains ‘one step removed’ from being pinned down, measured and researched unambiguously” (p. 123).
Given this elusive nature of sexuality, it is easy to see how ambiguous, gender-related messages are often sent on a humourous vehicle. According to Mulkay (1988), there are two different forms of discourse--serious and humourous--and different rules of interaction apply in each mode. Assumptions made by the listener in the serious mode are not appropriate in the humourous mode. Humour provides a perspective that would not be appropriate in the serious mode. Although at times there may not be any hidden meaning, a humourous statement may carry significance from the serious realm. The recipient of the humour is left to wonder whether or not there is a serious message because the words can convey both serious and humourous messages at the same time. Humour is the perfect medium in which to couch a serious message because any serious intention and any serious meaning can always be denied (Linstead, 1985; Mulkay, 1988).
Sexual Humour Maintains an Existing Structure
While societal norms and discrimination laws target the obvious discrimination practices in organizations, subtle methods of prejudice, such as sexual humour, retain and support an organization’s historical structure and are often overlooked. Although most organizations present themselves as gender-neutral, in actuality most organizations exist according to a masculine identity, and several writers argue that gender and sexuality exist in organizations as part of the process of control (Acker, 1990; Burrell, 1984; Hearn & Parkin, 1983; Walby, 1988). Often this control is demonstrated through maintenance of the status quo.
Mulkay (1988) believes humour, and especially sexual humour, is used to preserve existing organizational structures: “It is yet another ‘paradox of the humourous mode’ that, although semantically humour involves confrontation with a subversion of a dominant pattern, it is used most effectively for serious purposes mainly in structured situations where it works to maintain that pattern” (p. 177). Thus, sexual humour may be used to support the patriarchal structure of most workplaces. Seemingly harmless jokes and remarks may undermine a woman’s advancement, thereby preserving the existing power base.
Kahn’s (1989) article concerning organizational diagnosis and change demonstrates how humour sends a message about power relationships. When a male employee mumbles a one-line witticism under his breath, this forces a female consultant to reconsider the gender relationships in their workplace. A female secretary walks into a meeting of the bank’s managers to deliver some papers and accidentally unplugs the slide projector with her foot. A male supervisor’s quick comment about “a woman’s touch” provokes laughter from the men attending the meeting (Kahn, 1989, p. 46). Initially the consultant perceives the men in the bank as liberal and non-sexist but, with some investigation, she finds that the joke signals “issues about resistance to women’s control and authority” (Kahn, 1989, p. 47). This supposedly innocent joke exposes underlying attitudes toward power relationships in the organization. Although these attitudes may not manifest through conversations with organization members, humour provides an acceptable way for men to express these beliefs. This type of brief interaction, recurring repeatedly throughout a normal workday, may indicate and perpetuate assumptions that men make about women’s roles in the workplace. Spradley and Mann (1975) also illustrate how sexual humour maintains status and role relationships. In The Cocktail Waitress (Spradley & Mann, 1975), the authors observe a complicated and tricky pattern of joking between the exclusively male bartenders and the female waitresses. It takes time for the waitresses to learn how to negotiate the boundary between acceptable joking comments and unacceptable serious insults because, “even when joking, girls must maintain a subordinate position, careful that their ritual insults do not denigrate a male bartender” (Spradley & Mann, 1975, p. 93). Even without the help of the authors’ narrative and interpretation, it is clear that the bartenders’ joking keeps the women subordinate.
The explicit or subtle sexual humour observed by Spradley and Mann (1975) and Kahn (1989) provides insight into existing power structures and gender relationships. It is interesting to note, though, that most of the research regarding sexual humour does not follow this lead but focuses instead on the legal harassment aspects. Yet, if humour, and particularly sexual humour, is being used to undermine power, then women seeking success in management roles need to be aware that even subtle sexual or gender-related joking may be blocking their path to the top. As organizations, and organizational researchers, seem to focus primarily on finding the formula for avoiding sexual harassment litigation, popular culture and the media, paradoxically, seem intent on projecting an image that says work relationships are more rife with sexual innuendo and power trips than ever before. If television may be considered in any way a mirror of what society deems normal or acceptable, then even a superficial, non-scientific review of programming would reveal that, as in the past, sexual humour is still being used to define roles. Much of the humour in the media involves sexual situations and put downs and is considered funny because others can relate to it. However, as Spradley and Mann (1975) demonstrate, humour is often used to keep a character in her place; and many times that place is subordinate.
Conclusion
Sexual humour’s prevalence in the workplace seems to imply a normalcy that is accepted until it crosses the legal harassment line. Research that defines the boundary of acceptable sexual humour probably helps some organizations avoid legal action but does not address the possibility that sexual humour supports an existing organizational framework that is harmful to the advancement of women. We conclude that sexual humour perpetuates men’s domination of women while appearing innocent of intent, and in this way, supports the existing patriarchal, social structure of organizations. Women need to recognize that even if sexual humour does not cross the boundary into harassment, it still may communicate a deeper, and darker, meaning.
Is it possible that humour can be used in an organization in a way that promotes equality and does not diminish the power of men or women? In 1978, Neitz suggested that office humour should change in content to reflect the awareness of the power contained in the male narrative. This humour would allow laughter by both men and women at the expense of neither, “Laughter in this sense is only possible between equals; when men and women can both tell jokes, and can both laugh together perhaps the content will reflect the change, with neither needing to assert superiority over the other through their jokes, or in other patterns of interactions” (Neitz, 1978, p. 222). Mary Crawford (2000) also acknowledges that sexual humour “maintains a sexist social order” (p. 220), but she suggests that humour may “subvert the social order and create new realities” (p. 224).
Perhaps Neitz (1978) and Crawford (2000) are optimistic in their thinking, or just ahead of their time. Their proposals imply that organization members have an understanding of how sexual humour is used to perpetuate a male dominated structure, and we present an initial step toward that goal. Women who are leaders in their organizations need to have an understanding of the serious messages that may be hidden in seemingly harmless jokes related to sexuality or gender. Further research exploring the roles of sexual humour should not overlook women’s perspectives, the meaning behind jokes, and how humour may perpetuate relationships that are no longer appropriate.
