Sexist humor: Local and systemic manifestations of privilege and disadvantage

Abstract

The present study emerges from research that discusses a distinction between local and systemic manifestations of oppression. Local context refers to meaning in the immediate situation, whereas systemic context refers to broader meanings. The purpose was to examine effects of simultaneous local privilege and systemic disadvantage on motivation and performance outcomes. Specifically, it examined effects of sexist humor using three conditions--women-disparaging, men-disparaging, and control jokes--on women's career interest and math performance. The men-disparaging condition provided a test of simultaneous privilege in the local context of men-disparaging jokes, but systemic disadvantage in context of a math setting. Tentative results suggest effects of local and systemic context may be contingent upon the domain of interest. Women's interest in masculine careers increased in the men-disparaging condition. Women indicated standardized tests were more unfair and showed a pattern of lower math performance in both gender-disparaging conditions.