Men prefer (jokes about) blonder: interdiscursive analysis of bimbo jokes and feminist jokes

Author(s)

Gisele Maria Franchi

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
• Defense date: 2010-02-19

Examining board members

Sírio Possenti; Suzy Maria Lagazzi; Cristina Teixeira Vieira de Melo

• Advisor: Sírio Possenti

Abstract

Based on the discourse analysis (MAINGUENEAU, 1984:2005a, 1998:2008, 2006a), the main theories of humor (BERGSON, 1900:1993; FREUD, 1905:1996; RASKIN, 1985), the literature about women and feminism (RAGO, 2003) and about the identity of contemporary man (NOLASCO, 1995), the circulation of a feminine representation is analyzed in a set of jokes. The corpus of the research is constituted by "bimbo jokes" and by feminist jokes as well. The aim is to analyze the interdiscursive relation that constitutes and traverses the sexist position (discovered in the bimbo jokes) and the feminist position. The analyses show that the stereotypes existent in both groups of jokes can be understood as a process in which the "Other" is translated through the "Same", under the form of a simulacrum. Besides, they evidence the fact that the social and professional conquests obtained by women, especially in the last decades, are also reflected in the discursive plan: there is no more an asymmetrical point of view, in which the woman was represented only according to the translation made by the sexist position. In the discursive space, sexist and feminist positions interact in a conflicting way, refusing each other mutually. And they constitute themselves. (AU)