Traditional identity contents predict women’s amusement with sexist jokes about men through benevolent but not hostile sexism

Abstract

Two preregistered studies (N = 679) tested the links between women’s gender identity and their amusement with sexist jokes targeting men. We hypothesized that the interaction between the strength (i.e., level of in-group identification) and contents (traditional/progressive) of women’s gender identity would be associated with their amusement with jokes targeting men and that this relationship would be mediated by sexism toward men. Although Study 1 provided no support for this hypothesis, we found positive associations between women’s traditional identity contents and their amusement with benevolent and hostile jokes about men, explained by the higher endorsement of benevolent (but not hostile) sexism toward men. Study 2 replicated this effect, suggesting that women’s enjoyment of jokes targeting men might stem from their beliefs that justify the existing power (im)balance between sexes and not their hostility toward men.