Sexist jokes encourage violence against women

London, July 4

Sexist jokes induce an attitude that equates violence against women with a macho image, according to a recent study.

Scientists at the University of Granada in Spain sent questionnaires to a group of 109 students aged between 18 and 26.

They showed them two series of jokes, one of them sexist where women were denigrated, and another one with jokes without any kind of sexist content.

The researchers then proposed to them several scenes with different cases of battering against women, from minor to serious attacks, to ask them how they would react in these kind of situations.

The study showed that those who had listened to sexist jokes were much more tolerant to female battering than those who had not.

However, the researchers warned that those individuals affected by sexist humour showed a previous tendency to tolerate violence against women, said a Granada release.

Some of the perceptions of men's sexist attitudes were: "Deep down, feminists intend women to be more powerful than men", "most of the women do not fully appreciate what men do for them" or "there are many women who make sexual insinuations to men and later they reject their advances just to make fun of them".

These findings are slated for publication in the US Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Last updated on Jul 4^th, 2009 at 15:56 pm IST--IANS

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