Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania 1

Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania

Cezar C. Cioaca

University of Bucharest

Faculty of Psychology and Educational Studies

Psychology – Cognitive Science (in English), Year 1

Research Practice (Scientific Documentation)

Dr. Bogdan-Teodor Oprea Teacher

June 06, 2022

Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania 2

Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania

Introduction

We aim to study how misogynistic jokes are perceived by two different age groups of

women, the first group between 18 and 22 years old (generation Z) and 40 and 55 years old

(generation X) respectively. We expect that self-confidence can influence the level of

understanding of certain types of humour, as well as the reaction of women of both generations

to them. In order to verify this hypothesis, we will use a misogynistic joke to which we will

expose the subjects, after which we will ask them to rate the joke on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1

being the lowest rating and 5 the highest, and they will complete a questionnaire aimed at

measuring confidence in themselves and the other for identifying gender biases.

Theoretical Framework

1. Misogyny

Misogyny, although so present in everyday life, can be hard to recognize or even to be

defined. One reason for this is the lack of equality between the sexes can also produce positive

effects, even if they are also seen as discriminatory acts .An example of this is the fragility of

women and the protection they enjoy from men given this stereotype. (McPherson, 2018)

Indeed, this form of gender bias can be positive, but for the most part it has a strong

negative aspect, the effects ranging from psychological stress and trauma to more physical,

palpable implications such as inadequate salaries relative to the same work performed by males

to the more extreme cases of physical violence. In most cases with visible, palpable effects,

action is be taken more appropriate or less appropriate, more efficient or less effective, but in

situations where these effects are only psychological in nature, are more subtle, less visible, but

have quite often very tragic consequences, no action is taken. The reason for this may be the
Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania 3

subtlety of misogynistic acts which, we might say, reaches the level of subliminality, being so

present and so frequent within society that they go unnoticed or worse, deliberately obscured,

ignored and pushed aside to keep the image of the men involved untouched while the women

have to bear the consequences.

To support the above, we can exemplify with a study conducted in the field of music in

terms of the frequency of acts of misogyny.

An analysis of rock music videos portraits a majority of 57% of women in a bad light

(intellectually limited, sexually objectified, victims of violence), while 8% expose direct violence

towards women. (Vincent, Davis, & Boruszkowski, 1987)

In the case of rap music, only 14% of videos show women as equal to men, while 67% of

the misogyny in the songs illustrates the woman as a sexual object and nothing more. Also men

gain respect for other men by their high number of sexual conquests, without commitment.

(Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009)

A special issue are misogynistic jokes. Some authors consider that they are a way of

identifying males inclined towards predispositions to extreme acts of discrimination, even

physical aggression. These authors consider that by accepting humorous acts with a misogynistic

connotation and the positive reaction displayed by the subjects to those acts we can deduce the

lovels of tolerance towards discriminatory, misogynistic tendecies and, as a result, a certain

predisposition towards their adoption. (Ford, Woodzicka, Triplett, & Kochersberger, 2013)

2. Generation X

Generation X has been heavily influenced by various events in the 20th century being the

social, cultural, political, historical contexts full of controversies, tensions and events that are

often unpleasant. They like freedom, they are generally motivated, they know their goals very
Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania 4

well and easily find the best ways to achieve them, they want more time to take care of

themselves, they were the first generation to capitalise on the opportunities of emigrating with

the purpose of employment, they have witnessed globalisation, have grown with the advent of

technology and tend to be attracted by this field, by the use of new devices, gadgets,

technologies, etc. (Berkup, 2014)

In Romania there may be small deviations from the conclusions presented above, due to

the authoritarian totalitarian regime under whose leadership the country was until 1989 which

influenced the conduct and lives of those who lived in that period in a systematic and holistic

manner. For example, it is possible for some of the X generation to not be so attracted to new

technologies due to the fact that Romanians began to have access to such technologies later

compared to Western countries. On the other hand, they may not find their goals so easily due to

systematic oppression and restrictions of free speech, inducing certain ideas, or, perhaps, on the

contrary this characteristic is even more pronounced due to the obtaining of the "liberation"

from communism. Maybe before that they drew up various plans, thinking hypothetically “what

if we were allowed to do that ”, reaching various conclusions and various courses of action,

which they were able to put into action after 1989. Also due to the specific context of the period,

generation X of Romania has been able to witness globalisation, the free movement of

information, goods and people only after 1989.

3. Generation Z

Probably one of the most eloquent features of Generation Z are the addictive patterns of

behaviour towards technology and social media, which may result in multitasking skills and

distributive attention while at the same time decreasing their capacity to concentrate properly. It

is considered that Gen Z understand better the changes the world is going through, probably due
Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania 5

to the abundant and constantly updated flow of information, which also determines a certain

difficulty in the upcoming elections, the academic environment and the career sphere, because

they are overwhelmed by the multitude of options, each looking attractive in its own way. They

are more efficient and innovative but at the same time they want to achieve the expected results

with minimal effort, are individualistic and grounded on their own. (Berkup, 2014)

The situation in Romania regarding generation Z is not much different from the one

presented previously because with the removal of the barriers generated by the totalitarian

regime in the same time with the explosive evolution of technology, globalisation seems to be

becoming easier to observe, understand and be a part of. Leaving aside the socio-cultural

influences of the environment in which they were born, generation Z people in Romania are not

much different from generation Z people from any other region.

Methodology

1. Participants and assessment

After establishing the sample, consisting of women from two different generations,

respectively generation X and generation Z, we will expose the subjects to a misogynistic joke,

namely „-Mărie, uită-te pe geam, e un cal în curtea noastră! -Nu e cal, e vacă! -Pe geam, Mărie,

nu în oglindă”. In order to have the opportunity to observe the reactions of the subjects as well as

possible and at the same time to increase the expressiveness of the joke, it will be presented

orally, not in writing.

The next step is to evaluate the joke. Subjects will be asked to give a grade from 1 to 5,

where 1 is the minimum value and 5 is the maximum value.

Subjects will then be asked to complete a questionnaire measuring their confidence level

in themselves as an individual.
Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania 6

The final step will be to complete the Gender Role Stereotypes Scale.

After the actual application phase of the experiment, we will calculate the results

obtained by each topic in the self-confidence questionnaire and we will correlate them all with

the data obtained in order to verify the hypotheses formulated before starting the experiment.

2. Objectives

We aim to find out if there are any differences between the perspectives of the two

generations, namely: how they perceive and respond to humorous acts, as well as their level of

self-confidence.

Another objective of the research is to see if there are any variations with regards to the

tolerance of misogyny by women of both generations and in what sense it manifests itself.

On the other hand, we will study whether the level of self-confidence influences their

perspective and response to such humour and if there is any significant correlation between these

variables.

3. Hypotheses

We propose the following hypotheses:

A. Generation Z is more receptive to misogynistic humour than Generation X;

B. Generation Z has a lower level of self-confidence than Generation X;

C. Generation Z has gender biases different from those of generation X;

D. There is a correlation between self-confidence and tolerance of humorous

misogyny.
Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania 7

4. Variables

The independent variable is the variation of the subjects' age.

The dependent variable is the reaction to humour.

Due to belonging to different age groups and various forms of education received, fact

also influenced by different socio-cultural contexts (communism versus post-communism), there

might appear other several confusing variables, namely: differences in the value system and

principles, variations on tolerance to misogyny, as well as diversity on level of self-confidence.

5. Participants

The chosen sample consists of 34 women of different ages, more precisely women

belonging to generation Z (18-22 years old), respectively generation X (40-50 years old).

Subjects come from different backgrounds both urban and rural, have various occupations, from

students to unemployed women, architects or people working in the field of medical services.

The subjects are all inhabitants of Romania, but every 4 people of both generations are

inhabitants of other geographical areas of Romania, resulting in varieties of socio-cultural

identities.

Due to the characteristics presented, we can say that the sample has a fairly high degree

of diversity, in relation to its size.

6. Methods and tools

One of the most important tools used in the experiment is the joke, namely „-Mărie, uită-

te pe geam, e un cal în curtea noastră! -Nu e cal, e vacă! -Pe geam, Mărie, nu în oglindă” a joke

that we selected in order to present a certain degree of misogyny.

Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania 8

To identify the subjects' reaction to the joke used, we will use a scale with values from 1

to 5 which represent the marks that the subjects gave to the joke. We will also use observation to

capture certain reactions or comments of the subjects, if any.

Another tool used is the "Self Confidence" scale, translated into Romanian by Dragos

Iliescu. The questionnaire consists of a set of six items, of which the last three are reversed items.

Each item contains a statement to which the subject agrees or disagrees on a scale of 1 to 5, 1

representing absolute disagreement, 2 disagreeing, 3 neither agreeing nor disagreeing, 4

agreement, and 5 absolute agreement. The calculation of the results is done by adding the values

given by subject for the first three items, and for the next three, the conversion is performed and

then add the result to the previous result (for example, 5 becomes 1, 4 becomes 2 and vice versa,

and then adds to the sum obtained by adding the results of the first three items). After a

calculation can be obtained that can have a maximum value of 30.

We'll also use the first version of the Gender Role Stereotypes Scale to see which ones

subjects' prejudices against gender. The scale contains 14 items, 7 of which refer to misogyny,

prejudice against women, and the other 7 refer to prejudice compared to the male gender. The

items present certain daily activities, asking the respondents to assign those activities to a

director, having as options: woman, man or woman and the man should share the responsibility.

In order to determine the results of the application of these scales, for each case, we will separate

the two categories of items and observe the answers granted. When the answers to the items in

the category that refer to prejudices towards men are predominantly in the form of the variant

"man", then there are prejudices about male persons, and in other cases not. The same is true for

the other categories. The questionnaire was taken from the authors Maura Mills, Satoris S.

Culbertson, Ann H. Huffman.

Humour and Misogyny between Generation X & Generation Z in Romania 9

References

Berkup, S. B. (2014). Working With Generations X And Y In Generation Z Period:

Management Of Different. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(19), 218-229.
Ford, T. E., Woodzicka, J. A., Triplett, S. R., & Kochersberger, A. O. (2013). Sexist
Humor and Beliefs that Justify Societal Sexism. Current Research in Social Psychology,
21(7), 65-81.
McPherson, R. E. (2018). Variables Influencing Misogyny. Honors in the Major
Program in Psychology.
Milsa, M., Culbertson, S., Huffman, A., & Connell, A. (2012). Assessing gender biases:
Development and initial validation of the gender role stereotypes scale. Gender in
Management: An International Journal, 27(8), 520 - 540.
Vincent, R., Davis, D., & Boruszkowski, L. (1987). Sexism on MTV: The Portrayal of
Women in Rock Videos. Journalism & Mass Communication Cuarterly, 750-941.
Weitzer, R., & Kubrin, C. (2009). Misogyny in Rap Music: A Content Analysis of
Prevalence and Meanings. Men and Masculinities, 12(1), 3-29.