An analysis of the occurrence of sexism in Blonde Joke websites

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AN ANALYSIS OF THE OCCURRENCE OF SEXISM
IN BLONDE JOKE WEBSITES
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education

By
Agatha Lisdiantina
Student Number: 091214069

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2013

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AN ANALYSIS OF THE OCCURRENCE OF SEXISM
IN BLONDE JOKE WEBSITES
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education

By
Agatha Lisdiantina
Student Number: 091214069

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2013
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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work

or parts of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as
a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, November 8, 2013
The Writer

Agatha Lisdiantina
091214069

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI
KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama

: Agatha Lisdiantina

Nomor Mahasiswa

: 091214069

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
AN ANALYSIS OF THE OCCURRENCE OF SEXISM
IN BLONDE JOKE WEBSITES
Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk
menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk
pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di
Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari
saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama
saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 18 Oktober 2013
Yang menyatakan

Agatha Lisdiantina

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ABSTRACT

Lisdiantina, Agatha. 2013. An Analysis of the Occurrence of Sexism in Blonde

Joke Websites. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata
Dharma University.
Language can be a medium to tighten and loosen social relationships. In
accordance with the social relationships, the presence of sexist language becomes
a weapon to defend each other, especially for people in different sexes.
Nowadays, sexism is manifested in many ways in the Internet; one of them is
through blonde joke websites. The occurrence of sexist blonde jokes promotes the
discrimination against women.
This research addresses two research questions. First, how sexism is
depicted in blonde joke websites. Second, what stereotypes are attached to blonde
women. The researcher would like to figure out the types of sexist language
occurring in the blonde jokes. Besides, the researcher also would like to reveal
what stereotypes are used to describe blonde women in the jokes.
This research uses a qualitative approach since it provides an in-depth
description of a certain phenomenon. This research belongs to content analysis
study since it analyzes blonde jokes which exist in the websites. The data were
300 jokes which were retrieved from 15 blonde joke websites. In this case, the
writer attempts to arrive at a detailed description of words, sentences, and
utterances used in the jokes indicating the discrimination against women. The data
are presented in the form of narrative description and analyzed in terms of the

kinds of sexism.
The findings of the research showed that sexism found in the blonde joke
websites was depicted into 4 forms namely in the form of metaphor, in the form of
stereotypes, in the form of the adding of suffix –ess, and in the diction. Sexism in
metaphor was portrayed in the usage of the animal imageries like bitch, chick, and
vixen and also saccharine terms like honey and sweetie. In the form of stereotypes,
sexism was described in the utterances stressing women’s inability to do nondomestic activities. Besides, women were also described as men’s sex-objects.
Women were merely judged by their visual attractiveness and valued only to fulfil
men’s needs. Sexism was also described in the additional suffix –ess occurring in
the jokes shown in the frequent presence of words like waitress, stewardess, and
actress which diminished and trivialized women. In the selection of word, sexism
was depicted in the word blonde referring to a blonde woman. Sexism was also
manifested in blonde stereotypes. As women, blondes were judged as sex-oriented
and brainless women.
Keywords: blonde, jokes, sexism, sexist language
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ABSTRAK

Lisdiantina, Agatha. 2013. An Analysis of the Occurrence of Sexism in Blonde
Joke Websites. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris,
Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Bahasa merupakan suatu media untuk mempererat dan merenggangkan
relasi sosial. Sehubungan dengan keberlangsungan relasi sosial, adanya sexist
language menjadi suatu senjata untuk meyerang satu sama lain, khususnya bagi
mereka yang berjenis kelamin berbeda. Sekarang ini, seksisme ditunjukkan
dengan berbagai cara di internet; salah satunya melalui blonde joke website.
Adanya humor yang mendiskriminasikan manusia berdasarkan jenis kelamin turut
mendukung diskriminasi terhadap kaum perempuan.
Penelitian ini dilaksanakan untuk membahas dua hal utama: bagaimana
seksisme digambarkan di dalam website blonde jokes dan pandangan-pandangan
yang melekat pada perempuan blonde. Setelah menganalisa data, peneliti ingin
mendapatkan gambaran mengenai jenis bahasa sexist yang muncul di dalam

humor tersebut. Selain itu, peneliti juga ingin membahas stereotip apa yang
melekat pada perempuan blonde di dalam humor.
Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif untuk memberikan
deskripsi yang mendalam tentang suatu fenomena. Metode yang digunakan adalah
analisis isi karena peneliti ingin mempelajari perilaku manusia secara tidak
langsung yakni melalui humor yang dimuat di situs web. Data diperoleh melalui
15 situs web. Dalam hal ini, penulis mencoba untuk mendapatkan deskripsi yang
mendetail dari kata, kalimat, dan ucapan yang ada dalam humor tersebut yang
mengindikasikan adanya diskiriminasi terhadap perempuan. Data dijabarkan di
dalam bentuk naratif dan dianalisis berdasarkan jenis seksisme.
Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa penggambaran seksisme di
dalam humor diklasifikasikan ke dalam empat kategori: dalam bentuk metafor,
dalam bentuk stereotip, dalam penggunaan akhiran –ess, dan dalam diksi.
Seksisme di dalam metafor ditunjukkan dengan penggunaan kata seperti bitch,
chick, vixen, honey dan sweetie. Dalam bentuk stereotip, seksisme digambarkan
melalui pandangan bahwa perempuan hanya mampu melakukan pekerjaan rumah
tangga. Selain itu, perempuan juga digambarkan sebagai objek seks bagi kaum
pria. Seksisme juga digambarkan melalui penggunaan akhiran –ess yang terdapat
pada kata waitress, stewardess, dan actress. Dalam bentuk diksi, seksisme
ditunjukkan dengan adanya kata blonde yang merujuk pada wanita dengan rambut

pirang. Stereotip juga merupakan manifestasi dari seksisme dimana wanita blonde
digambarkan sebagai wanita yang tidak intelektual dan berorientasi pada seks
semata.
Kata kunci: blonde, jokes, sexism, sexist language
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sincerely, I would like to express my best gratitude to Jesus Christ, who
has granted me a great deal of knowledge and abilities in my entire life. Through
his blessings, I am finally able to finish this thesis entitled An Analysis on the
Occurrence of Sexism in Blonde Joke Websites as a partial fulfillment of the
requirements to obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language
Education Study Program.
I would like to express my gratefulness to my major sponsor, Drs. Barli
Bram, M.Ed., Ph. D., for his guidance, useful advice, feedback, and patience
along the process of composing this thesis. I also thank all of PBI lecturers who
have shared their useful knowledge for the last four years.
My best gratitude and love go to my beloved parents, who have given me
spiritual and financial support. I thank them for the love, care, understanding, and
the sincere prayer. I also thank my beloved sisters, Agnes Lisdiantini and Maria
Riski Afanty for their endless support and love.
My best thank and love go to my partner, Kristian Yudha Herjuna. I
thank him for the encouragement, care, emotional support, and love throughout
the painstaking process of completing this thesis. His presence is irreplaceable.
Special thanks to all of my friends in English Language Eduacation Study
Program, especially FLAME (Monik, Evi, Kandy, Agnes, Titus, and Sony). I
thank them for the tears, laughter, and hard work we had. I also thank my close

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friend, Jonetha for the struggle and togetherness since the first time I enrolled
PBI. I would also thank my classmates, Ajeng and Erda, to proofread my thesis.
Last but not least, I also thank all of my friends and all people who
encouraged, helped, and supported me along the whole process of completing this
thesis. God be with them.

Sincerely,

Agatha Lisdiantina

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................

i

APPROVAL PAGES ......................................................................................

ii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................

iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI .................................

v

ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................

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ABSTRAK ....................................................................................................... vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................

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CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................

1

A. Research Background ..........................................................................

1

B. Research Problems ..............................................................................

4

C. Problem Limitation .............................................................................

4

D. Research Objectives ............................................................................

4

E. Research Benefits ................................................................................

5

F. Definition of Terms .............................................................................

6

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ................................

9

A. Theoretical Description .......................................................................

9

1. Sex and Gender .............................................................................

9

2. Language and Media ..................................................................... 12
3. Women and Sexism ....................................................................... 14
4. Sexist Language ............................................................................ 20
5. The Language of Jokes .................................................................. 23
6. Blonde Stereotypes ........................................................................ 26
B. Theoretical Framework ....................................................................... 28
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ................................................................. 32
A. Research Method................................................................................. 32
B. Data Source ......................................................................................... 33
C. Data Gathering Technique ................................................................... 33
D. Data Analysis Technique ..................................................................... 34
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E. Research Procedure ............................................................................. 35
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ....................... 38
A. The Depictions of Sexism in Blonde Jokes .......................................... 38
1. In the Form of Metaphor................................................................ 39
2. In the Form of Stereotypes............................................................. 45
a. Women and Domesticity.......................................................... 45
b. Women as Sexual Objects........................................................ 47
3. In the Adding of Suffix –ess in Occupational Terms ...................... 54
4. In the Selection of Word ................................................................ 59
B. Blonde Stereotypes.............................................................................. 61
1. Blondes as Sex-Oriented Women .................................................. 62
2. Blondes as Brainless Beings .......................................................... 64
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND
IMPLICATIONS ............................................................................................ 70
A. Conclusions......................................................................................... 70
B. Recommendations ............................................................................... 73
C. Implications ........................................................................................ 74
REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 76
APPENDIX ................................................................................................... 80

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses six major sections, namely the research
background, research problems, problem limitation, research objectives, research
benefits, and definition of terms.
A. Research Background
Sexist language is a phenomenon in English. It includes a sort of words of
which meanings tend to discriminate either men or women, but more likely to
women (Jule, 2008). The discrimination is performed by the latent meaning of the
word, diction, and association which give trivial meaning to women. The
distinctive form used in language is actually the manifestation of the culture
which considers that the male form is always the favoured ‘norm’ while female
becomes positioned as ‘other’ (De Beauvoir, 1989). In this view, it is implied that
men are the ones who hold the authority. What a man does represents how it
should be from the point of view of a society. Meanwhile, what the “other”
(woman) does is considered as the deviation of the norm. Women are positioned
in the subordinate position to men. Women’s existence is marginalized and
trivialized.
Recently, the rampancy of sexism in language is facilitated through the use
of media. In today’s world, the websites are highly accessible by people in all
ranges of age. People nowadays have got the ease to access the Internet almost
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everyday. This might give benefits to them but might also lead to disparaging
practice so–called sexism. If we are not aware, the medium (the website) can
become a weapon to eternalize the sexism itself.
The practices of sexism in the media are various. One of them is in jokes.
The sexism is manifested and eternalized through the scattered existence of sexist
jokes. Joke or humour is a complex cognitive function which often leads to
laughter (Polimeni & Reiss, 2006). Humour is actually influential—from political
satire to joking as a way of establishing friendships and excluding others (Ross,
1998). Ironically, jokes which tend to exclude others are found in a great number
of occurrences in the websites. Women, specifically blonde women, are excluded
by the existence of disparaging jokes which tend to be sexist. Moreover, Cisneros,
Alexanian, Begay, and Goldberg (2006) convey that there is a possibility in a
culture to broadcast one’s own personal opinion and world view in a series of
jokes. From that view, it is apparent that a certain thought might be spread
through jokes. Unfortunately, certain negative stereotypes and thoughts towards
blonde might be transmitted unavoidably through great amount of blonde joke
websites in the Internet. The practices of sexism in the blonde joke websites might
unconsciously influence our perspective in how we see blonde women in general
and might lead us to create a stereotype towards them. Additionally, the
manifestation of sexism in the blonde joke websites marginalizes women and
treats women in a distinctive manner. This maintains gender inequality in the
society and keeps the patriarchal perspective embedded in our minds

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everlastingly. Based on those reasons, the researcher becomes passionate to study
the sexism shown in the blonde jokes.
The writer specifies the study on the occurrence of sexist blonde jokes in
the websites which make blonde women as the objects of laughter. A finding
reveals that from about 500 different blonde jokes found in the Internet,
approximately 63% of the joke pool made specific reference to dumb blonde
females, less than 5% made reference to dumb blonde men, while the remaining
32% of the dumb blonde jokes were deemed gender neutral highlighting neither
men nor women (Takeda, Helms, & Romanova, 2006). From the data, we could
see that jokes which objectify women are more rampant than of men. Seeing the
widespread occurrence of blonde jokes, which are more likely to employ women
as the objects of the jokes, the writer is eager to figure out how sexism is
described in the blonde jokes.
The purpose of conducting this study is firstly to find out how sexism is
depicted in the blonde jokes, whether it is in the form of metaphor, stereotype,
additional use of suffix, or diction. Then, the researcher would also like to figure
out the stereotypes found to picture blondes. In more specific purposes,
particularly for the students of the English Language Education Study Program
(ELESP), this research aims to gain serious attention responding to the presence
of sexist blonde jokes in the websites. Having composed this thesis, the researcher
would like to give insights to the students in ELESP to be more critical and aware
of the inequality promoted in the online media.

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B. Research Problems
This study addresses two research questions:
1.

How is sexism depicted in blonde joke websites?

2.

What kinds of blonde stereotypes occur in the jokes?

C. Problem Limitation
In this research, the researcher analyzes blonde jokes which are taken from
15 blonde joke websites. The researcher focuses on analyzing words, phrases, or
sentences which are classified as sexist, unfair, or unequal for women in those
blonde jokes. The writer is not going to describe the different language style used
by women and men; instead, the writer will account the language uses which
contain practices of sexism which treat women unfairly. The data were taken from
15 websites from October 2012 - June 2013. From the time decided, the writer
was able to see the development and the various types of sexism occurring in the
blonde joke websites. The writer focuses on two things. The first one is how
sexism is described in the jokes, whether it is in the use of metaphor, stereotypes,
additional suffix –ess in occupational terms, or in diction. The second one
discusses the stereotypes which are often related to blondes.

D. Research Objectives
The purposes of this study are:
1.

to figure out how sexism is depicted in the blonde joke websites. The writer is
going to provide the description of how sexism is manifested in today’s

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media that are the websites. The writer will describe the sexism practices in
15 blonde joke websites, whether they are in the form of stereotypes,
metaphors, dictions, and in the use of additional suffix -ess .
2.

to figure out the kinds of blonde stereotypes found in the blonde joke
websites. The writer will define the stereotypes that are often attached to
blondes.

E. Research Benefits
The benefits of the research are as follows.
1.

For the students of English Language Education Study Program
This thesis can be a source to enrich their knowledge on linguistics,
especially sociolinguistics. This thesis can also elicit students’ critical
thinking in observing sociolinguistics phenomena.

2.

For the scholars
The knowledge on the occurrence of sexism in jokes might give a view to the
scholars especially who are interested in this field that any kinds of sexism
actually occur in trivial things like jokes. In the wider purpose, this study
might be beneficial to reduce the practices in the online media which lead to
sexism.

3.

For the next researchers
The next researchers can make use of this thesis as a reference to conduct
another study related to sexism. The next researches might find this thesis
useful to be used as a comparison to their studies.

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4.

For people having interest in sexism matter
This thesis can be a valuable source to enrich their knowledge on everyday’s
sexism that appears in the online medium so-called the website.

F. Definition of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding, the writer defines some terms related to the
title of this thesis. Those terms are as follows.
1.

Sexist language
Sexist language is a language that expresses bias in favor of one sex and thus
treats the other sex in a discriminatory manner (Lei, 2006). Sexist language is
a term used to denote a wide range of very different elements, from the use of
such items as generic pronouns such as ‘he’ (when used to refer to both males
and females); word endings such as ‘-ette’ and “-ess” used to refer to women,
insult terms which seem to differ for men and women, and so on (Mills,
2008). Sexist language represents women and men unequally, as if members
of one sex were somehow less completely human and less complex and had
fewer rights than members of the other sex (Thomas, Wareing, Singh, Peccei,
Thornborrow, & Jones, 2004). In this study, sexist language refers to any
expressions of the language whether in the forms of insult terms (metaphors),
word endings, or sentences found in blonde jokes existing in 15 blonde joke
websites the researcher observed that are used to create and promote unfair or
irrelevant distinctions between the sexes.

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2.

Sexism
Sexism is a particular case where in interaction or in texts gender is drawn
attention to and where it makes a difference for participants (Mills, 2008).
Sexism is also denoted as a language that discriminated against women by
representing them negatively or that seemed to implicitly assume that
activities primarily associated with women were necessarily trivial
(Vetterling-Braggin,

1981). Wilson (1997) defines sexism as “set

expectations of women‘s appearance, actions, skills, emotions and proper
place in society”. In this study, sexism refers to any discriminations against
women which include stereotypical beliefs about women, metaphors used to
denote women, and the presence of suffixes to differenciate occupations
performed by men and women which are shown in blonde jokes existing in
15 blonde joke websites the researcher observed.
3.

Joke
Joke is a complex cognitive function which often leads to laughter (Polimeni
& Reiss, 2006). Joking can be used as a way of establishing friendships and
excluding others (Ross, 1998). Freud (1960) distinguishes two types of jokes:
innocent and tendentious jokes. Innocent jokes are those that do not fulfil
deep psychological functions while tendentious jokes are those that permit
repressed desires to be voiced. In this study, the jokes to be analyzed are
blonde jokes which belong to the tendentious jokes which exclude and attack
a group of people, in this case blonde women.

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4.

Blonde
Blonde is a person of very fair complexion, with light hair and light blue eyes
(Webster’s dictionary). Etymologically, the word blonde comes from Old
French blund, blont meaning "a colour midway between golden and light
chestnut" (Online Etymology Dictionary).
Based on the definition of terms, the writer summarizes that sexist blonde

joke is something that causes laughter which tend to diminish and discriminate
women, in this case women with light complexion and pale yellow or gold hair.
The sexism is shown in the utterances, words, and sentences containing the
discrimination againsts one sex; in this case women.

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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter reviews some related studies which support the present
research. There are two major points that are discussed in this section. The first
point is the theoretical description which reviews some theories and also other
related studies relevant to the topic. The second point is the theoretical framework
which provides the synthesized major theories which help the researcher to solve
the research questions.
A. Theoretical Description
In this section, there are some theories to elaborate. The theories are on
sex and gender, language and media, women and sexism, sexist language, the
language of jokes, and blonde stereotypes. The theories described in this chapter
are relevant to this study. The theories are used as the basis to analyse the research
findings.
1.

Sex and Gender
The topic of sex and gender has come to debates among many linguists.

Butler (2006) points out that whatever biological intractability sex appears to
have, gender is culturally constructed: hence, gender is neither the causal result of
sex nor as seemingly fixed as sex. Therefore, gender is totally different from sex.
Sex is to a very large extent biologically determined whereas gender is a social
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construct (Wardaugh, 2010). Cameron (2006) in Wardaugh (2010) says that sex is
a word used in connection with the biological characteristics that mark human and
other animals as either male or female, whereas gender refers to the cultural traits
and behaviors appropriate for men or women by a particular society. In addition,
Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex suggests that “one is not born, but rather,
becomes one.” For Beauvoir, it is obvious that gender is not something “given”
rather “constructed”. Wodak (1997) in Wardaugh (2010) says that gender is “not
a pool attributes possessed” by a person, but something a person “does”. It means
that what is done by a person determines which gender category he or she belongs
to. One is determined by the process of “doing” in a particular society. She adds
that what it means to be a woman or to be a man also changes from one
generation to the next generation. In such view, gender should be learned anew in
each generation (Wardaugh, 2010). In conclusion, gender is definitely different
from sex, that one can be considered as male or female socially and culturally is
through the process of ‘construction’ in the society, whereas sex refers to the
biological characteristics one inherits.
Gender is something we cannot avoid; it is part of the way in which
societies are ordered around us, with each society doing that ordering differently
(Wardaugh, 2010). It is stated by Eckert and McConnel-Ginet (2003) in
Wardaugh (2010) that the force of gender categories in society makes it
impossible for us to move through our lives in a non-gendered way and
impossible not to behave in a way that brings out gendered behavior in others.
Wardaugh (2006) in Van Herk (2012) suggests that sex/ gender marking does

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have the effect of foregrounding the maleness to both sexes which leads us to reinscribe our gender/ sex and of others. In such view, it is inevitable for us to
behave and live in a non-gendered way. Consequently, it leads us to agree to live
in a world with males as the superiors or dominators.
The gender divisions in the society are socially constructed, not
linguistically constructed. Since language can be used to construct the public
opinion, the society makes the use of it (Graddol & Swann, 1991). It implies that
although gender division is a social construct, the language can still be the
powerful medium to build people’s mind. In accordance to that, Coates (1986)
explains that: “Linguistics difference is only the picture of social differences, and
since the society views a man and woman different, unequal, therefore, linguistic
differences will continue to exist.” (Coates, 1986 in Graddol & Swan, 1991). It
means that due to social differences, the language itself has differentiated between
men and women.
Further, Spolsky (1998) points out that studies of gender differences have
shown the power of stereotyping. A poet is taken more seriously than a poetess;
women’s status is lowered by references to the girls. The use of generic masculine
(everyone should bring his lunch, we need to hire the best man available),
reinforces the secondary status of women in many social groups though the
speaker’s intention might be neutral. The women’s liberation movement has also
focused attention on other aspects of language, such as words like chairman. This
is because words of this type appear to be discriminatory since, while they can in

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fact apply to people of both sexes, they are obviously male-orientated in that they
contain the element –men (Trudgill, 1989).
2.

Language and Media
Language has many functions. Language is both an instrument of

communication and an instrument of knowledge of the world around us (UmeraOkeke, 2012). Chomsky (1965) in Gray (2009) suggests that an essential property
of language is that it provides the means for expressing indefinitely many
thoughts and for reacting appropriately in any ranges of new situations. According
to Jiménez Catalán (2005) in Umera-Okeke (2012) by means of language, we
shape our view of society, we organize our knowledge, and we assimilate the
norms and social patterns of our community.
Language and media are two substances that are interrelated. Media need
the language as a medium to deliver ideas, concepts, and behaviors to people.
Eriyanto (2006) in Sofia (2008) claims that language is the most effective strategy
in setting the mind construction of social life. It means that language can be used
as a powerful tool to construct human’s mind. Nowadays, language is broadly
used in the media; one of them is in online medium called the Internet. The
language used in the media has a power to build up people’s mind to a certain
concept of thinking. This concept of thinking might mislead society to obey and
claim the same principle as a general perspective.
Thoughts and values can be transmitted effectively through media. In this
case, media play crucial roles in the construction of the thoughts in certain

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society. Bryant and Zillman (2002) in Blaine and McElroy (2002) state that the
results of abundant research show how television programming reflects and
transmits the social values of the prevailing culture and has a socializing influence
on viewers. It means that media play a pivotal role in broadcasting certain values
and giving influencing impacts on the people accessing the media.
Today’s potential medium to transmit people’s thoughts is the Internet. As
it is suggested by Shifman and Lemish (2010), in a relatively short period of time
that it has existed, the Internet has become a major player in the production and
distribution of humor, in general, and humor about gender, in particular. Shifman
(2007) claims that jokes about sex and gender were found to be widespread on the
Internet. It indicates that nowadays, jokes which tend to be sexist are found in
many of the sexist joke websites. In those sexist jokes, traditional gender roles
(e.g., women as home-makers) are reinforced (Shifman & Thelwall, 2009). It
implies that sexist jokes take a crucial part in perpetuating the traditional gender
roles. That situation is made worse by the ease of internet access. Access to the
Internet has increased the ease with which sexist jokes can be located and
distributed (Woodzicka & Ford, 2010). In accordance with the ease of Internet
access, certain view, thought, perception can be spread easily. The vast
occurrences of sexist joke which often demean, degrade, and diminish women can
lead people to have a certain perspective on how they value women as human
beings.
Shifman and Thelwall (2009) suggest that when jokes are told orally, it is
difficult to follow their evolution and variations, but Internet distribution makes

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this feasible. It is implied that the Internet is a potential medium that can make
sexist blonde jokes be accessible to everyone. It eases the spreading of sexism in
our today’s world. It is damaging since popularity of sexist blonde jokes in the
Internet might elicit people’s negative opinion towards blonde women.
3.

Women and Sexism
Sexism is defined as language that discriminates against women by

representing them negatively or that seem to implicitly assume that activities
primarily associated with women are necessarily trivial (Vetterling-Braggin, 1981
as cited in Sunderland, 2006). She adds that sexism is the practices whereby
someone foregrounds gender when it is not the most salient feature. From this
view, it is implied that sexism sees gender as the most essential thing. However it
is implied that it is relatively rare that sexism happens for men. It is more likely
that women are the ones who are downgraded by the unfair gendered practices
called sexism. Wilson (1997) in Umera-Okeke (2012) defines sexism as a set of
expectations of women‘s appearance, actions, skills, emotions and proper place in
society. Women are expected to obey such kind of rules because they are in the
subordinate position. Umera-Okeke (2012) points out that in most societies, it is
commonly shown in behaviours that depict males as superiors. It conceives that
one sex is superior to another one. The ones that become the inferiors are women.
Graddol and Swan (2005) define sexism as any discrimination against women or
men because of their sex, and made on irrelevant grounds. The researcher

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summarized some experts’ thoughts on sexism and the followings are some
manifestations of sexism in language according to them:
a.

Metaphors Available to Describe Women
Holmes (2008) points out that English language discriminates against

women that in the semantic area the English metaphors which are available to
describe women include an extraordinary high number of derogatory images
compared to those used to describe men. In terms of food imagery, women are
also insulted. Saccharine terms, such as sweetie, honey, are mainly used to address
women. In this view, it is apparent that even in metaphor, women are being
discriminated. Moreover, the images given to women are often derogatory.
Hines (1996) as cited in Nicosia and Padua (2003) classifies three main
types of metaphorical expressions representing women as animals as follows.
(a) Women are considered mere objects of sexual desire more often than men are
(more numerous and more various terms are available to refer to women in sexual
terms);
(b) Women are degraded by being treated as equivalent to animals that are hunted
and possessed and/or eaten (which shows the combination of sex, appetite and
control);
(c) Women are also more often conceptualised as unreal, fabulous seductive or
destructive creatures than men are (consider, e.g. mermaid, enchantress, harpy)
Rodriguez (2009) has a similar thought on the types of animal metaphors
usually used to denote women. She categorizes the metaphorical expressions into
three types as follows.

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1) Women as Pets
Rodriguez (2009) points out that women are often described as pets. She
makes some examples of the pets which are frequently used to denote women;
one of them is bitch. She conveys that her characteristic of faithfulness does not
always remain vigorous since the figurative sense of dog when applied to a female
conveys negative connotations since it implies ugliness and promiscuity.
According to her, bitch is, in all probability, one of the most common insult terms
for a woman, which expresses the senses of malicious, spiteful and bossy. From
her definition, it can be concluded that the animal metaphor given to women
sometimes gives negative images to women.
2) Women as Farmyard Animals
Unlike pets, whose main function is to entertain and provide company,
livestock animals exist to be exploited, eaten, and they render service to human
beings, either by helping in farm or by producing food (Rodriguez, 2009).
Rodriguez continues that farmyard animals are mainly reared for consumption.
Lakoff (1987), Kövecses (2002) and Gibbs et al. (2004) in Rodriguez (2009)
suggest that there seems to be a correlation between eating and human desire.
They conceptualize a metaphor “desire is hunger”, in which desire is understood
as hunger for food and, consequently, the object of desire is represented as food
(p.13). In such view it is shown that women are presented as food in which food is
denoted as the object of desire. It indicates that women are made as the object of
desire. Moreover, the fact that women are presented as domestic or livestock

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animals might suggest that a woman’s place should be restricted to the domestic
arena (Rodriguez, 2009).
3) Women as Wild Animals
The fact that women are presented as wild animals indicates that the man
is the hunter who hunts the prey (i.e. the woman). The man goes hunting whereas
the woman waits to be hunted or shot (Rodriguez, 2009). She provides some
animals that are often used to denote women; one of them is vixen. Vixen is
defined as a flirty woman and an attractive woman. She conveys that the
metaphorical conceptualization of women as vixens places women in the role of
the prey that men hunt. It indicates that women are under men’s control that is by
being hunted by men.
b. Stereotypes
Sexism also presents stereotypes of women and men, sometimes to the
disadvantage of men, but more often to the disadvantage of women (Thomas et
al., 2004). This view implies that the ones that frequently made as become the
victims of sexism are women. Women are stereotyped merely by the fact that they
were constructed by the society as becoming females as their gender. In
accordance with that, sexist language leads people to have so-called sexist
attitude. Sexist attitude stereotypes a person according to gender rather than
judging on individual qualities (Holmes, 2008). In this view, it is obvious that
once a person is gendered, his or her quality will not be measured fairly. Gender
becomes the consideration in appraising an individual.

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In some cases, women are often stereotyped as the home-makers. Mills
(2008) conveys that the stereotype that women should to take the major role in
childrearing and household management is one which is challenged by many
oppositional discourses such as feminism. It indicates that there is something
unfair in relation to the different role of men and women and thus should be
struggled for. In the past, women were seen as incompetent in dealing with nondomestic tasks (Mills, 2008). Women were “to be put in the house”. Their tasks
were to do the domestic activities. While men could go outside the “shell” and
develop what they want, women were kept in the kitchen to cook for men.
However, such patriarchy role can still be seen in recent days. There are cases in
some blonde jokes websites that women are described as passive individuals
whose duty is merely to do the domestic chores. It is suggested by Sunderland
(2006) that within this realistic world the man is presented as active agent in the
outside world, and the woman as passive and supportive agent.
Another type of stereotype that is frequently attached to women is that
women are sex-objects. Shifman and Lemish (2010) point out that the dumb
blonde is an exaggerated version of ‘sex object’ stereotype. Cantor and Zillmann
(1973) as cited in Gray (2011) also state that women are more frequently the
target of aggressive humor and the object of sexual humour than men are. Those
statements might give an insight that women are presented as objects of men’s
desire. Moreover, the sexual objectification of women is facilitated through
blonde joke websites. Besides, women are sometimes judged or valued from their
physical appearance. As it is suggested by Bearman et al. (2009) that women

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immersed in social environments are often looked at, evaluated on the basis of
their appearance, and treated as if their bodies and looks represent something
essential about their personhood. They continue that sexism objectifies women,
regarding them as visual and sexual objects looked at from the outside, rather than
as subjects who experience life from within. Mills (2008) is affirmative with the
aforementioned statement. She states that often confident women in the public
sphere tend to be attacked through sexist language, where their sexuality or
attractiveness is drawn attention to.
c. Suffixes Available to Distinguish Women’s Occupations
Sexism helps identify the historical patriarchal hierarchy that has existed
between men and women where one (man) is considered as the norm and the
other (women) is marked as other-as something quite different from the norm
(Jule, 2008). In this view, it is implied that the man holds the authority and what a
man does represents how it should be according to a particular society.
Meanwhile, what the “other” (woman) does is considered as a deviation. Since
women are seen as abnormal or deviant, they should be given a signal indicating
their femaleness. It had been suggested by Thomas et al. (2004) that the “marked”
and “unmarked” terms are useful to be used in analysing sexism itself. For
example, lion, an unmarked form, can actually refer to a male or a female lion.
However, to indicate that it is a female lion, we should put the suffix –ess so that
it becomes lioness if it refers to a female lion. It is “marked” because it has the
additional suffix –ess. The adding of suffix –ess is one of the examples in which
language trivializes women. Holmes (2001) points out that the suffixes like –ess

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and –ette trivialise and diminish women, and when they refer to occupations,
carry connotations of lack of seriousness. Lei (2006) adds that in society, men are
considered the norm for human beings: their characteristics, thoughts, beliefs and
actions are viewed as representing those of male and female. This thought says
that the society has already excluded women in which the existence of women is
considered only supplementary. This view makes it impossible for woman to have
an equal position like men. Women will always be put in subordinate position.
4.

Sexist Language
Sexist language is a language that expresses bias in favor of one sex and

thus treats the other sex in a discriminatory manner (Lei, 2006). In most cases, the
discrimination is more likely to give disadvantages to women. Sexist language
represents women and men unequally as if members of one sex were less
completely human and had fewer rights than members of the other sex (Thomas et
al., 2004). Women, by the existence of language, have been marginalised and put
‘aside’. If we look back to the past, language might be sexist due to sexism in
society. The history of patriarchy culture has looked women as “the weaker sex”
(Lei, 2006). In the past, women have been made powerless and generally
subordinate to men.
Generic structures provide further evidence to support the claim that the
English language marginalises women and treats them abnormal (Holmes, 2008).
English does not possess a third person singular pronoun which is gender neutral.
Instead the 'masculine' pronouns 'he', 'him' and 'his' are generally used to refer to

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both men and women. The generic pronoun he elicits more images of men if it is
compared to she or they. Mills (2008) affirms that sentences using the generic
pronoun have the additional effect of affirming the markedness of female
reference (i.e. male is the norm and female is the marked form) and contribute to
the general invisibility of females within the language and within society as a
whole. The generic he also possesses a male-bias. If we refer to the origin of the
term, Bodine (1975) in Gastil (1990) found that the generic use of he derived from
the andocentric view among 18th grammarians which considered that human
beings were to be deemed male. In such view, women only had a minor role in
shaping the English language (Kramarae, 1981 in Gastil 1990).
Sexist language is manifested in many ways; one of them is in proverbs.
Since proverb is a piece of advice to follow in a society, sexism can be facilitated
perfectly in proverbs. The English proverb, “He who follows his wife's advice will
never see the face of God” has obviously humiliated women. Women are
disparaged by the domination of men. Lei (2006) makes a list of English proverbs
which are potentially sexist. Below are some examples:
1) A woman is like a lemon; you squeeze her and throw her away.
2) Seven women in their right senses are surpassed by a mad man.
3) Women have got long hair and short sense.
In proverb number 1, a woman is like a lemon; you squeeze her and throw
her away describes how women are made as a mere object that men can easily
have sex and leave the woman away. Consider also the proverb number 2, seven
women in their right senses are surpassed by a mad man. The proverb portrays

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how women are made inferior. Proverb number 3, women have got long hair and
short sense, is also considered as trivializing women. In proverb number 3,
women are described as being attractive merely from their appearance that is
portrayed by the phrase long hair, whereas their intelligence is underestimated by
the phrase short sense. In other case, which still has a connection and relevance to
those proverbs, joking also becomes the field where sexism exists. It is supported
by Lei (2006), who says that not only in English, but also in many other
languages, women are the victims of offensive jokes or proverbs. Blonde joke, in
this case, is the instance where sexism emerges in today’s world. Blonde jokes are
potentially sexist. Women in blonde jokes are often seen as sex-oriented and
brainless.
Nowadays, sexist language can be disseminated through media. In today’s
world, the powerful medium to spread the sexist language is the Internet. The
Internet is seen as the weapon to demean women’s existence by the practices of
sexism found in some of blonde jokes websites. The vast occurrences of sexist
blonde joke in the websites can degrade women as human beings. Woodzicka &
Ford (2010) convey that sexist humor demeans, insults, stereotypes, victimizes,
and/or objectifies a person on the basis of his or her gender. Importantly, women
are more frequently the target of aggressive humor and the object