Sexist Humor

Double Standard Bias  
Table Of Contents

Explanation of Conservative Trope

There aren't nearly as many sexist jokes about men as women in real life and on screen. It's fine to laugh at funny jokes about women but the problem is that women are much more often than men to be the butt of jokes on screen.

Conservative Trope Examples

  • Laird (James Franco) tells Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) her mom "is a MILF. Like, a genuine MILF. And if it wasn't your MILF, she'd be a MIWF, a mother I would f*ck" even after she asks him to stop talking about "how hot my mom is."
  • Bad Santa 2 (2016) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) stares at a voluptuous young woman breastfeeding her child while driving a car and crashes into a valet stand because he is focusing on her.
  • We're the Millers (2013) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Jennifer Aniston encourages new dancer "Kimberly with a Y" to come up with a stage name to help protect herself from all the creeps who frequent the strip club they work at. She asks Kimberly if she has a nickname and she excitedly replies "totally!" as she proudly shows off her stomach tattoo that spells out "Boner Garage" with an arrow pointing downwards. Moments later the manager walks in and yells for "Boner Garage" to head to the stage.
  • Grown Ups 2 (2013) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Squats Fitness janitor Jon Lovitz begins a ladies fitness class over protests that their instructor hasn't arrived and has them begin with breathing exercises that "really stretch out those lungs," which has the effect of making the women's breasts appear larger and more refined. He then has the ladies "shimmy, shake those shoulders back and forth" as ogles at the ladies breasts bouncing back and forth.
  • Grown Ups 2 (2013) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Multiple men ogle a ballet teacher in a very revealing outfit as she leads a performance with kids on stage for families in the audience. While the kids dance normally, her moves are depicted in an over the top gratuitous way. Chris Rock and David Spade appear stunned while Nick Swardson and Shaquille O'Neal stand with mouths agape. David Spade waves four $1 bills as if he were at a strip club. Kevin James is shown filming the performance with his camcorder and his wife says "look at her!" excited about their daughter. He responds "I am. I'm looking at her!" as he focuses on the ballet teacher instead.
  • The Way Way Back (2013) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Owen (Sam Rockwell) has a waterslide attendant make a woman in a bikini wait so he and his new young and shy protégé can ogle her for 34 seconds (yes, we timed it). And then, they slide down right after her where Owen pretends to lose his balance after landing in the water as an excuse to grab onto the woman's waist.
  • Hall Pass (2011) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Rick (Owen Wilson) turns around and casually checks out a good-looking woman's backside while walking with his wife. His wife lightly scolds him for checking "out that girl's butt," but instead of apologizing he asks "do you think she noticed?"
  • Rick's (Owen Wilson) young kids ask him if their mom doesn't wear a bikini anymore because "of her fat ass." He sighs heavily and says "yea, I guess," before realizing that he's talking to his kids and tries to walk it back.
  • Rick "Owen Wilson" and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) talk about "the shiny new set of cans on Mandy Bohan (Alyssa Milano)" and agree her breasts have to be fake or else "she's buying her t-shirts at Baby Gap" and then begin debating the breasts of all the other women in their group.
  • Hall Pass (2011) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Larry reminds his wife Mandy (Alyssa Milano) the they paid for "a couple of fairly substantial expenditures recently" as the camera focuses in on her large breasts in a tight lowcut t-shirt, implying she had breast augmentation surgery.
  • Hall Pass (2011) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Rick (Owen Wilson) is infatuated with a coffee house barista wearing a revealing tight shirt and can't stop commenting on her looks. The barista soon turns around and slowly bends over to pick something up from the floor while the camera focuses on her buttocks.
  • Fred says "that woman needs something in her mouth!" about a woman in a nightclub who has recently quit smoking as if putting his penis in her mouth would instantly alleviate her anxiousness due to nicotine addiction.
  • Grown Ups (2010) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, and David Spade "take shifts" gawking at Rob Schneider's scantily clad daughter's backside as she works on her broken-down car. Chris Rock says he hopes "that car never gets fixed" and David Spade assures him it won't because he "took the spark plugs out."
  • Mayhem occurs in the precinct with "perps" going wild, including two women who rip off their shirts while fighting leading to one landing on the desk Castle is sitting at while eating popcorn enjoying the spectacle with a big smile on his face.
  • My Best Friends Girl (2008)
    Tank (Dane Cook) asks a woman he just had a one-night stand with what the nicest thing he said to her was and she responds "you complimented me on my technique," leaving little for the imagination to figure out what she was talking about.
  • Tropic Thunder (2008) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Alpa Chino has two women shaking their butts in his face as he repeatedly yells "I love that p#ssy!" to promote his Booty Sweat energy drink and Bust a Nut bar in an opening commercial.
    Staff Aside
    It is funny and over the top satire, but satirizing how women are portrayed in rap music videos by portraying them worse is...well...
  • Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan lament that a woman they knew in high school underwent breast reduction surgery because it's "like slapping God across the face for giving you a beautiful gift." They continue objectifying her from afar, commenting on her breasts shape, suppleness and symmetry until Seth has had enough and says he's "gotta catch a glimpse of these warlocks.
  • Seth (Jonah Hill) tells Evan he is "truly jealous you got to suck on those t*ts when you were a baby" after Evan's mom, wearing a very tight and revealing shirt, leaned into Seth's car to have a chat with her son.
  • Katherine's (Alison Scott) boss suggests she use the gym membership the company is providing her to "tighten" up some (as he takes both hands that are apart and moves them closer together) because she'll be in front of the camera a lot. He goes on to say he doesn't want her to "make everything smaller," inferring that he doesn't want her breasts to get smaller. While they say they can't "legally" tell her to lose weight, she's told to weigh herself at home, "subtract it by twenty," and then to "weight that much."
  • Women serve beer at a secret underground Oktoberfest celebration wearing overly revealing outfits while mostly men drink beer and party.
  • Women slip, fall and "accidentally" rip off each other's shirts exposing their breasts to cheering men after a mishap at a biergarten during Oktoberfest.
  • The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    A buxom woman's breast pops out of her shirt without her knowledge while she was talking to Andy (Steve Carell) at a speed dating event. Andy awkwardly moves his shirt around in a veiled attempt to point out her unfortunate slippage, but never let her know her breast was exposed and allowed her to continue talking for twenty seconds before the buzzer sounds.
  • A depressed and distraught John (Owen Wilson) kisses a bride he's never met before on the cheek and then grabs her face and begins forcibly kissing her on the mouth in a receiving line at a wedding he crashes.
  • Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) says "tattoo on the lower back. Might as well be a bullseye" as the camera zooms in on an attractive woman's lower back tattoo.
  • Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason (2004) | Crude Comments About Woman's Appearance for Laughs
    Bridget's (Renée Zellweger) manager tells the control room to "give me a close up of the porker" and the camera zooms in on her excrement laden backside after she crash lands in a pig pen at the end of her skydiving bit.
  • The Girl Next Door (2004) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Adult film star next door neighbor Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) surprises Matthew's two friends by ringing their doorbell with a white shirt and red bra mostly showing and says, "I'm all wet, can I come in?" They gawk at her for a couple seconds before Matthew appears in the scene, and they both laugh at his friends' jaw dropped expressions.
  • Bruce Almighty (2003) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Bruce uses his power to blow a manhole cover up to shoot air up to lift a woman's dress up revealing her underwear
  • Catch Me If You Can (2002)
    An FBI agent tells Carl (Tom Hanks) that he should talk to his wife because "she's the one [who] balances the checkbook at our house" while all the other agents in the room laugh along.
  • Serving Sara (2002) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Sara loses her pants in an airport luggage conveyor belt accident and looks to find a replacement pair going through the luggage. She instead comes out with an entirely new outfit which is much more revealing and the punchline in the next scene is that she had to rummage through 20+ bags strewn everywhere until she found something she liked.
  • Serving Sara (2002) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Kate (Amy Adams) walks into a bar with men checking her out and one whistling as she struts in with a revealing top. The camera later pans to Joe imagining her breasts moving suggestively on their own.
  • Pamela (Gemma Jones) tells Bridget (Renée Zellweger) "you'll never get a boyfriend if you look like you've wandered out of Auschwitz" and insists she go upstairs to change into something else.
  • Bridget Joness Diary (2001) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Bridget's (Renée Zellweger) is hurriedly told to slide down a fireman pole and the camera zooms in up her miniskirt while she's sliding down. Later Bridget watches her up-skirt mishap over and over while narrating that she's embarrassed about what happened and lamenting that she has a "bottom the size of Brazil."
  • Tomcats (2001)
    Michael (Jerry O'Connell) is $25,500 down at the craps table while trying to impress an attractive woman Amber who, in an overly gratuitous green cocktail dress, rubs the dice on her breasts, blows on them suggestively and flirts with him as he loses. His friend Steve tries to intervene before Michael does a double or nothing bet and convinces him he cannot afford it. Amber, despite obviously being able to hear what was said, throws the dice seemingly unaware Michael wants to stop, and he loses owing the casino $51,000 -- which he doesn't have.
  • Meet the Parents (2000) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    Greg Focker unintentionally faces a stuffed animal with a hidden camera inside of it at his girlfriend's mom and on the television behind her is a zoomed in view of her in a short dress with her legs spread apart. We watch her with her legs spread open for seven full seconds before Greg realizes what he is doing and throws the bear on the ground.
  • Sonny (Adam Sandler) and his young son are shopping in a grocery store when they run into Connie (Leslie Mann), who is wearing a white shirt that doesn't cover her entire stomach. Sonny takes a look at her and casually says "you guys wear the same size t-shirt. That's cool" as he points at both his young son and Connie.
  • American Pie (1999)
    Stifler (Sean William Scott) acts sexist throughout the movie, but he gets away with it because he's known to be a jerk. He calls Heather "Choir Chick" and later on the lacrosse field does an act simulating Oz having sex with her -- not waiting for her to leave so she sees it from afar. And another time he says "I'm gonna find myself a little hottie."
    Staff Aside
    He is framed as an over-the-top unlikable character and so you are allowed to laugh at the scenes and not feel bad. Terrible people acting sexist could be dismissed in many cases as making fun of being sexist. If the character was sexist and unlikable in a drama, that would be a criticism of misogynists for instance. But because it's a comedy, a lot of people who watched it really loved and embraced his character and looked forward to seeing him in sequels. It becomes "fun" and "cool" and "edgy" to behave like him in real life. In fact, when you search for Halloween costumes from American Pie you won't find any jerseys with their star lacrosse player Oz's name. But there are 1000+ reviews of a Stifler shirt and 2000+ reviews of his nameless #4 hoodie so that you can do a subtle shoutout to those in on the joke.
  • There's Something About Mary (1998)
    Healy (Matt Dillon) spies on Mary (Cameron Diaz) changing in her bedroom, and as she takes off her shirt, he switches to oversized binoculars to get the "money shot" but ends up spying her older roommate topless instead.
  • There's Something About Mary (1998)
    Mary (Cameron Diaz) greets Ted (Ben Stiller) at his door and sees "hair gel" hanging from his ear. She apparently needs some so she grabs it from him and puts it in her hair with disastrous results not realizing it is obviously *NOT* hair gel.
    Staff Aside
    A very funny iconic scene, but Cameron Diaz is the butt of the joke. And we can't think or a similar type joke they'd do with roles reversed.
  • The Big Lebowski (1998) | Women Objectified for Laughs
    The Dude creeps up on Bunny (Tara Reid) sunbathing in a lime green bikini and the first thing she asks him is to blow on her toes to dry the nail polish she just applied. After some brief chit chat she gets to the point and and tells him "I'll suck your c*ck for a thousand dollars," but tells him "Brandt (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) can't watch, though, or he has to pay a hundred."
    Staff Aside
    It's only $7.99 to buy the HD version on Amazon Prime though.

How Trope is Biased

Double Standard

  • Sexist jokes about women are much more common than men
  • There are many more different types of sexist jokes about women than men