Lillian Randall

First Name: 
Lillian
Last Name: 
Randall
Mentor: 
Dr. Konstantia Kapetangianni
Abstract: 
Differences between males and females extends beyond just physical differences, particularly in linguistic behaviors and mannerism, likely as a reflection of society’s influences. In particular, Rasmussen and Moely (1986) found that linguistic behaviors between males and females differ in areas such as hedging (showing signs of uncertainty) and expletive use. In their research they found that certain uses of such behaviors are associated as male or female and in cases where one gender uses the behaviors of the opposite gender, they are negatively perceived. Taboos in language are generally considered to be words, phrases, or specific topics that are inappropriate for polite conversation, and studying taboo can provide insight into society by reflecting its values. This study attempts to examine the use of sex taboo topics between males and females due to the relationship between gender and sex, and looks at these uses in the environment of stand up comedy from three male and three female comedians, since stand up is an controlled environment where the jokes are scripted using taboo with the intent to entertain. After analyzing the use of taboo in stand up comedy specials from the streaming platform Netflix by breaking down each set bit which used some form of relevant sex taboo and using discourse analysis methods, we looked at what potential patterns between males and females might be present. We also looked at sexual taboo usage in the context of whether the taboo used was actually in relation to a sexual topic or if it was simply a word with an origin in sexual taboo but used outside of a sexual topic, like an amplifier, all in a search to answer the question: is there a difference between sexual taboo usage between male and female stand up comedians? We expect to find female comedians are more likely to have a higher or equal rate with males in the use of sex taboos.
Poster: 
Sexual Taboo Usage Between Male and Female Comedians