Humor as ‘Resistance’ and ‘Symbiosis’ in Women’s Zines: An Analysis of ‘Ona・Erosu’ and ‘Jyuso’ (78582)
Session Chair: Shu Yang
Sunday, 26 May 2024 14:50
Session: Session 4
Room: Room 705
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Humor reflects power relations between its creators and recipients, perpetuating social structures. Gender normativity heavily influences humor, historically leading women to be viewed as humor's audience or the butt of the joke. Humorous expressions often reinforce cultural texts and stereotypes, particularly those surrounding race and gender. Meanwhile, humor possesses the potential to subvert established structures. With the emergence of feminist humor perspectives, women have gained increased visibility in humor practices. However, this visibility remains confined to those women who are already able to make their voices heard, such as female comedians.
This study aims to examine the utilization of humor in women's zines as a means of expressing resistance in the context of Japan. To evaluate zines from a feminist humor perspective,I compared "Ona・Erosu", originally published during the women's liberation movement, and "Jyuso", a zine first published in 2016. By tracing the history of women's publishing practices and conducting a textual analysis, I investigate these humorous expressions using the perspectives of "resistance" and "symbiosis". Reviewing the historical context of feminist humor, I characterize this humor through zines as "expressive humor" rather than "performance humor". In conclusion, I argue that the humor of zines can form a foundation for creating a sense of solidarity.
Authors:
Nan Zhao, Doshisha University, Japan
About the Presenter(s)
Ms Nan Zhao is a University Doctoral Student at Doshisha University in Japan
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