Abstracts Womens Studies

The nature of satire: Essentialism, gender, and purpose

by -5709-3904

There is a lack of recognized satire written by women in the English satirical canon. In this thesis, I argue that this dearth does not stem from an absence of women capable of producing cogent, effective satire, but from the conflicting stereotypes of women and characterizations of satire as a genre that is aggressive, humorous, and intellectually critical. Through a framework of feminist comparativism, I trace out the prevailing historical and literary characterizations of women and satire and use a close reading of Aphra Behn and Mary Wortley Montagu to demonstrate successful examples of women's satire and the social adversity they encountered. Finally, I empirically analyze a contemporary example of satire produced by men and women on the comedy news program The Daily Show. I found that even 21st century iterations of satire perpetuate gendered expectations of humor and satire. I conclude with the conviction that additional research on the intersections of gender and satire is needed, given the current popular re-invigoration of satire and the strides being made by women in comedy more broadly. Advisors/Committee Members: Shelton, Jen (committee member), Batra, Kanika (Committee Chair).