The battle of the sexes and humour

This study utilizes critical discourse analysis (CDA), adopting a conflict-based approach and drawing on concepts from gender and media studies, to examine gender-specific humour present on Ukrainian-language Facebook pages. This study analyses 104 Facebook jokes, of which 66 target women (primarily disseminated by men) and 38 target men (primarily disseminated by women), as collected from major Ukrainian Facebook communities between December 2023 and February 2025. The jokes are examined as gendered discursive resources used to perform and negotiate gender identity through stereotypical or subversive content. The extant research demonstrates that the humour of men and women differs not only in style but also in purpose, structure, and socio-psychological function. Men's humour, frequently marked by its sexist undertones, operates as a regulatory mechanism aimed at perpetuating established gender hierarchies. It is marked by stereotyping, stigmatisation, objectification, and vulgarisation, and tends to perpetuate social dominance. Conversely, women's humour functions as a form of resistance, employing parody, irony, and grotesque exaggeration to challenge established gender norms and contest social inequality. The findings suggest the necessity of distinguishing between sexist and feminist humour, while also proposing the exclusion of humour driven by lookism and vulgarity due to its passive, cynical nature, which compromises humour’s subversive potential.