The Use of Humor as an Effective Tool in Sexual Violence Prevention Education

The field of sexual assault prevention education faces genuine challenges, among them the need to be able to convince our audiences that our messages matter. This is especially difficult when those messages, and their messengers, are alternately perceived as boring, irrelevant, and even threatening. This is where the strategic use of humor becomes even more crucial for effective programming. When used specifically to frame challenging ideas, situate the presenter as a friendly partner in the dialogue, and manage the emotional reactions caused by the nature of the content, humor can provide a crucial catalytic effect to the learning process. Being funny is not the objective; using humor to support critical, challenging messaging in order to reduce sexual violence is. While theories about the role and impact of humor cross academic disciplines, this chapter highlights those believed most relevant to increasing educator effectiveness, including the fields of education, persuasion, cognition, and psychology. While none of the research cited speaks directly to the use of humor to respond to issues of sexual violence, much can be extrapolated from what it does say about humor’s usefulness in and outside of the traditional classroom setting.