Sex, Humor, and Intimacy: An Examination of Sexual Humor Use in Close Relationships

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The use of humor in close relationships has received considerable attention (e.g., Bippus, 2000; De Koning & Weiss, 2002; Hall, 2010; Hall & Sereno, 2010; Ziv, 1988; Ziv & Gadish, 1989). The humor couples use in their sexual relationship, however, has not received much scholarly attention. The dearth of research in this relational domain is particularly interesting given that research respondents readily acknowledge incorporating humor into their sexual relationships (Bell, Buerkel-Rothfuss, & Gore, 1987; Hopper, Knapp, & Scott, 1981; Ziv, 1988). Investigations examining humor in intimate relationships suggest that how people experience sexual humor and the relationship between sexual humor and sexual communication satisfaction is an important relationship to quantify, yet it is a relationship that has escaped scholarly inquiry. Therefore, the two main goals of this chapter are to (a) illuminate the correlates of sexual humor use within close relationships and (b) assess how sexual humor use is related to people’s satisfaction with the sexual communication in their relationship. To accomplish these goals, a discussion regarding relevant research investigating humor use in interpersonal relationships is reviewed. This review is followed by a discussion of two perspectives that offer theoretical predictions for when individuals are likely to use sexual humor in their relationships. The first perspective is based on contributions scholars have made studying idiomatic communication—including sexual idioms—in close relationships (e.g., Hopper et al., 1981). The second framework, predicted outcome value theory (Sunnafrank, 1986, 1988), is useful for offering predictions regarding when dyadic members are likely to engage in sexual humor use. To begin, a discussion of extant research focusing on humor in close relationships is discussed.