”Det verkar vara en klurig fråga”

Abstract

”It Seems to Be a Complicated Question”: Humor as Strategy in Scandinavian Facts-of-Life-Books The aim of this article is to examine how a selection of Scandinavian children’s books, spanning from the 1970s up until today, have addressed questions concerning where children come from. Previous research has shown that various forms of humor have been used in the dissemination of information on intercourse and conception. In our article, we examine how and why humor is used when presenting adult sexuality in books for children. We consider humor to be a strategy to take the edge off a challenging topic. However, this strategy does not come without a cost. With the help of critical theory and humor theory, we problematize the strategic use of humor, as it may contribute to the reproduction of heteronormative notions and patterns. In the article, we map several recurring tactics, which we have categorized into five humoristic expressions: transgression of taboos, humorous recognition, absurd humor, naivistic humor, and anthropomorphic humor.

Keywords

• humor theory
• critical theory
• gender theory
• sexual education books
• picturebooks
• comic books