Objectification of Women Through Metaphors in Stand-up Comedy. From Cars to Banana Bread

This paper examines metaphorical expressions labelled under the conceptual metaphor A WOMEN IS AN OBJECT originating from 30 performances by female North American stand-up comedians. By combining Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980/2003) and comedy research, this corpus- dictionary-assisted study how women womanhood are conceptualized in terms of objects such as buildings, food, houseware, or vehicles. The multilevel analysis shows that interplay between subversive character gendered metaphors allows for reclaiming power over stereotypical language guise humour.