Ritualized embarrassment at “coed”; wedding and baby showers

The goal of this study was to examine embarrassment in naturally‐occurring interactions within a ritualized context. Thus, ritualized embarrassment was studied via observations of males and females at “coed”; wedding and baby showers. Results revealed that women embarrassed men at showers by teasing and causing them to look unpoised and men used avoidance, humor, remediation, and justification. A new strategy, compliance, was added to previous frameworks to explain males’ reaction to embarrassment. The importance of context and degree of embarrassment is discussed.