Gender and Communication

Communication is a two-way process that takes practice and time to be fully effective and is very important in every aspect our personal and professional lives. We communicate every day of our lives both verbally or nonverbally. The process of verbal communication is the exchanging information by transmitting an idea, send that idea, receive feedback, understand the idea and the feedback and provide feedback to the person who sent the message. The main components of communication are context, encoder, message, medium, decoder, and feedback. The context could be social, chronological, cultural, or physical. The individual sending the message will

The reason gender effect ways of speaking is because women and men communicate differently. Women are more sympathetic and men tend to be more problem solvers. For example, women wallow in their problems and constantly talk about them, whereas the men find a solution to the problem or leave it alone. According to Deborah Tannen book, You Just Don’t Understand, She mentions that “Trying to solve a problem or fix a trouble focuses on the message level of talk”. (52) It means that solving a problem is an expression of understanding; having women and men more understanding of their use of language will decrease the complaint “You just don’t understand.”

A person could maybe notice how once a guy starts talking that the whole atmosphere change. Whenever someone may argue with a man he is more than likely going to raise his voice as anyone would, but since it is more deep and loud the other person would listen more. Simply talking to a guy the female might think he would not talk back because most people would say girls talk more than guys, until the person actually does the research. Most guys are competitive by nature so it is not like men try to be so aggressive it is just how guts are. So boys are expected to use language to seize center stage: by exhibiting their skill, displaying their

It is evident that female and male conversations differ from each other. Females can hold a conversation on the phone for hours and not run out of things to say, beginning from gossip, to chattering about crushes, then on continuing to compliment each other for supportive reasons, later comes down to being called the word “Thick”. Females sometimes don’t realize how much we need us women in each other’s life. For instance, we require each other for support, love, and the basic everyday drama which include going through menstrual cycles that men naturally can’t comprehend. On the other hand, males can barely last an hour when holding a conversation on the phone. Male conversations are usually more of a straight forward approach, they say what they discuss what they need to discuss and dismiss the conversation. Money, sex, drugs, and not to mention sports of all things is usually the topic on a day-to-day basis as I’ve grown up all my life in a male household. Males tend not to get too emotional when they converse with other males, however when having conversations with females, they can conversate for hours and hours. Both male and female have the

After reading the language and gender section of our textbook I found very interesting what Robin Lakoff proposes about the set of traits which distinguish women’s language from men’s language. Moreover, Deborah Tannen gave great examples of the differences of women’s and men’s language. In addition, I enjoyed watching the video about how children communicate. Bases on what Lakoff proposed, the textbook mentions that women use a greater use of hedges and indirect speech acts. Also, that woman used fewer taboo terms for sexual and bodily functions than men do. Moreover, that boys talk more than girls and that teachers are likely to give more attention to boys. In addition, Women like to speak in a private/small way and men speak in a public

Some of these gender roles and stereotypes have been created due to the differences in physique, thinking, personality, and behavior that is actually present between men and females. Physical differences are more visible to the eye due to the distinction between primary and secondary sex characteristics for each gender. Males have testes, deeper voices, a bigger body type, and more facial hair, where as women have a smaller body, higher voices, ovaries, and wider hips. (Rathus, 2010, p.448). Cognitive differences have to do with the brain and the way men and women

One popular theory comes from an American social psychologist, Leonard Berkowitz. He states that men and women are traditionally educated to carry out different social rules. Parents buy young boys toy guns, while they purchase dolls for young girls. In addition, the article states that males are more aggressive. In many species, males are more muscular, heavier, and capable of attacking and defending. The arms of a human male are on average 75 percent more muscular than those of women. Also, the top of a male body is 90 percent stronger than the top of a female body. The following quote from Berkowitz details what he sees as the difference between the sexes, “men are taller, they have denser and heavier bones, their jaw is more massive, their reaction time is shorter, their visual acuity is better, their muscle/fat ratio is greater, their heart is bulkier, their percentage of hemoglobin is higher, their skin is

The communication styles of males versus females are not similar and can sometimes be misunderstood by the opposite gender. Males are misjudged for having heartless and solitude communication styles, whereas, females are often misjudged for having over-the-top and

Alberts, Martin and Nakayama (2011) describe communication as “ a transactional process in which people generate meaning through the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages in in specific contexts, influenced by individual and societal forces and embedded in culture.”(p.7) They then go on to state that intercultural communication “occurs in interactions between people who are culturally different.”(p.122) Cultural differences thus affect many interactions, with the communication process being one.

Have you ever taken a moment to analyze the way in which humans communicate? Have you ever stepped back and thought critically about the effectiveness of your own communication and how it relates to your gender? Many of us are not quick to analyze our daily lives, our actions and certainly not individual conversations. But, if for a moment, we act as a third party and critique the ways we communicate, we will likely see a pattern. This pattern has been studied for over a century and it explores the idea that the way we communicate is influenced by the chemical make-up of our gender. The most crucial part of our DNA sets the tone for how we will communicate for the rest of our lives, from our relationships to our workplace. This dissertation

     Finally, it can be inferred from my observations that certain cultural models cause the witnessed patterns of speaking and communication. Women are “taught'; to be shy and infererior—and this is evidenced in their non-verbal coyness while speaking in a one-to-one situation with males. But men are taught that over-happiness is “queer'; and so smiles are not nearly as common on the males’ face as they are on the females’ face. Both sexes certainly seem to enjoy talking—but each is more comfortable in their own

Men view doing activities together and doing things for each other as the foundation of relationships. Women, on the other hand, view talking and communicating as the foundation for relationships (Wood, 2014). The differences in these gender speech communities can become very apparent GENDER SPEECH COMMUNITIES when you have a close friend or a romantic partner of the opposite gender and spend a lot of time 3 communicating with them. One person of the other sex that I communicate with regularly is my friend from work.

In the article “Male and Female Communication: Differences Worth Nothing”, Laurie M. Stewart explains that main ideas about the differences between men and women communication that were published by three different Doctors. The differences exist in men and women communication, although not any of the theories were widely accepted. Stewart introduces that the belief of men and women are differentiated in communication due to different focus and driving force was written by Deborah Tannen in You Just Don’t Understand. Next she lists the points that John Gray wrote in Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus about general communication styles varied between men and women. Then Stewart introduces that the theory Lillian Glass wrote about gender

Fraternity parties are an every weekend occurrence here at UT, in my efforts to study gendered communication I decided to attend an event. Outside of my routine activities, in this situation I would take two roles; play participant and observer. The gendered communication styles are in full effect at fraternity parties, and the examples are clear as day.

Societies have different expectations on individuals based on their sex. People, often, adapt to these expectations. As a result, they feel like these stereotypical beliefs are how a person should present his/her self. Two theories that can explain this is gender socialization and emotion work. Both of these theories can explain how men and women are expected to act in consideration to presentation of