Gender and Communication Essay

Communication is a process of transferring information from one person or from a group of people to the other. Communication can also be defined as a way and form of passing or receiving a message. People communicate to express or share a concern and allow the passing of message. By not communicating can limit the people’s ability to connect with each other. For instance care worker to care users and other professionals in the care setting environment. People communicate so that they can understand the needs of others and it ensures ways of building trust and resolving conflicts. Communication is a two way process that enables sharing of experience.

Did you know, “men and women talk differently because they are raised in something like two different cultures: a male culture from which young men learn to speak like men and a female culture in which young women learn to speak like women?”(Cooper and MacDonald 9). Well, not actually from two separate cultures, but the idea of men and women being opposites as pointed out in the opening. Deborah Tannen has made her theory that a male culture and female culture each exist, very popular with the human population and has written an extensive book on her theory.

In Sex, Lies, and Conversation by Deborah Tannen, she does a good job in identifying the problems between how males and females communicate, and the reasons behind it. Going back as far as our childhood. She explains how as children, we usually play with kids of the same sex. Thus already creating different social circles, like the many different tribes in a jungle. Within these groups, male and females communicate and play in different ways. Males would prefer to create a platonic relationship through play, with examples of sports or activities. Where as females predominantly prefer to gossip or discuss topics in a calm setting. Causing different gendered children to become adaptive to one type of relationship building. As the children grow up, they are accustomed to the means of segregated communication.

In the article “HE SAID, SHE SAID. “Mine’s Higher” vs. “We’re the Same”, Deborah Tannen explains that men and women have different conversation styles. Although conversation styles of men and women are not quite same, but the ultimate goal of communication for both men and women always stays the same, to connect with others and to be more powerful. Men like talking while focusing on hierarchy, on the contrary, women like talking topics that can reinforce the relationship. The author states that verbal communication is similar to rituals, and differences of rituals can cause misinterpretations and behavior changes.

Deborah Tannen, in her essay “Sex, Lies and Conversation: Why Is It So Hard for Men and women to Talk to Each Other?” attempts to explain the conversational barriers between men and women. Tannen talks about how conversation with the opposite sex is “cross- cultural” (404) which helps to make sense of the miscommunications shared between men and women. Tannen writes that, “Boys and girls tend to play with children of their own gender, and their sex-separate groups have different organizational structures and interactive norms” (406). For boys, they grow bonds with each other by doing things together. As opposed to the way girls grow bonds with each other, since their bonds are founded on solid conversation and secret-sharing. This is where all of the conversational

There is often miscommunication between the sexes, whether it is spouses, friends, siblings, or parents. The miscommunication between the sexes is not intentional; it is simply because of the differences in the way men and women think and interact. In Deborah Tannen’s essay, “But What Do You Mean?,” Tannen identifies the seven primary differences in which men and women interact. Of the seven differences between women and men interactions than Tannen points out, the most notable ones that I have seen to be true are apologies, jokes, and criticism.

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.”

Male and female differ in their use of communication because their reasons for communicating are different. Men

Communication between males and females has always been somewhat complicated. Because we are arguing that males and females have different cultures we wanted to take a look at what some of these differences might be. According to our research the inherent differences between male and female culture are the different roles that society holds for them and the ways these roles lead to different communication styles. The stereotypes that men and women grow up with affect the types of ways in which they communicate. We first wanted to take a look at how they specifically differ while men and women are arguing or having normal conversations. We also looked at the different types of networks that men and women

When we look at gender, we look at the social norms that are associated with, within each gender. Each gender has an individual way of communicating. Women talk about things guys would not understand, and we see males talk about things that females would not ever think of talking about. We live in a society where women have to be polite and not vulgar. On the other hand, it is considered okay for men to talk in a vulgar or impolite way. For example, in a school setting, if a girl said something inappropriate, a teacher might scold her for her behavior. But if a boy said something impolite, a teacher might brush it off and say, “Boys will be boys”. A time where I have witnessed men and women displaying different idiolects would be a personal

Abstract Beside the physical differences exist between men and women, the type of language they use are completely distinctive. Many books and articles were published on the differences between men and women in terms of language they use. For example, the book titled " Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus (1992) by John Gray focuses mainly on the failure of communication between men and women due to their different styles of communication.

The book You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, written by Deborah Tannen, is an analytical book offering scientific insights on the conversational differences between women and men. The book is copyrighted 1990 and is still read and widely talked about all over the world. Tannen is a Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Tannen is a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley and has a doctorate’s degree in linguistics. She is a highly creditable author who has written many books on social differences between women and

In response to what we have discussed thus far in Interpersonal Communication, I would like to further explore the idea of gender in the interpersonal communication arena. As was said in class, ”gender influences cultural perspectives.” Gender also influences how we view ourselves in society. On the flip side, I’ve seen how society can mold the way we label ourselves in terms of gender.

Deborah Tannen is the author of the book You Just Don't Understand where she analyzes the different meanings of communication between men and women. Her research shows that women and men use the same words and phrases and yet can interpret and react to those same words and phrases differently. Tannen compares the two sexes to find men use their conversation as a type of competition or to preserve their independence. For example, men talk about their knowledge regarding sports, cars, women, exc. Meanwhile, women try to foster intimacy through communication. For instance, women often talk and relate on a personal level. Throughout Tannen's book she uses "cross-cultural communication" to describe the differences between the language of

In a society where individuals are constantly being fed stereotypes, images of ideal looks and inequality it is almost impossible to step outside of the norm and become your own person. “Media creates meanings about gender, and plays an important role in the way we understand it as part of our identity, our history, our social institutions, and our everyday lives” (The Critical Media Project). Gender refers to the label an individual assign for themselves as distinguished from sex which refers to the biology of an individual. Gender is a social construct because it is something created and enforced by society. There is an abundance of gender identities, but the media tends to only focus on two: man and woman. These two gender identities have been associated with certain qualities throughout history, and these qualities are enforced through the media. Women are typically represented as individuals who are weak, sexual, emotional, and dependent on men while men are typically represented as individuals who are dominant, strong, breadwinners, and independent. There are forms of media that go outside the norm and challenge these stereotypes, but an abundance of media still enforces these stereotypes.