Personal space, body language, and overall interaction between the participants in the gym was something that I hadn't paid enough attention to in the past, from the distance I could see that their interests. The intimate couples that I noticed in the gym seemed again sought to have created a private space for them by erecting invisible barriers through their private body language directed only at each other, resulting in considerable more space between these couples and other groups of people in the gym. It was a clear and present body language of please do not bother us attitude left a sense of diffused power that would be involved power relationships that operate without covert commands and requests. The dynamics of the couple was something that was very obvious, in that I was able to note the dominant and the submissive person. The person who had a tendency to meet the needs and the one who had the ability to be demanding.
Gender roles, specifically within the intimate couple, were clearly observed and noted, the couple gave a snap shot by their behavior into how they functioned as a couple. When the female in the intimate relationship left for the restroom the guy in situation-spent time, cleaning and wiping down the equipment before she returned. He spent time making sure that the machine that she would be returning too was in adequate and working condition before her arrival. His role as the protector to her was clearly established in that his role was such that, to make sure she was fine overall. It is a strange sensation to watch two people who are clearly attracted to each other dance away at, the new T. I song as they work out together. I was left with the question of how they worked together ...
... middle of paper ...
...hat the athletic groups tended to say together. What my eyes had missed so far is that this is a community that is very closely connected within the larger campus. These are people who share a bond that is clear and so very obvious, part of it, is that they play a sport but they all seem to share the same interest. When watching them it is too see people who are clearly involved in each other's lives, more like siblings that are very connected and concerned with each other. The eye contact I noticed was very intense and deep, to each other they wanted to see and make sure that the person being listened too knew that they were important and cared for. I only saw such looks when looking at other couples, or when I realized that Jim and I had caged ourselves in the corner to be alone at snack time.
A college campus is nothing without a gym. College sports, and cultural events take place in the T.M. Elmore Gym on Alabama A&M’s campus. This gym is located on the west side of A&M’s campus between Louis Crews stadium and Dr. Ernest L. Knight West Campus dorms. This building has made a large impact on the culture of the school considering that the gym is home to sports teams, classrooms, pep rallies, guest speakers and convocations.
At the Gym, written by Mark Doty, dramatizes the conflict within the mind of a bodybuilder and his desire to change who and what he is. The speaker observes the routines of the bodybuilder bench-pressing at a local gym, and attempts to explain the driving force that compels him to change his appearance. The speaker illustrates the physical use of inanimate objects as the tools used for the “desired” transformation: “and hoist nothing that need be lifted” (5,6). However, coupled with “but some burden they’ve chosen this time” (7), the speaker takes the illustration beyond the physical use of the tools of transformation and delves into the bodybuilder’s mental state. The speaker ends by portraying the bodybuilder as an arrogant, muscular being with fragile feelings of insecurity.
The culture of the gym is slowly coming together just after two days of observations. The gym is primarily a male dominant place to do but in our college the only area that is completely dominant is the weight lifting area and that’s only during prime hours. Also on the note of personal space there is noticeably a tendency for both male and female to have a certain amount of space around them like a personal bubble.
Masculinity’s need for femininity has been a concept that I have witnessed in my own experiences; for example: gender-based spaces. I believe the most prominent example of this in my own life takes place in weight room here at UW-Whitewater. As a particularly male dominated space, it is very easy to feel intimidated. Most of the men present will either make girls who are also there for the same purpose as them feel as if they are in the way, or perhaps worse, they will be very intrusive and assume that their assistance is required. Both of these aspects are a factor in male masculinity’s need for femininity. For one, a feminine, female-identifying person such as myself partaking in the same activities that are often thought of as “manly” takes away the sacredness that such an activity only “belongs” to men. Moreover, my own independence as a woman, especially in a male-dominated z...
... L., Andersen, P., & Afifi, W. (2011). Close encounters: Communication in relationships. (3 ed., pp. 322-330). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
They further explore gender barriers of the gym through four elaborate studies. Study 1 seeks evidence if cultural norm
I saw a large variety of outfits and shoe choices while observing the weight room. I saw several females in tank tops and tight pants while I also saw several females wearing sweatpants and a loose t-shirt or sweatshirts. I saw some males wearing looser shirts and I saw some males wearing extremely tight or cut-off shirts, these men typically had bigger muscles which I would assume gave them the confidence to wear shirts like that. It was easy to set apart the people who have been in the gym for a while from the people who are new to the gym or just learning how to work with certain items in the weight room. While watching the people in the gym I noticed one of the features of reality for the majority, which was the fragility of realities,
Volant, A, and J. Johnson, and E. Gullone, and G. Coleman. (2008). The Relationship Between Domes. Journal of Interpersonal Viole, 23 (9), pp. 1277-1295.
"This report . . . is concerned with the structure of social encounters--the structure of those entities in social life that come into being whenever persons enter one another 's immediate physical presence. The key factor in this structure is the maintenance of a single definition of the situation" (1959,
According to research, two-person groups frequently consequent in a rise in tension. The tension is usually caused by the creation of a ‘dominant-submissive’ relationship that comes into being.
(Man/Woman): Hey everyone, I’m going to talk about something that most American colleges have: “Fraternities and Sororities”. “Fraternities and Sororities” are groups of students that usually live together in a house. Members are usually called “brothers” or “sisters”. These social groups often throw parties. They also host events where they raise money to help people. “Fraternities and Sororities” are a huge part of American college culture. (65 words)
Hall (as cited by Wood (2015), describes proxemics as space and how we use it. According to Gupta (2013), personal space refers to the space an individual maintains around himself or herself, while territory is a larger area an individual control, which can provide privacy (for example, an office or a specific chair in the conference room). Personal space is valued by many in America. When personal space is invaded it must be with an invite from the person with who the space is being invaded. My coworker and I have such great rapport, that we can go beyond the norms of proxemics and personal space. For an example, standing next to each other in a meeting may be uncomfortable to someone if they’re shoulders are touching. My coworker and I would both be comfortable if we were standing shoulder to shoulder during a meeting. Invading someone space is not always viewed as disrespectful or uncomfortable. For an example, sometimes in meetings, my coworker leans over to whisper in my ear. This would probably be ok with someone else as this is viewed as protocol for the speaker, versus speaking out
Throughout the one-hour-and-a-half observation much data was collected and stored for further investigation. Gender roles and power/authority were the two sociological concepts observed and applied to the analysis of this particular study. The four forms of groups examined were intimate couple, friends, single person and families. The field observation was concerned with the comparison between these different groups' interactions.
Overall, we can see that 200 years later we are still attempting to escape from the gender line created through society’s image of men and women. Men and women still fail to communicate their feelings within their relationships, resulting in an overall unhealthy marriage. Today women and men attempt to challenge these gender stereotypes by taking on the roles of the opposite gender, but like in the “Yellow Wallpaper” are immediately met with “heavy opposition” and disapproval through the process. Although we may seem as though we are improving in escaping from the gendered stereotypes, the past will always be recurrent in a majority of relationships today if dominance within the relationship is not equally balance between both sexes.
Bruess. Contemporary Issues in Interpersonal Communication. Los Angeles: Roxbury, 2005. Print.) Though these norms were taught, they were always just inferred. Learning the rules of Proxemics has been eye opening. It is nice to have the general guidelines of intimate, personal, social and public distance. When there are specific rules put in place it is much easier to convey how someone is violating them. For instance, a friend of mine, Mike, recently stopped by my house. It should be noted that Mike has been a notorious “close talker” in our friend group for years. Now that I know the specific distances, was able to talk to Mike about his close talking and that it was making some people uncomfortable. And, because we were alone, the minimalized embarrassment of the situation allowed him to be receptive to the notion that he was violating implicit social rules. I showed him the textbook and we talked about the different distances. Ultimately he thanked me for my candor and has been making strides in appropriate distances while in dyads and