Muted Group Theory

Muted Group Theory

"Women do two thirds of the world’s work...Yet they earn only one tenth of the world’s income and own less than one percent of the world’s property. They are among the poorest of the world’s poor." –Barber B. Conable Jr, President, World Bank

According to Kramarae groups within our society are muted, or go incompletely heard due to the lack of an effective means to express certain groups of ideas, experiences, or thoughts. Kramarae calls these groups muted and focuses specifically on the muted group of women. She argues that language is "man-made" and "aids in defining, depreciating and excluding women" (Griffin,1997,459). Muted Group Theory sees language as excluding women based on several factors. For example the words used to describe a sexually promiscuous individual are radically different. For men words like, stud, playboy, rake, gigolo, and womanizer among others, all with positive connotations, describe the sexually active male. In a harsh contrast words to describe a female with an active sexual appetite include: slut, hooker, mistress, hussy, easy lay, prostitute, whore, and nymphomaniac. The women-specific words are demoralizing and place a negative value on women’s sexuality. The words used to describe men make them seem powerful, controlling, and dominant. Kramarae’s theory poses questions about why these phenomena exist.

A second example of how women are muted according to Kramarae is the depiction of them in mass media. Women are rarely the heroes of television shows, and in cartoons they appear "emotional, apologetic, or just plain wishy-washy" (Griffin, 459). Breakthroughs for feminism on television have come with shows like Mary Tyler Moore and the current Murphy Brown. Both main charac...

... middle of paper ...

...d when I apply Kramarae to my future plans. I know that with the power her theory places in me I will be more able to resist sexist comments, and more successful in rejecting dominance from men. With Kramarae in mind I will be able to better communicate my ideas to women and men. Her theory will help me more easily make the transition from a scholastic environment into the corporate environment.

References

Childers, O.A.(1999, April 13). Connerly: Level the playing field. The Colorado Daily, pp.1,4.

Griffin, E. (1997). A First Look at Communication, Third Edition. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Vande Berg, L.R., Wenner, L.A., & Gronbeck, B. E. (1998). Critical Approaches to Television. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Wood, J.T. (1999). Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture, Third Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company.