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Gender Communication in the United States
Gender is a structure that outlines what it means to be a man or woman. Therefore, gender communication is the communication of men and women. It is about how members of a certain sex relate to the other. (Arliss, 1991, p.13). Both male and females have different perceptions towards each, and they are believed to behave differently because their gender qualities. Then, there are different viewpoints about communication between men and women. A common one is that men and women talk differently. But I am going to discuss the other standpoint that there are no differences in intergender communication.
In the U.S, just like any other part of the world, there has been a focus on the differences between
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It is, therefore, correct to say that we are said to fit a particular gender because of the things that we do. Therefore, the only difference is the action, not the communication. (Wood, 2005, p.97). If both men are women are faced a similar problem in communication, each of them will handle the situation on the basis of gender but the challenge remains the same to both genders.
For communication between men and women to take place, both parties must have open minds. An open mind in this case means the willingness to communicate. If one party is unwilling to converse or to connect, then the connection becomes invalid. The fact that both genders can connect when they are open minded shows that there is no difference in communication. For communication to be effective, open minds are required between the two
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Both men and women communicate to achieve similar goals though at different times. The purpose of the communication might be to; remind, inform, educate or even entertain. The choice of topics doesn’t matter, but they will all targeting to achieve similar goals. For example, a man gives a speech about disasters, and the female counterpart gives a lecture about politics. (Cooper, 2003, p.85). The issues are very different but informing the students is the primary goal for both genders. Therefore, the fact that the reasons for communication are always same, it demonstrates that there is no difference in male and female communication.
The effects of their communication are the same. Both male and female converse, the outcomes are always the same. Their communication triggers actions. Actions, in this case, means, ways of thinking or taking different approaches on various issues. If the connection between one genders doesn’t trigger any action, then the communication would be said to be entirely different. But since there are always results and actions that result from gender communication, it becomes an indicator that there are no differences between male and female communication. (Cooper, 2003,
Tannen points out “a greater percentage of discussion time is taken by men’s voices.” (2) She tells us why this is a disadvantage to the women in the classroom. She then continued to separate the two genders into their given stereotypes. Girls tend to separate themselves from large groups; they talk amongst
... women speak and the type language they use would be dependent on their comfort level in a certain situation. Women and men commination and speak varies as per situation. In spite of the differences, we should not pay much attention on them. “Men and women are simply people and that what have in common is more important the la difference”. Emphasizing the gender differences only extend the gap between men and women and create more discrimination.
Verbal communication is intended to deliver a specific message (Carnes, 2015). It is ideal for communicating face to face, long distance, or even using technology driven formats (Carnes, 2015). Nonverbal communication is immediate (Carnes, 2015). Through the eyes or even a soft touch, emotions can be displayed (Carnes, 2015). As it relates to men and women, there are differences in how both use verbal and non-verbal communication. Men communicate verbally to offer solutions that are goal oriented (Carnes, 2015). Women communicate verbally to show empathy and focus on relationship building (Carnes, 2015). On the other hand, women are very in tune to understanding non-verbal communication, while men tend to miss subtle signals (Carnes,
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 men and women. Tannen observed that, "For males, conversation is the way you negotiate your status in the group and keep people from pushing you around; you use talk to preserve your independence. Females, on the other hand, use conversation to negotiate closeness and intimacy; talk is the essence of intimacy, so being best friends means sitting and talking. For boys, activities, doing things together, are central. Just sitting and talking is not an essential part of friendship. They're friends with the boys they do things with" (Tannen 95).
In her article “But What Do You Mean” Deborah Tannen, claims that there is a huge difference in the style of communicating between men and women. Tannen breaks these down into seven different categories; apologies, criticism, thank-yous, fighting, praise, complaints, and jokes. With each of these she compares men to women by explaining the common misconceptions that each of the genders do. The different style of communication can cause some problems at the workplace and even affect the environment. The different styles of communication has been around forever and almost becomes a “ritual”(299). Tannen is effective with mainly women and not men. She is primarily successful with women due to the fact that her tone targets women, also the organization
The circle of influence and experience were different between men and women because of the differences in philosophies of life. The differences in philosophies of life created communication problems between men and women. What seemed to be interesting to one person would not be interesting to another. The key to a successful relationship would be to communicate with your spouse in all aspects of life, even if it was not a mutual interest. The author of Sex, Lies, and Conversation, Deborah Tannen, explained how men and women communicated differently through listening skills, body language, and emotions.
In the introduction of Deborah Tannen’s “Conversation Style: Talking on the Job”, she compares and contrasts the ways men and women communicate. This reminds me of what I tell people that are struggling in their relationships. Women and men express themselves differently. Women think, but men act. If you can’t wrap your head around this, being in a relationship with anyone is going to be hard. Yet, this is such a basic way of looking at this issue. Not only are the genders vastly different, but each person relates to the world around them in a certain way. He or she also needs to be related to in a specific way. Looking at personalities and personal histories can give a better look at the way we communicate with each other. Tannen examines
One of the most important topics in communications is gender communications and that is why I decided to write about it. Gender communication is communication about and between women and men. It is the most important thing to almost everyone in the world. I learned about gender communication in a class last year with Naaeke and I think it is really important to have if any ones wants to have a good relationship with someone and everyone usually wants to build there life through a relationship between a man and a women.
...ind this to be a typical male trait. Our surveys and research found however, that these types of traits are normally associated with men within the business world. Through our research, we found that in a male dominated society, adapt to the male styles of communication. As we have previously stated, the styles of communication between genders differ greatly. Men tend to use conversation to obtain data whereas women use conversation to create connections. Through our research, we also came up with some solutions for bridging the communication gaps between males and females. To reduce miscommunication, males and females must learn to interpret the messages being sent to them. They must learn to understand the speakers' motives and background. In effective communication, one must realize the experiences of the speaker and listener, and work to create a common understanding of the messages being created. Males should try to understand the female need for connection whereas females need to understand the male need for data. If the two cultures can learn to combine their styles by offering information while creating a connection, the male and female communication gap will be bridged.
In the present United States, a mixture of males and females make up a university classroom. In life, males and females have different conversational styles. The ways that they communicate to each other in a conversation, as well as how they communicate with their instructors and peers in the classroom. Although there is a combination of both genders in the classrooms, schools gravitate more towards using learning techniques that are more applicable towards men than women (Tannen 369). When teaching with a mixture of people that learn differently, it is difficult to have a certain technique to use that would help everybody in the same way. Yet it is important that equal opportunities are given to both genders that allows them to do their best and succeed in their academic careers. Educational professionals need to understand the conversational differences in gender and have better teaching strategies that fit both male and female conversational styles.
...a meaningful communication to take place. In conclusion, there are differences between men and women that go beyond social nurture. These differences have their origin in their genes. The differences evident in men and women are translated in their behavior and communication. There are possibilities of these differences in their turn raising the problem of failing to understand one another because in a communication men and women have a different set of expectations from each other. It is essential to understand and appreciate these differences for a meaningful communication to take place.
Men and women are more different than one can imagine. Though the main difference is in physical appearance, another difference is their sense of communication. Women appear to talk more than males, but like to keep their conversations more private. Males, on the other hand, will talk less, but do not mind their conversations being more public. This is just one of many examples of men and women being completely opposite of one another in terms of communication. Each gender has their own expectations of the opposite. These expectations are not usually met due to communication differences, which leads to criticisms such as, “Men do not listen” or “Women will never understand” to form. The most common assumption for why expectations are not met
We all know that men and women are different. They look different, act different, walk, talk, and even smell different. In part, the simple fact that we are different explains why we sometimes have trouble communicating with and understanding the opposite sex. However, a close look at our language may show that there is more to the communication barrier between the sexes than meets the eye.
Littlejohn, S.W., & Foss, K. A. (2009). Genderlect Theory. Encyclopedia of Communication Theory (1st ed., Vol.25, pp. 205-207). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
...terpretation of language. “Women and men sometimes perceive the same messages to have different meanings” (Torppa). Everybody has seen the affects of this difference in interpretation in society. It is the reason why there are more women at Celine Dion Concerts, and why there are more men attend heavy metal concerts.