Gendered Lives

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Gendered Lives

• Chapter 5
• Gendered Verbal Communication

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Today we will discuss

• I. Verbal communication expresses cultural views
  of gender
• II. Gendered styles of verbal communication

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I. Verbal Communication Expresses Cultural Views
of Gender
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A. Male Generic Language Excludes Women

• Male generic language excludes women
• Chairman
• Spotlighting
• Highlighting a persons sex
• Lady doctor

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B. Language Defines Men Women Differently

• Women defined by appearance or relationship with
  others
• Men defined by activities or positions

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B. Language Defines Men Women Differently

• Coverage of womens sports
• Focuses more on womens appearance than skill
• Coverage of rape or abuse
• Irrelevant descriptions of victims
• Language reflects social views of women as
  passive and men as active in terms of sexual
  activity
• Men expected to initiate
• Language makes that seem acceptable

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B. Language Defines Men Women Differently

• In the past, American unmarried were women called
  spinsters or old maids
• In Japan, unmarried women are called leftovers,
  underdogs, or a parasite single
• Alternatives to traditional ways of naming
  ourselves
• Some women choose to retain their birth name when
  they marry
• Some men and women adopt hyphenated names
• Matriarchal

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C. Language Shapes Awareness

• Naming is important
• Sexual harassment
• Date rape
• Ms.
• We change our language to change our
  understandings
• We reject some terms
• We create new ones

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D. Language Organizes Perceptions of Gender

• Stereotype - generalization about an entire class
  of phenomena
• Women emotional and weak
• Men rational and strong

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D. Language Organizes Perceptions of Gender

• Women who use assertive speech are described as
  arrogant
• Men who employ emotional language are described
• as weak
• English language encourages polarized thinking
• Queer performative theory challenges polarized
  language

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E. Language Evaluates Gender

• Language reflects cultural values and has a
  powerful influence on our perceptions
• Language devalues females by trivializing women
• Equate with food, animals
• Calling women girls
• Sexually active women are called derogatory names

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F. Language Allows Self-Reflection

• Androgynous people
• Communicate in a range of ways flexible
• Higher self-esteem better adjusted
• More effective in the workplace
• Happier marriages

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II. Gendered styles of verbal communication
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A. Gendered Speech Communities

• Langer (1979) language sustains cultural life
• Labov (1972) a speech community is group of
  people who share communication norms
• Males and females are socialized into different
  speech communities
• Discussing general differences
• not absolute

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B. The Lessons of Childrens Play

• Maltz and Boker (1982) Sex-segregated groups
  remain the norm for U.S. children (2-3 years of
  age)
• Boy games Vs. Girl games
• Competitive Pairs or small groups
• Clear goals No preset goals and roles
• Rough play Not highly structured
• Organized by rules and roles Spend more time
  talking

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B. The Lessons of Childrens Play

• Boys Vs. Girls
• Use communication to
• Assert ideas Create relationships
• Achieve something Establish egalitarian
  relationships
• Attract attention Include others
• Compete for talk stage Show sensitivity

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B. The Lessons of Childrens Play

• Girls engage in more cooperative play
• Boys engage in more instrumental/competitive play
• Communication rules for men and women are
  versions of those learned in childhood

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C. Characteristics of Feminine Speech

• 1.People socialized in feminine speech
  communities use language to foster connections
• 2.Establishing equality is important
• Match experiences for symmetry

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C. Characteristics of Feminine Speech

• 3. Support for others
• Express emotion
• Attention to relationship level
• Questions probe for understanding
• How does this effect our relationship
• How do you feel about our decision

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C. Characteristics of Feminine Speech

• 4. Conversational maintenance work
• Efforts to sustain conversation
• Opens the door to others
• How was school
• Do you have anything to add

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C. Characteristics of Feminine Speech

• 5. Responsiveness
• Eye contact, nod, tell me more
• Affirms other person
• Thats interesting
• Encourages elaboration

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C. Characteristics of Feminine Speech

• 6. Personal, concrete style
• Details
• Personal disclosures

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C. Characteristics of Feminine Speech

• 7. Tentativeness
• Verbal hedges
• I kind of feel
• Qualify statements
• This is probably a dumb question but ...
• Tag questions
• wasnt it
• you know
• Seen as representing powerlessness
• However, reflect desire to keep conversation open

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D. Characteristics of masculine Speech

• 1. Effort to establish status and control
• Asserting ideas and authority
• Telling jokes
• Challenging others
• More I-references
• Avoid disclosing information
• Give advice

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D. Characteristics of masculine Speech

• 2. Instrumentality
• Problem-solving efforts
• Women feel men dont care about feelings
• Content vs. Relational focus
• 3. Conversational command
• Talk more often greater length
• Reroute conversations
• Interrupt more frequently
• Stage hogging vs. Confirming

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d. Characteristics of masculine speech

• 4. Direct and assertive
• More forceful and authoritative
• 5. More abstract
• Distanced from personal feelings
• Deductive vs. Inductive reasoning

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d. Characteristics of Masculine Speech

• 6. Less emotionally responsive
• Minimal response cues
• May be perceived as lack of involvement
• Lack of self-disclosure, expressed sympathy
• May be seen as vulnerable

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E. High and Low Context

• Low context (LC) communication is one in which
  the mass of the information is vested in the
  explicit code.
• High context (HC) communication is one in which
  most of the information is already in the person,
  while very little is in the coded, explicit,
  transmitted part of the message (Hall 1976).

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High Low Context Countries