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Chapter 5:
Gendered Verbal Communication
I.
Verbal communication expresses
cultural views of gender
II.
Gendered styles of verbal
communication
Male
generic language excludes women
Chairman
Spotlighting
Highlighting a person’s sex
Lady doctor
Women
defined by appearance or relationship
with others
Men
defined by activities or positions
Coverage
Focuses more on women’s appearance than skill
Coverage
of women’s sports
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
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
Naming
is important
Sexual harassment
Date rape
Ms.
We
change our language to change our
understandings
We reject some terms
We create new ones
Stereotype
- generalization about an entire class
of phenomena
Women: emotional and weak
Men: rational and strong
Women
who use assertive speech are described as
arrogant
Men
who employ emotional language are described
as weak
English
Queer
language encourages polarized thinking
performative theory challenges polarized
language
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
Androgynous
people:
Communicate in a range of ways – flexible
Higher self-esteem – better adjusted
More effective in the workplace
Happier marriages
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
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
Boys’
Vs.
Girls’
Use communication to:
Assert ideas
Create relationships
Achieve something
Attract attention
Establish egalitarian
relationships
Include others
Compete for “talk stage”
Show sensitivity
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
1.People
socialized in feminine speech communities
use language to foster connections
2.Establishing
equality is important
Match experiences for symmetry
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
4.
Conversational maintenance work
Efforts to sustain conversation
Opens the door to others
How was school
Do you have anything to add
5.
Responsiveness
Eye contact, nod, tell me more
Affirms other person
That’s interesting
Encourages elaboration
6.
Personal, concrete style
Details
Personal disclosures
7.
Tentativeness
Verbal hedges
Qualify statements
I kind of feel…
This is probably a dumb question but ...
Tag questions
…wasn’t it
…you know
Seen as representing powerlessness
However, reflect desire to keep conversation open
1.
Effort to establish status and control
Asserting ideas and authority
Telling jokes
Challenging others
More I-references
Avoid disclosing information
Give advice
2.
Instrumentality
Problem-solving efforts
3.
Women feel men don’t care about feelings
Content vs. Relational focus
Conversational command
Talk more often – greater length
Reroute conversations
Interrupt more frequently
Stage hogging vs. Confirming
4.
More forceful and authoritative
5.
Direct and assertive
More abstract
Distanced from personal feelings
Deductive vs. Inductive reasoning
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
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).