Gender communication

For many years, society has influenced how humans act and communicate towards one another depending on the scenario and the sex that they are specified to. Social and cultural norms can significantly influence both the expression of gender identity, and the nature of the interactions between genders.

Gender culture, the set of behaviors or practices associated with masculinity and femininity (Relish p 423), pay a huge contribution on how and why males and females communicate fervently with other genders. Researchers like Susan Relish believe that the differences start from childhood with the games they are influenced to play. The stereotypes the media portray nowadays also play a factor on the difference Of males and females. It ultimately affects the communication styles by the way they process information, the "leadership" role males tend to feel, and their talk time.

Since childhood, little girls are influenced to play house, with no rules, obligations, or worries about anything because the "dad" is the one who should make the money while the "mom" stays home. While on the other hand, most if not all, boys are obligated to join sports teams, be competitive, and have goals and strategies. These differences as children cause women to operate from assumptions about communication, and use rules for communication that differ significantly from those endorsed by most men (Relish p 422).

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Little boys are told to "suck it up" if they get hurt during a game while the girls are tended to as quickly as possible which can explain why many men don't show as much emotion when they communicate. Aries' research shows that men aren't as open as women are with others: Men are more likely than women to emerge as leaders, to be directive and hierarchical, to dominate in groups by talking more and interrupting more and to be oriented toward solving problems. In contrast, women are found to be more expressive, supportive, facilitative, egalitarian and cooperative than men.

In the movie, John Tucker Must Die, the star athlete portrays the typical stereotype male in which they have "locker room talk". His friends make fun of him because he is "whipped" but he turns it around by saying that he only does It so that he can get laid. Reason he does that is because he doesn't ant to show weakness with other men and wants them to know that he is the hierarchy in the relationship. On the other hand, girls are more open and talk with each other for advice using every detail they can. Women are more expressive with each other rather than men who are better at keeping everything bottled in.

According to Lewis and Miller, women communicate emotionally through facial expressions. When females communicate, they tend to use mostly their eyebrows to get their message across. The like to look at the person they are talking to, to make sure that they are listen inning and paying attention to them. Women at often times do not care of the leadership role as long as they are listened to. At the University of Texas at San Antonio, a survey was within the students of the campus between the ages of 1 8 to 25 to see how they communicate differently depending on the people they are with.

The table below shows the findings: Fig. 1 DUST communication difference between ages 18 to 25 Upon doing the survey, it is found that men tend to change the way they communicate with others because of social stereotypes while females do not change as much. After some more research, males communicate different tit other males and like to show aggressiveness and hierarchy to not show weakness even though it is not always the case unlike women who communicate almost the same with everyone as long as they get their point across to the other person. Attitude is a strategy both female and males do but differently.

Carpi's research shows that men interrupt when they want to get their point across to show authority while Women tend to nod their head, wait and listen. When males communicate with each other, they tend to debate and disagree with each other and with not much eye contact while on the other hand , females re inclined to show support as their "motherly instincts" come out. When males and females get in a heated discussion, males are most likely to just storm off without wanting to talk about it to avoid having long talks and get aggressive rapidly while the females show much emotion and want to talk everything out.

Rather than just talk everything out, men would much rather prefer doing some activities instead (Wright p 49). Fig 2. Females Fig. 3 Males The data below are the Wrights finding between males and females of ages 20 to 24. It is safe to with the data that women prefer to talk with friends than o activities while men want to beat around the bush and just take their mind of it. Women like to take their time talking about their issues and men just keep simple. Pond all this research, sex is the root source of differences of how males and females relate and communicate to others. Whether it is to show hierarchy or express their feelings, it is safe to say that both genders ultimately communicate different based on social norms and to get their point across.

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