Gender and Communication

Earnings (Newsweek 1997)

n Without a high school diploma

n Men 23,338

n Women 16,319

n With a high school diploma

n Men 32,708

n Women 21,961

n With a college degree

n Men 61,717

n Women37,924

Biological Differences That Make a Difference

n Women are more likely than men to experience pain. They are also more able to cope with pain and tend to have higher tolerances for pain than men.

n Women are more likely than men to suffer from migraine headaches and lupus; men are more likely to suffer from cluster headaches.

n Women’s livers metabolize drugs, including alcohol, more slowly than do men’s.

n Women’s digestive systems work more slowly than do men’s.

n Women develop more cases of melanoma, but men are more likely to die from this skin cancer.

n Both men and women develop diabetes, yet women of all ages who have diabetes are 2 to 3 times more likely to develop heart disease.

n Women are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.

n Women are more likely to attempt suicide, but men are more likely to die from suicide (and more violent forms).

n Men are more subject to violent behavior and abuse of drugs, including alcohol.

Women’s Body Ideals and Realities

n 1950’s – average Miss America weighs 134 lbs…early 1980’s 117…today less.

n Models and Weight

n 1962, leading fashion models weighed 8% less than the average woman in the US.

n 1992, models weighed 25% less than the average woman.

n That’s a 300% increase in the difference!

Average?

n 1997 – average woman was

n 5’4”

n 130 lbs

n Wore size 12 or larger

n Alley wears size 0.

Girls and weight

n 1997 University of Florida reports:

n 42% of 6 and 7 year old girls wanted to lose weight

n Nearly ½ of girls surveyed were dieting by age 9

n On any given day, 25% of girls and women in the US are dieting.

n High school females: 75% report being preoccupied with weight.

n 1 in 4 college women has an eating disorder and without treatment, up to 20% will die from it.

Biological Theory

n Most males have an XY chromosome structure.

n Inherit X from mom and Y from dad

n Implies males’ intelligence is inherited from mothers.

n Most female have XX chromosome structure

n Inherit X from each parent.

n Implies females intelligence is inherited from either or both parents.

Biological Theory and Hormones

n Estrogen

n causes women’s bodies to produce “good” cholesterol and make blood vessels more flexible than men’s.

n Strengthen the immunological system (women are less susceptible to immune disorders)

n Produces greater fat deposits around breasts and hips – YEA!

n Could impede liver function (women process alcohol more slowly).

And testosterone might…

n Indicate male hormonal cycles

n Be linked to jockeying for power, attempts to influence or dominate others and expressions of anger.

n Fluctuations affect men’s cognitive cycles.

n Androgen is linked to aggressiveness and even an instinct for killing animals.

Brain Structure

n Men – left lobe seems more developed

n Controls: linear, conventionally logical thought, sequential information, abstract and analytic thinking

n Men tend to use only left side for language tasks.

n Women – right lobe seems more developed.

n Controls: great aptitude for imaginative and artistic activity; holistic, intuitive thinking; and some visual and spatial tasks.

n However: women seem to use both sides of their brains to do language tasks

n Women’s brains seem to work less hard than men’s to decode emotions.

Women’s Speech

n Communication is a primary way to establish and maintain relationships with others.

n To share about self and learn about others.

n Talk is the essence of relationships.

n Tends to display identifiable features that foster connections, support, closeness and understanding.

Women’s Speech Stresses Relational Level of Meaning…

n Express equality – I’ve felt the same way.

n Show support.

n Express sympathy and support

n More probes and tell me more.

n Conversational maintenance work (invites others to talk)

n Inclusivity high responsiveness.

n Personal concrete style.

n Tentativeness

n I kinda…qualifiers, hedges, tag questions.

Men’s Speech Stresses Content Level Meaning

n Tends to regard talk as a way to exert control, preserve indepenence, entertain and enhance status.

n Conversation is an arena for proving oneself and negotiating prestige.

2 Major Tendencies

n Men often use talk to establish and defend their personal status and ideas by asserting themselves, telling jokes and stories or by challenging others.

n When they wish to comfort or support another, they typically do so by respecting the other’s independence and avoiding communication they regard as condescending.

Men’s Talk

n Men tend to speak to exhibit knowledge, skill or ability

n Men tend to avoid disclosing personal information.

n Men’s talk includes instrumentality – the use of speech to accomplish instrumental objectives.

n Problem-solving efforts used.

n Conversational Command

n In most contexts, men talk more than women and for longer periods.

n Men express themselves in fairly direct and assertive ways.

n Men communicate more abstractly (in general terms)

n Tends not to be highly responsive.

Interruptions…

n Men interrupt more than women.

n Men tend to interrupt for challenging another or wrestling for taking the talk stage away.

n Women tend to interrupt to show support, encourage elaboration and affirm others.

Misinterpretations

n Showing support

n “george respect’s martha’s independence and does not push her to talk.

n Martha is looking for more “listening noises!”

Troubles Talk

n Martha tells George about being down because she did not get the job she wanted.

n George says, “You shouldn't feel bad, lot of people don’t get jobs they want.”

n She sees this as dismissive!

n Flip the story, George loses his job chance.

n Martha says “are you ok, What’ bothering you>”

n George might feel she is imposing and trying to get him to show a vulnerability he prefers to keep to himself. She probes further. – George withdraws further! (demand – withdraw punctuation pattern).

n If she says, I know how you feel…he might see this as changing the talk to “about her.”

The Point of the Story

n Men tend to tell a story in a linear fashion with bare details.

n Women see this as bare and leaving out interesing details. – “Why don’t you tell me more about how you felt or what was really going on?”

n Women tend to tell a story with more details and less linear storytelling.

n Men see this as wandering and unfocused – “Why don’t you get to the poing?”

n Women see this as a way to fully involve her partner!

Relationship Talk

n Can we talk about us?

n Men are inclined to think a relationship is going fine as long as there is no need to talk about it.

n Talk about it when there is a problem to discuss.

n Men tend to use talk to achieve a goal or fix a problem.

n Men tend to build relationship by doing…

n Women generally think a relationship is working well as long as they can talk about it with partners.

n Talk builds a relationship.

n Talk is an activity for women.

Nonverbal Issues

n Women encode and decode nonverbal communication more correctly than men.

n Men use more space than women.

n Parents touch boys less than girls.

n When they do touch boys, it is less gently.

n Women smile more – even when not happy!