I agree that men and women use language differently. I also think this is because when we were little, adults communicate with us according to our gender. If a girl falls down, their parents would lift her up and calm her down. However, if a boy falls down, their parents would tell him, he is a boy and needs to be strong. Women are taught to communicate to express their feelings. However, men are taught use communication express their masculinity, to be independent, to be strong. For example, in relationship, it is very typical that the girlfriend wants to “talk about feelings” but the boyfriend would think talking about feelings is unnecessary. Men don’t think communication is a big part in the relationship because they believe communicating is a tool for them to be successful in the workplace. Women values the verbal communication in the relationship, however, men values the physical interaction even more.
Well put. I see that you view gender roles the very traditional way which is not bad or anything like that. Usually in any given case it is the male who does not want to be a part of the communication because he will feel that it is not masuline enough and women will feel the opposite. In the communication field, part of the research conducted is on gender roles and recent scholarly work has shown that there are men who do value communicating and women feel that it is not necessary.
ReplyDeleteNot all genders grow up the same either. My current girlfriend was raised like a boy because I guess her parents wanted a son but ended up with a daughter and still pushed things onto her like sports and being tough. The irony of it is that she has a younger brother who was raised like a traditional girl. He plays sports just like his older sister did but he is into more feminine things such as baking cookies and watching, more than his sister is.
My point I am trying to make is, not each individual is raised the same but for the most part as a whole it is still safe to say that to some extent, gender roles between men and women have stayed the same.