http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11939909/sexist-words-school-playground-report.html
This article talks about tackling sexism in the playground, training younger generations to not use sexist words such as 'Don't be a sissy... Be a man'. Some schools are taking this as seriously as tackling racism, which seems excessive, to me. But that could just be because I'm not on the receiving end of this sexism.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/31/kit-harington-film-industry-guilty-sexism-towards-men-game-of-thrones
Speaking of the receiving end of sexism, I didn't think men received much grief when it came to their gender. As some argue, Harrington is subject to the feeling of being 'objectified' which isn't exclusive to one gender. The article states that Kit Harrington was chosen by film by his good looks rather than something lesser.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/dec/13/women-children
Pink v Blue, are children born with gender preferences? This article talks about media and marketing, and suggests they have an influence on children's toy choices. The store Hamleys was targeted for this, for having dedicated sections for blue boys and pink girls. A study I remember reading stated that when offered both toy trucks and dolls, male chimpanzees chose to 'play' with the trucks and try and figure out how it worked, while younger females chose Dolls and took them up trees, probably for safety.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/22/unilever-sexist-stereotypes-ads-sunsilk-dove-lynx
This article talks about the sexism in advertising and marketing, specifically targeting Unilever. In advertising women are shown to have domestic jobs and are working towards their beach body, while men are authoritative and more amusing. Unilever vows to drop these sexist stereotypes and show more intelligent women in their adverts.
The question:
Data: Use any data that is provided with the question
Define: Dominance, Difference, Deficit, and their related creators
Detail: Put the models in context and go into detail
Decide: Add a conclusion, including the most prevalent point
Evaluate the idea that spoken interactions between men and women are characterised by miscommunication
Miscommunication is a failure to communicate in such a way that the recipient misunderstands the intended message, The difference between the language use of men and women has in the past 50 years been targeted by theorists such as Deborah Tannen, Robin Lakoff, and Pamela Fishman to conclude whether the differences in gender and miscommunication show any correlation.The most well-known post on the differences between men and women was the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus in 1992 by American author John Gray, which suggested the differences between men and women were so great, they might as well have been from different planets entirely. It is commonly associated with the difference theory, which was coined by Pamela Fishman (1980).
The difference theory suggests men and women speak differently because they are different, she specifically studied how women use 'hedges' and 'tag questions', concluding that women use three times more tag questions when compared to men, not due to uncertainty, but rather in order to keep the conversation going; using hedges for the same purpose. A more recent study has shown women speak differently to men in the boardroom, it showed "women were four times more likely than men to be self-deprecating, use humour and speak indirectly or apologetically" - this article is linked in the references.
The more obvious of the differences between men and women comes from their childhood, 'Pink v blue'. It is stereotypical of boys to like blue toy trucks while girls to prefer pink dolls. The cause of this difference in preference has been applied to; parent's actions, society, and advertising - but there is yet to be a clear conclusion. Though there have been several studies, examples of which are referenced later.
Another prominent theory is the Dominance theory, which was first published in 1975 by Zimmerman and West, being further developed in 1992 by Deborah Tannen. The Dominance theory suggests that men dominate a conversation, always being the primary speaker.
Zimmerman and West studied interruptions, overlaps, and silences between mixed and same sex conversations. It was discovered in the results that 100% of overlaps and 98% of interruptions during mixed sex conversations were men's, and that silences in mixed sex conversations were almost two seconds longer than in same sex conversations. It was also discovered that Women were more likely to interrupt other women than to interrupt men,
Tannen believes that interruptions can be used in a supportive manner by women (co-operative overlap), and similarly believes the longer silences were due to women being the supportive listener in conversation, which can be essential to group bonding. Tannen also discovered that women use more cloaked imperatives than men do ('Let's') and that men are more likely to use imperatives when conversing with their sons, rather than daughters.
The final major theory is the deficit theory, which was first published by Robin Lakoff in 1975. The deficit theory suggests that women's speech is deficient to men's, meaning it is weaker and softer. Lakoff studied; women's vocabulary, weak expletives, and intensifiers. Lakoff, like Fishman, studied the use of hedges and tag questions, but came to a different conclusion suggesting women used these linguistic features to punctuate speech with uncertainty and to not convey direct opinions.
Lakoff also concluded women's use of intensifiers was also to avoid committing to an opinion, or conveying a strong statement, this can create the appearance of uncertainty, when really they are certain. The use of weak expletives can also be argued to make a women's speech deficient, and can convey the wrong sense of urgency to a man.
Spoken interactions between mixed-sex conversations have been argued, and have been proven to be different than interactions with the same-sex. So I believe spoken interactions between men and women are characterised by miscommunication, although the language use of men and women will remain a common place for debate in the future.
References:
Women speak differently to men in the boardroom
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/19/women-language-boardroom-study
'Pink v blue' - are children born with gender preferences?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/dec/13/women-children
The 'sexist' words your children are no longer allowed to use at school
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11939909/sexist-words-school-playground-report.html
