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Gendered Lives
Chapter 1
The Study of
Communication,
Gender & Culture
I. Communication, Gender,
and Culture as an Area of
Study
• A. Expanded Knowledge of
Gender, Communication, Culture
• 1. Only the last 20 years…
• 2. 110,000
B. The Value of Studying
Communication, Gender, &
Culture
• 1. Learning about communication,
gender, and culture:
• a. Help you understand and critique
gendered patterns of interaction
• b. Enhances insight into own gender
• c. Strengthens effectiveness as a
communicator
II. Gender In a Transitional
Era
• A. On one level
• 1. Think women and men equal
• B. On another level
• 1. May hold traditional views
•It depends on your frame of
reference
• C. Thoughts vs. Actions
III. Differences Between
Women & Men
• A. Are men and women really
that different??
• B. Several variables influence us
such as:
• C. Essentializing
• Presume all members of sex
alike
IV. Relationships among
Gender, Culture, &
Communication
• Gender, culture, communication
interlinked
• Cannot study one without
understanding other two
A. Sex
• 1. Sex = designation based on
biology
• 2. Gender = socially constructed
and expressed
• a. Sex and gender usually go
together
• b. Can be inconsistent
A. Sex
• 3. Male or female based on
external genitalia and internal sex
organs
• a. Genitalia and sex markers
determined by chromosomes
•XX
•XY
A. Sex
• 4. Hormones influence
development
• a. Fetuses with Y bathed in
androgens (Development of
male sex organs)
• b. Fetuses without Y - fewer
androgens (Development of
female sex organs)
A. Sex
• 5. Influence of hormones
continues throughout lifetime
• a. Males more sensitive to
hormonal activity
• 6. Biology influences how we
develop but doesn’t determine
behavior or personality
A. Sex
• 7. Some people are born with
biological characteristics of each
sex
• a. Traditionally called
hermaphrodites
•Today the term intersexed is
preferred
B. Gender
• RECAP:
• Born male or female (sex)
• Learn to act masculine and/or
feminine (gender)
•Gender changes over time
B. Gender
• 1. Gender depends on a society’s
values, and varies from culture to
culture
• In America
•Masculine = strong,
successful, rational,
emotionally controlled
•Feminine = attractive,
nurturing, deferential,
expressive
B. Gender
• 2. Gender is learned
• 3. We do not passively receive
gender
• 4. Gender is not stable
• Gender queer
• Androgynous
• Transgendered
• Transexual
B. Gender
• 5. Relational concept
• Femininity and masculinity make
sense in relation
• Meanings of gender are also
changed by:
•Personal communication
•Role models
•Interactions with friends
• As meanings of one changes – so
do meanings of the other
C. Culture
• 1. Culture = structures,
institutions, practices that reflect
and uphold social order
• Upheld by defining certain
groups, values, expectations, as
good
C. Culture
• 2. Surrounded by communication
that announces social views of
gender
• 3. Global variations
• Mead (1968)
• Hofstede
http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-
dimensions/masculinity/
• 4. Western culture is patriarchal
• Pre and Post Industrial
Revolution
• 5. Ethnic variations
D. Communication
• 1. Communication is dynamic
• Continually changes, evolves
• No beginnings or endings
D. Communication
• 2. Communication is systemic
• Culture has the largest impact
on how we communicate
• 3. All aspects of communication
are interlinked
• Influenced by how we feel
• Time of day, etc. may be
influence
D. Communication
• 4. Communication has two levels:
• a. Content level of meaning
•Literal meaning
• b. Relationship level of meaning
•Tell how to interpret content
and how communicators see
themselves in relationship
D. Communication
• 5. Meanings created through
interaction with symbols
• Humans symbol-using
creatures
• Have to think to figure out
what symbol means
• Symbols can be ambiguous
•More than one meaning