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The Study of Communication, Gender & Culture Chapter 1 Research on Gender, Comm., & Culture Classes widespread only last 20 years First handbook of research on gender and communication – 2006 ◦ Learn more at: http://www.sagepub.com/booksProd RelatedProducts.nav?prodId=Book22 6595&currTree=Subjects&level1=K0 0&level2=K60 Research on Gender, Comm., & Culture Research on gender from range of fields ◦ Communication ◦ Anthropology ◦ History ◦ Philosophy ◦ Psychology ◦ Sociology Studying Communication, Gender, & Culture Learning about communication, gender, and culture: ◦ Enhances appreciation of ways culture influences views Research on Gender, Comm., & Culture Quantitative research methods ◦ Data that can be quantified and analyzed Descriptive statistics Surveys Experiments Research on Gender, Comm., & Culture Qualitative research methods/ interpretive methods ◦ Understand nature of meaning or experiences Textual analysis Ethnography Research on Gender, Comm., & Culture Critical research methods ◦ Identify and challenge inequities and problems Learn About Comm., Gender, & Culture Learning about communication, gender, and culture: ◦ Enhances appreciation of cultural complexities ◦ Enhances insight to your own gender Learn About Comm., Gender, & Culture Learning about communication, gender, and culture: ◦ Strengthens effectiveness as communicator Gender in a Transitional Era Probably don’t prescribe to grandparents’ ideals Likely are confused about gender issues Gender in a Transitional Era On one level ◦ Think women and men equal On another level ◦ May hold traditional values Live in a transitional era Differences between Women & Men Difficult to find language to discuss patterns of communication ◦ Women and men troublesome Imply all can be grouped together Differences between Women & Men Essentializing ◦ Tendency to reduce to characteristics assume are essential in every member of category ◦ Presume all members of sex alike Differences between Women & Men Essentializing ◦ Obscures range of individual characteristics ◦ Book’s generalizations do not imply essentializing Gender, Culture, & Communication Sex, gender, sexual orientation, culture, communication interlinked ◦ Cannot study one without understanding others Sex Sex = designation based on biology Gender = socially constructed and expressed ◦ Sex and gender usually go together ◦ Can be inconsistent Sex Male or female based on external genitalia and internal sex organs Genitalia and sex markers determined by chromosomes Sex Y chromosome determines how fetus develops ◦ Females usually have XX ◦ Males usually have XY Sex Occasional variation ◦ XO ◦ XXX, XXY, XYY ◦ XY and XX Sex All have cells with at least one X ◦ Males typically have one X More vulnerable to X-linked recessive conditions Sex Some born with biological characteristics of each sex ◦ Traditionally called hermaphrodites ◦ Today intersexed preferred Learn more at: http://www.itpeople.org/ Sex Hormones influence development ◦ Fetuses with Y bathed in androgens Development of male sex organs ◦ Fetuses without Y - fewer androgens Development of female sex organs Sex Female fetus may be exposed to excessive progesterone ◦ May not develop female genitalia Male fetus may be deprived of progesterone ◦ Male genitalia may not develop Sex Influence of hormones continues throughout lifetime ◦ Males more sensitive to hormonal activity Biology influences how develop but doesn’t determine behavior or personality Gender Gender ◦ Neither innate nor necessarily stable ◦ Defined by society ◦ Expressed by individuals as they interact with others and media Gender Gender changes over time Born male or female (sex) Learn to act masculine and/or feminine (gender) Gender Gender identity: ◦ Person’s own identification as male or female Gender Gender depends on society’s values, ◦ In America Masculine = strong, successful, rational, emotionally controlled Feminine = attractive, nurturing, deferential, expressive Gender From infancy, encouraged to learn how to embody gender that society prescribes Gender Gender grows out of cultural ideas that stipulate social meaning and expectations Society’s views permeate public and private life ◦ See as normal, natural, right Gender Not passive recipients Make choices to accept, modify, or reject ◦ Views challenged by people who define themselves as trans or gender queer Gender Meanings of gender also changed by: ◦ Personal communication ◦ Role models ◦ Interactions with friends Reciprocal relationship between communication and cultural views Gender Uphold or remake meanings of masculinity or femininity ◦ 1970s – androgyny coined Androgynous individuals embody qualities considered both feminine and masculine Gender Meanings of gender can vary across cultures: ◦ New Guinea – three genders ◦ Arapesh – all feminine ◦ Mundugumor – all aggressive ◦ Tchambuli – gender reversal Gender Body ideals for women socially constructed ◦ Current Western culture values thinness Gender • 1950s – fuller-figures preferred • See photos of Marilyn Monroe at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma rilyn_Monroe • Some cultures regard heavier women as beautiful Gender Some cultures view person’s gender as changeable Some Native American groups – more than two genders ◦ These individuals esteemed Gender In U.S., gender varies across racial-ethnic groups ◦ African American women more assertive ◦ African American men more communal Gender Social meaning of gender varies over time ◦ Prior to Industrial Revolution – family and work intertwined ◦ Industrial Revolution – division into spheres of work and home Femininity and masculinity redefined Gender Meaning changes over time ◦ Social context changes and affects sense of identity Relational concept ◦ Femininity and masculinity make sense in relation As meanings of one changes – so do meanings of other Beyond Sex & Gender Can also define self in terms of: ◦ Sexual orientation ◦ Transgendered ◦ Transsexual Society assumes connections between these categories Beyond Sex & Gender Sexual orientation ◦ Preference for romantic and sexual partners Heterosexual Gay Lesbian Bisexual Beyond Sex & Gender Other cultures’ views of sexual orientation challenge U.S. views ◦ Sambia in Melanesia ◦ Ancient Greece ◦ Victorian society Beyond Sex & Gender Changing views of gender and sex ◦ Intersexed individuals Biological characteristics of male and female Beyond Sex & Gender ◦ Transgendered individuals Biological sex inconsistent with identity Often dress and adopt behaviors of gender with which identify Beyond Sex & Gender See the trailer from the movie Boys Don’t Cry (R-rated): ◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=aOarssJWHhI Beyond Sex & Gender Transsexual individuals ◦ Surgery and/or hormonal treatments Posttransition males to females Posttransition females to males Beyond Sex & Gender MTF – Deidre McCloskey FTM – Thomas Beatie ◦ Gave birth to a child Beyond Sex & Gender Cross-dressers/transvestites ◦ Enjoy wearing clothing of other sex ◦ Varying motivations ◦ Majority biological, heterosexual males, attracted to women Beyond Sex & Gender Transgendered, transsexed, and intersexed people challenge dualities Culture Culture = structures, institutions, practices that reflect and uphold social order Upheld by defining certain groups, values, expectations, as good Culture Surrounded by communication that announces social views of gender ◦ Women give up name in marriage ◦ Judicial system Western culture is patriarchal Culture Messages that reinforce culture views pervade lives ◦ Seldom pause to reflect ◦ Take for granted ◦ Don’t question Learning to reflect empowers ◦ Increases freedom to choose Communication Communication is dynamic ◦ Continually changes, evolves Process ◦ No beginnings or endings Communication is Systemic More than context affects meaning All aspects of communication are interlinked Influenced by how we feel Time of day, etc. may influence Communication is Systemic Largest system affecting communication is culture Societies’ views of men and women change over time Systems interact – each part affects all others Communication is Systemic Communication has two levels: ◦ Content level of meaning Literal meaning ◦ Relationship level of meaning Tell how to interpret content and how communicators see themselves in relationship 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 Meanings Created through Interaction with Symbols Significance of communication not in words themselves Communicating increases meanings Meanings Created through Interaction with Symbols Verbal and nonverbal behaviors not neutral Meaning arises from interpretation Meanings Created through Interaction with Symbols Differences in interpretation are sources of misunderstanding Can become more effective: ◦ Ask for clarification ◦ Check to see how others are interpreting us
