- 20 Mar, 2021
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Gender in Communication
Think Piece 2: Gender in Communication
This assignment is to write a think piece. Think pieces are essays which give you an opportunity to reflect, consider, and think about ideas presented in class and in readings. Think pieces are not designed to be research papers; you should draw from class readings personal experience to develop your interpretation.
In preparation to writing the think piece you are encouraged to discuss your ideas with others. The writing, of course, is done on your own. Think pieces are almost always enriched with your own experience when it is related to the topic you are addressing.
Select ONE question from the following list:
1. Observe male-female interaction in a film, novel, or among your friends and acquaintances. Record instances of assertive, aggressive, and passive behavior by men and women. Doe one sex or the other tend to engage in one type of behavior more than others? What are the consequences of the behavior for the interaction and the relationship?
2. Keep a record of your own assertive, aggressive, and passive behaviors over several days. Record the nature of the topic involved, the context, the person with whom you interacted, and your specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors in the situation. What impact did your behavior—whether assertive, aggressive, or passive—have on the interaction and the relationship?
3. Analyze the self-disclosure behaviors of men and women in a film, novel, or among your friends and acquaintances. What kinds of information are disclosed by whom? To whom is it disclosed? Is the self-disclosure characterized by breadth, depth, or both? What impact do the disclosures have on the other person involved in the interaction and relationship?
4. Analyze your own self-disclosure behaviors to both men and women over a period of several days. What kinds of information do you disclose to whom? Is your self-disclosure characterized by breadth, depth, or both? What impact do your disclosures have on the other person involved in the interaction or relationship?
5. Observe the techniques for communicating power used by men and women in an organization in which you are involved or with which you are familiar. What kinds of strategies are used by which people? Are there differences in strategies used according to sex? Evaluate the success of the strategies used and their impact on work and relationships in the organization.
6. Keep a record of the techniques you habitually use for communicating power in various situations. When do you use which strategies? Does sex of the other person involved in the interaction affect your choice of strategies? Evaluate the success of the strategies you use and their impact on the achievement of your goals in the situation.
7. Observe conflicts between men and women in a film, novel, or among your friends and acquaintances. What kinds of responses to conflict are used? What factors affect the kinds of communication behaviors in which they engage? What are the results of the behaviors? Evaluate their effectiveness.
8. Why haven’t women achieved true equality with men in the workplace, be it political, professional, or educational? Is it just a matter of time? If women do achieve equality, how will it affect their lives? Men’s lives?
9. Reflect on the concept of reverse discrimination. Do you believe that women and/or people of color should receive preferential treatment in applying for jobs? Should organizations be forced to meet specified quotas?
10. Keep a record of conflict situations in which you are involved with members of the opposite sex. (You might want to think back to conflicts you had in the past and include them in your analysis). What is your typical response pattern in such conflict situations? What factors affect the kind of communication behavior in which you engage in these conflict situations? What are the usual results of your behaviors? How effective are your typical conflict-resolution behaviors?
11. Analyze the nature of power in a relationship between a man and a women in a film, novel, or among friends and acquaintances. Who appears to have the most power in the relationship? On what is the power based? How is this power demonstrated through communication behaviors? What is the impact of power and the use of power on the relationship?
12. Compare and contrast the nature of power in relationships with a member of the opposite and same sex. Who appears to have the most power in the relationship? On what is the power based? How is this power demonstrated through communication behaviors? What is the impact of power and the use of power on your relationships?
13. Resolve to stop using sexist language and to make others aware of their use of it. Record and reflect on the difficulties and reactions of friends and family over a period of a few days.
14. When does playful communication (flirting, etc.) become sexual harassment? What would you do if you were the victim of sexual harassment, or a witness to it?
15. Consider how your identity influenced your choice to take this course, as well as how it may affect your perceptions of topics in the book and the course. Have you been privileged or disadvantaged by your race, class, sex, and sexual orientation? How have your privileges and disadvantages affected your opportunities?
16. Interview two people from non-Western cultures. Ask them to explain what it means to be a man (or manly or masculine) and what it means to be a woman (or womanly or feminine) in their cultures. How do their cultures’ definitions of gender compare with those in the United States? Ask them what they find most interesting or surprising about men and women in the U.S.
17. How comfortable are you with current views of masculinity and femininity? Which ones, if any, do you find restrictive? Are you doing anything to change them in society’s views or to resist them in how you personally embody gender?
18. Talk with your grandparents or with other people of their generation. Ask them what it meant to be a woman or a man when they were your age? How do their answers differ from your perception of what it means to be a man or a woman?
19. “The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live” Flora Whittenmore. Consider this quotation though a gendered/sexed perspective. How does the way you perform gender influence the way you live?
20. Examine popular media images in advertising. Discuss the images of women, men, and relationships in them. Are they realistic? Are they healthy? How does this influence you as a consumer? What are your options as a consumer?
21. Think about ways you use social media. Do you use them to inform your gender, to speak out, or for other reasons? How might you engage social media to be part of shaping what gender means?
22. Explore some other area of gendered/sexed communication. Create your own question related to gendered/sexed communication in institutions. Clear it with the instructor first.
This assignment is to write a think piece. Think pieces are essays which give you an opportunity to reflect, consider, and think about ideas presented in class and in readings. Think pieces are not designed to be research papers; you should draw from class readings personal experience to develop your interpretation.
In preparation to writing the think piece you are encouraged to discuss your ideas with others. The writing, of course, is done on your own. Think pieces are almost always enriched with your own experience when it is related to the topic you are addressing.
Select ONE question from the following list:
1. Observe male-female interaction in a film, novel, or among your friends and acquaintances. Record instances of assertive, aggressive, and passive behavior by men and women. Doe one sex or the other tend to engage in one type of behavior more than others? What are the consequences of the behavior for the interaction and the relationship?
2. Keep a record of your own assertive, aggressive, and passive behaviors over several days. Record the nature of the topic involved, the context, the person with whom you interacted, and your specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors in the situation. What impact did your behavior—whether assertive, aggressive, or passive—have on the interaction and the relationship?
3. Analyze the self-disclosure behaviors of men and women in a film, novel, or among your friends and acquaintances. What kinds of information are disclosed by whom? To whom is it disclosed? Is the self-disclosure characterized by breadth, depth, or both? What impact do the disclosures have on the other person involved in the interaction and relationship?
4. Analyze your own self-disclosure behaviors to both men and women over a period of several days. What kinds of information do you disclose to whom? Is your self-disclosure characterized by breadth, depth, or both? What impact do your disclosures have on the other person involved in the interaction or relationship?
5. Observe the techniques for communicating power used by men and women in an organization in which you are involved or with which you are familiar. What kinds of strategies are used by which people? Are there differences in strategies used according to sex? Evaluate the success of the strategies used and their impact on work and relationships in the organization.
6. Keep a record of the techniques you habitually use for communicating power in various situations. When do you use which strategies? Does sex of the other person involved in the interaction affect your choice of strategies? Evaluate the success of the strategies you use and their impact on the achievement of your goals in the situation.
7. Observe conflicts between men and women in a film, novel, or among your friends and acquaintances. What kinds of responses to conflict are used? What factors affect the kinds of communication behaviors in which they engage? What are the results of the behaviors? Evaluate their effectiveness.
8. Why haven’t women achieved true equality with men in the workplace, be it political, professional, or educational? Is it just a matter of time? If women do achieve equality, how will it affect their lives? Men’s lives?
9. Reflect on the concept of reverse discrimination. Do you believe that women and/or people of color should receive preferential treatment in applying for jobs? Should organizations be forced to meet specified quotas?
10. Keep a record of conflict situations in which you are involved with members of the opposite sex. (You might want to think back to conflicts you had in the past and include them in your analysis). What is your typical response pattern in such conflict situations? What factors affect the kind of communication behavior in which you engage in these conflict situations? What are the usual results of your behaviors? How effective are your typical conflict-resolution behaviors?
11. Analyze the nature of power in a relationship between a man and a women in a film, novel, or among friends and acquaintances. Who appears to have the most power in the relationship? On what is the power based? How is this power demonstrated through communication behaviors? What is the impact of power and the use of power on the relationship?
12. Compare and contrast the nature of power in relationships with a member of the opposite and same sex. Who appears to have the most power in the relationship? On what is the power based? How is this power demonstrated through communication behaviors? What is the impact of power and the use of power on your relationships?
13. Resolve to stop using sexist language and to make others aware of their use of it. Record and reflect on the difficulties and reactions of friends and family over a period of a few days.
14. When does playful communication (flirting, etc.) become sexual harassment? What would you do if you were the victim of sexual harassment, or a witness to it?
15. Consider how your identity influenced your choice to take this course, as well as how it may affect your perceptions of topics in the book and the course. Have you been privileged or disadvantaged by your race, class, sex, and sexual orientation? How have your privileges and disadvantages affected your opportunities?
16. Interview two people from non-Western cultures. Ask them to explain what it means to be a man (or manly or masculine) and what it means to be a woman (or womanly or feminine) in their cultures. How do their cultures’ definitions of gender compare with those in the United States? Ask them what they find most interesting or surprising about men and women in the U.S.
17. How comfortable are you with current views of masculinity and femininity? Which ones, if any, do you find restrictive? Are you doing anything to change them in society’s views or to resist them in how you personally embody gender?
18. Talk with your grandparents or with other people of their generation. Ask them what it meant to be a woman or a man when they were your age? How do their answers differ from your perception of what it means to be a man or a woman?
19. “The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live” Flora Whittenmore. Consider this quotation though a gendered/sexed perspective. How does the way you perform gender influence the way you live?
20. Examine popular media images in advertising. Discuss the images of women, men, and relationships in them. Are they realistic? Are they healthy? How does this influence you as a consumer? What are your options as a consumer?
21. Think about ways you use social media. Do you use them to inform your gender, to speak out, or for other reasons? How might you engage social media to be part of shaping what gender means?
22. Explore some other area of gendered/sexed communication. Create your own question related to gendered/sexed communication in institutions. Clear it with the instructor first.