In her article, “3 things women say that weaken the power of their words,” Heather Libby discusses how certain communication habits unintentionally reinforce the stereotypes of female weakness and ignorance. These communication habits stem from the unspoken expectation for women to prioritize politeness and nurturing behaviors, often to mitigate conflict with male peers. Unfortunately, these behaviors tend to lead to an undermining of women’s authority, especially in a male-dominated field. Libby challenges feminine verbal habits such as over-apologizing, using self-deprecating language, and seeking constant validation. She suggests that these tendencies can diminish the impact of women’s speech. Overall, the article encourages women to be …show more content…
Most of the time, I try to assert my dominance in conversation to force my male friends to acknowledge my empowering presence. I make jokes, laugh, and eat all in a manner that a man would. However, I cannot help but notice my tendency to twist my wording to soften a blow that would not be softened if a man were to deliver it. I believe the author underlines valid points in her claim that women innately strive to be polite in the presence of others, especially male peers, in order to avoid unnecessary issues and consequences. I feel that due to technology and social media, women are ingrained in the tendency to watch their tone and speech around men. This is especially influenced by generations of media carrying on traditional feminine behavior standards, dating back to before women’s suffrage was enacted. From the moment I skimmed the article, it was evident to me that the text leaned more towards a personal blog style rather than a professional piece of work. For example, the author referenced an advertisement as grounds to show that women apologize
In the article “A Rant About Women” by Clay Shirky he explains how adult males are better at furthering themselves, how females have more pressure about how the world views them. More men are usually the ones lying than women for career purposes. Shirky’s article starts a little sexist to with some tough criticism made towards women entering the job market. The author and I shared similar experiences such as lying to get ahead in our respective lives, as well as differences such as blaming a certain gender for one's wrong doing. and I was fortunate enough to not go through this.
An article entitled “How Boys Become Men,” written by Jon Katz was originally published in January, 1993 in Glamour, a magazine for young women. In this article the author claims that the men are insensitive because they have had to learn to hide their feelings during the stage of growing up with other boys. The author defines his claim by analyzing the process of boys growing into a man with the focus on the lesson boys learn that effect their adult lives. The author describes these lessons with the code of conduct imposed upon boys, for example “never admitting fear”. He explains these codes with several instances and by including his own example to convey to the reader the challenges of growing into a man. Through the various stories of young boys, he intends to explain why men seem so insensitive to help women understand why men sometimes seem “remote” or “uncommunicative”.
Jarratt, Susan C. “Rhetoric and Feminism: Together Again.” College English. Vol. 62. 3rd ed. National Council of Teachers of English, 2000. 390-393. Jstor. Web.
She discusses sexist language; her focus is on words that people consider okay such as male-generics:
Society stereotypes women in almost all social situations, including in the family, media, and the workplace. Women are often regarded as being in, “Second place” behind men. However, these stereotypes are not typically met by the modern day woman....
Tannen, Deborah. “His Politeness Is Her Powerlessness.” You Just Don’t Understand: women and men in conversation. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. 203-5. Print.
Women in today’s society seem to be having a very difficult time expressing themselves without dealing with lots of criticism. Common values are standing in the way of women’s drive toward molding themselves into whatever they desire. Our culture has made standards about how should women look, act, and conduct themselves that greatly limits what they can do, and still gain respect. Martin S. Fiebert and Mark W. Meyer state that, “[there are] more negative [gender] stereotypes for men than for women.” This idea doesn’t seem to have a great amount of validity in our present society. Society set certain standards that men are supposed to live up to such as strength and confidence, which are more behavioral characteristics. Women seem to be more trapped than men by societies standards because they are supposed to live up to standards dealing with beauty and size, which are more physical characteristics These specific guidelines have been set by society that are sometimes unattainable for a majority of women. The women that follow the specific criteria are greatly respected, and the ones that try and be innovative usually are criticized if not disliked.
Imagine living in a time when your only role is to get married, bear children, and take care of your house and husband. Adrienne Rich proposes an ulterior idea in her essay “Taking Women Students Seriously” Women should not only question the gender standards but discuss the gender norms that society has created; by discussion and attention to the matter we can eliminate it all together. Women are not represented in school curriculums enough and have a large misrepresentation in society. Rich draws attention to: What women have working against them in education, how women are perceived in the world by the media and advertising, and the gender roles that society pressures young children to contort to. By striking up a discussion
Due to the high performance in education, workplace and family, society expects women more than before, such as: A wife must cook “good” food for her family, give “more” respect to her husband and nurture her children “properly”. A female employee is often perceived as a careful, conservative, considerate and friendly character of others. Regardless to any nature of individual and the group, an outstanding woman constantly involves conflicts because of her need and desire; now, need evolves to basic luxury need and the desire mutates to “I must have it”. Not only men, women fight for a better home, salary, job promotion, status and many more too. In the article, Cunningham speculates women’s smile as their burdens more than a weapon: “ Woe to the waitress, the personal assistant or receptionist, the flight attendant, or any other woman in the line of public service whose smile is not offered up to the boss or client as proof that there are no storm clouds-no kids to support, no sleep that’s been missed rolling into the sunny workplace landscape” (372). On that occasion, Cunningham sounds like a victim. In comparing to their social image, women have a stronger mentality and perseverance in the reality. The emotional appeal (ethos) is wonderful, it connects audience and writer instantly, but there is a risk; some rational readers might suspect writer is an implicit bias because her article laden with too much
...rms of power and source of pride in society. Emphasizing sexism in language and rising the concern with words can be a vital feminist strategy to provoke social change (Weatherall, 2002). Language can produce a false imagination and represents women and men unequally, as if members of one sex were somehow less wholly human, less complex, and has fewer rights than members of the other sex. Sexist language also characterizes serotypes of women and men, sometimes to the disadvantage of both, but more often to the disadvantage of women. (Wareing & Thomas, 2012). As a result, it is necessary that individuals have the right to define, and to redefine as their lives unfold, their own gender identities, without regard to genitalia, assigned birth sex, or initial gender role. Language about women is not a nonaligned or an insignificant issue but profoundly a political one.
Majority of the time, group thinking has falsely been assumed to be similar to group cohesiveness. Cohesiveness defines the ability of the group to work together through challenges, providing alternative avenues with which to progress. According to Holman and Devane (2009) therefore the goal of group cohesiveness is not simply to work together but rather to reach the intended goals of the group. Conflict though frowned upon is also considered to be part of progress. Individuals are encouraged to provide alternative plans and ideas which are directed at ensuring the group meets its goals in the right time frame and with the use of available resources. Therefore, group cohesiveness
Tannen, D. (2007). You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York, NY: Harper.
For example, according to writers Daniel N. Maltz and Ruth A Borker of A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Communication, when people of the opposite gender have a conversation men are more “likely to interrupt the speech of their conversation partner”(170). While females are more likely to, “adopt a strategy of “silent protest” after they have been interrupted” (170). According to Maltz and Borker, men’s dominance in conversation goes along with their dominance in society. In society men, typically, are seen as the more dominant gender over women (170). This also applies to inside the classroom as more men tend to speak out and do more of the talking than women. Most of the time teachers view interaction and participation as a very important part of their student’s ability to succee...
A widely accepted myth that we all might hear everyday or might even think we experience is women do all the talking. In different languages around the world, there are many different sayings that say women talk too much. Myth 6, “Women Talk Too Much”, by Janet Holmes addresses the question if women are the ones who take up all the talking time or is this just a myth? I will address the main ideas and my reaction about Myth 6.
Throughout these silent scenarios of sexism in the classroom, more and more women today are being robbed of "knowledge and self-esteem." ( Sadker 234) These young women slowly lose their confidence to respond to the professors during class discussions. Only because they feel that they are not as intelligent as their male counterparts. Why must a woman answer a question with a phrase like: "This probably isn't right but" and "I'm not sure if this is what you want, but"? (Sadker 235)