Gender Differences In Social Work

Introduction

The Center building of Lane Community College holds a threshold of student life. With a plethora of seating areas, food options, and caffeine access there’s no surprise that this building serves as the metaphorical coral reef of campus. Students enter as singles and pairs, filling the rooms with a flurry of nonverbal communication. A student bumps shoulders playfully with their friend and the rest of the group giggles in acknowledgement, while a pair of boys share an uncomfortable glance when one accidentally brushes the others knee with his fingers.

Does the amount of touch differ between pairs of men and mem as opposed to women and women? Since women are “nurturers” then are they more likely to touch one another? Do these

“The comparison of touching among the sexes when all other status variables are equal is particularly striking. It shows that all else equal, men touch women at an even greater rate ; when other things are unequal, as for instance when women have other status advantages in the absence of the sex one, there is more chance of women initiating touch.” (Henley 2013). Unless women are of visible, significant power they feel no need to touch others.

Procedure

I stationed myself in various places in the Lane Community College Center building to observe students. The two places I selected were: the first level cafeteria area (on the far side next to the Titan Store), the other being the second floor seating areas (the tables next to Blenders). I sat there for four hour intervals and tallied the amount students of the same gender touched each other.

All in all, I observed about 20 pairs of students in my eight hours of research. I specifically observed 10 pairs of (assumed) male students and (assumed) female students. I wanted to observe the exact amount of male and female pairs so my data wasn’t skewed in favoring a gender. I also wrote down examples of touching they did.

The number of male students who touched each other (dark blue bar) tallied to fifty-seven. The number of female students who touched each other (light blue bar) tallied to fifty-six.

Boys touched each other in a more subtle nature than girls did. Boys would pick things off of the person they were interacting with, poke the other for attention, etc. Most of their intention was grooming or being humorous by lightly pushing or hitting the other.

Girls had a lot more body contact that the boys did. There was more cuddling, closer proximity, etc. The intentions of touch for this group were leaning towards soothing and comfort rather than casual touch.

There didn’t seem to be ant battle of power between the subjects during observation.

The figures suggest there is no significance between which pairs of the same sex touch more.

Conclusion

Out of the twenty groups I observed (ten male groups and ten female groups) the groups touch each other 57 (male group) and 56 (female group) times. There is no significant difference.

Recommendations

Videotaping the interaction between pairs would yield a more thorough analysis. Also, specifying if the pairs were romantic partners or friends would eliminate