Communicating Gender Exam 1

Space and Place

space is a practiced place; places are very fixed, but spaces are negotiated places without fixed meanings o ex: bathrooms as a communicative space: binary leaves out marginalized groups like disabled and trans* o Identities and spaces inform one another: depending on the environment, people take on different roles.

Identity

refers to how people see themselves as individuals and as members of groups, AND how others see them as individuals and as members of groups

Shame and Stigma

stigma is an impression we give to a group; shame is how we internalize that stigma as an individual o Bathrooms as a political issue: shame doesn't have to be paralyzing→ didn't feel comfortable in the public space o There was an uneasiness about working together to fight the public bathroom space: disabled and trans*: how is this going to hurt the stance and reputability of one or both groups??

Intersectionality

the idea that identity is multiplicative rather than additive (raceXsexXgenderXethnictity = 1 person) (instead of additive: race+sex+gender+ethnicity =1 person)

Essentialism

the presumption that all members of a group are alike because they have one quality in common, such as when one assumes that all black women communicate the same, all men communicate the same, or all LGBTQ communicate the same

Rhetoric

the use of symbolic action by human beings to share ideas, enabling them to work together to make decisions about matters of common concern and to construct social reality.

cognitive development theory

this theory seeks to explain human behavior by understanding the development of identity as a process that goes through stages; gender identity development is a mental process • Children will mimic social norms of gender in an attempt to and desire of self-development and competency • Children FIRST adopt a gender identity, and then perform behaviors in line with that identity

Hidden Curriculum

unquestioned norms, values and beliefs as a byproduct of education that people often fail to question o Ex: we are taught the history narrative as a series of battles in which men played all of the roles o Native Americans as savages; not a lot of focus on their contributions and POV on struggle o Some majors are based on skills learning (mathematics) but some, like communication, serves to reinforce and challenge hidden curriculum: we challenge rhetoric every day o Have to be good citizen of the world to communicate effectively

Relationship Work

**conversation is central; take continuous efforts by both parties o Conversations enable people to create, negotiate, maintain, and/or change their interpersonal connections with others

Critical Research Criteria

A critical ethnographic approach: criterion 1: use an intersectional gender analysis / criterion 2: do not impose gender on people / criterion 3: conduct research in context / criterion 4: recognize the complex strategic nature of conversation SEE CHART

White fragility

Idea of white fragility is problematic: white people live in a social environment that protects and privileges them from race-based stress. This builds white expectations for racial comfort o white fragility: a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves; reinforces the racial hierarchy o EX: Black Lives Matter and opposition that says, but EVERYONE matters (check your privilege)

Trans/Transgender

a contested umbrella term used to describe individuals whose gender expression and behavior do not match the usual expectations associated with the male-female binary system

Patriarchy

a hierarchical system that exercises hegemonic control wherein men are privileged over women, and some men are privileged over men, and in which even some of those who are subordinate and the hierarchy accept it because such an ordering appears to make sense

Intersex

a person who has ambiguous sex features at birth, meaning the person has both female and male sex characteristics (David Reimer)

microaggressions

a small act of non-physical aggression based on bias and stereotypes, usually against someone racially or ethnically different than the perpetrator o use negative assumptions we make about people that limit their humanity and value o not always perceived as a microaggression right away, sometimes the mal-intention shows up later o intentions do not matter (could be well intended and still be an unintentional devaluing of someone o we need to cure them my owning up to them and being self-reflecting

Parody

all performance is parody; everything in gender is a copy of a copy (there is never an 'original' to begin with)

Ethnocentrism

arrogant perception that judges the rest of the world/worldviews based on one's own culture as the norm; norms of western culture should be imposed on other cultures

Feminine Style

based upon histories of certain bodies speaking: men can still communicate feminine style and vice versa o 1. Rapport talk: talk that focuses on building relationship, connecting collaboratively with the other person, and showing empathy o For feminine people, TALK is the essence of relationships: maintains and negotiates relationships o 2. Indirect Communication: includes hedges ("I'm sort of thinking.."); qualifiers ("Well I may be wrong, but..."); tag questions (I think we should do this, don't you?); and indirect requests (there is a whole in my glove -rather than- I need a new glove) o Perceived as more polite because it softens the claims o 3. Feminine storytelling: said to be more collaborative: one person's story becomes the group's story or an invitation for others in the group to share their stories

agency

comes from the proliferation of the performativity; we act out 'I' in the construct of discourse; individual agency to perform gender; action • Definition: the ability to act or the degree to which people can control their experience or identities in a given situation through creative communication strategies and/or the manipulation of contextual circumstances. • Societal norms are both a constraint and a source for the practice of agency • Agency is always tied to gender • Even the oppressed can make changes and gain some control over their own destiny • Ex: Slut Walks: agency v. objectification: arguably took away their agency and turned them into objects

Drama and its intervening into understanding of teen social relations

definition: performative in that participants are aware that they are in front of others, and often strategically act to appeal to their peers; social and interpersonal, about other people and relationships, and intrinsically involves conflict involves an active, engaged audience. • Involves 4 attributes: o Conflict o Excessive emotionality o Excessive time and attention o Practices that overlap with bullying, gossip, and aggression Teens define drama differently depending on their social status and friend group norms Participatory and bidirectional, not unidirectional like bullying which identifies an 'other': drama often occurs within friend groups • The label 'drama' serves as an empowerment strategy for teens who can dismiss hurtful jokes and comments as 'drama'; allows them to disengage from adult narratives about bullying and relational aggression and engage in their own narrative that protects them from the serious harm that can come from this drama. • Drama is a spectrum from joking to serious psychological damage • DRAMA IS GENDERED→ girl thing? Or do boys do it too?

continuum

gender continuum is NOT a binary but a point on a continuum between the two; violence continuum: a tool to conceptualize the relationships between coercive gendered norms and violence

Doing rather than Being

gender is performative: constituting the identity it is purported to be • Gender is always doing, though not by a doing subject: "there is no being behind the doing, effecting, becoming: the doer is merely a fiction added to the deed deed is everything • There is no gender identity behind the expression of a gender; that identity is performatively constituted by the very expressions that are said to be its results • You are only what you are performatively reproducing • Ex: Simone de Beauvoir: "one is not born a woman, but, rather, becomes one" : we can believe in the idea that 'you are woman' BUT this can create an essentialism that says you are and always will be a certain way, which is problematic: robs you of your agency o When we say we are a consequence of our gender, it prevents us from being able to see gender as something we produce in our every day life: in order to be a woman, it is about the accumulation and negotiation of a certain identity over time; we must negotiate the categories of woman

Bodily Communication

gendered bodily communication is a primary way in which cultural expectations for binary and inequitable gender/sex identities are maintained, challenged, and changed • Calls attention to the body politics (a cultural system that results in gendered/sexed bodies AND requires particular groups to dominate over other bodies), the disciplining of the body (multiple ways in which people and cultures consciously and unconsciously maintain rigid norms of binary, heteronormative gender performance. Ex: the discipline of attractiveness), and the body as a locus of agency • Bodily NOT nonverbal • Move from thinking of the individual to contextualizing bodies in cultures: why are their certain cultures that encourage/discipline certain behaviors over others? • How these bodies come to mean something within a larger, cultural context

Strategic Essentialism

group members themselves identify something as an essentialist characteristic: women are ____ • 2 important characteristics: o essential attributes of the group are defined by the group members themselves o recognition by the group that the engagement in essentialism is an artificial construct • An attempt to reclaim agency by acknowledging they are part of a group and trying to control what it means to be a part of that group • while they are eomploying this characteristic, they understand and realize that it is just a construct being employed.

Embodied Space

holistic ways in which people experience their bodies in physical spaces, often in relation to others • Sometimes referred to as proxemics: analysis of the invisible area around a person that is considered her or his private territory. • Size of personal space in which a personal feels comfortable varies across culture, situation, status, and type of relationship • Moving towards establishes a sense of desiring intimacy; moving away communicates a desire to protect one's privacy • Depends on power and status, especially in US • Size of space is also GENDERED (men sprawl out, girls cross their legs)

Biological Determinism

idea that biology (sex) determines gender differences; this means that inequalities are natural, and hence, cannot be changed by social action • Gender is innate • Gender is determined by sex • Ex: gender diversity and intersex animals happening outside of human realm which refutes the traditional biological argument that: because animals are either male or female strictly, and because we are animals, we also fit into this binary • Public defaults to science and trusts it: this theory is often a blend if science we believe and the social constructs we believe contribute • Just because a difference is biological (in genitalia, in brain function, etc.) does Not mean it's hard wired

Identity Work

individuals do identity work through conversation by presenting to themselves and to others who they are at a given time. o Negotiating that identity with their conversational partner o Ex: when a student asks a professor for an extension, the student might do some work that constructs an identity as an earnest and hardworking student, making clear the extension is an exception.

Heteronormativity

legal, cultural, organizational, and interpersonal practices that reinforce unquestioned assumptions about gender/sex including: o presumption that there are only 2 sexes o that it is normal and/or natural for people of opposite sexes to be attracted to one another o that these opposite attractions may be publically displayed and celebrated o marriage and the family are appropriately organized around different-sex pairings o same-sex couples are a variation on/deviation from/alternative to the heterosexual couple

Cis/cisgender

meaning one's sex and gender identity match predominant cultural expectations (female=highly feminine and attracted to men; male = highly masculine and attracted to women)

Masculine Style

o 1. Report talk: talk that focuses on instrumentality or task orientation, asserting oneself, and competitiveness: use talk as a tool to accomplish a goal o 2. Masculine talk is direct and assertive: fits well with a speaker who is expected to be task oriented rather than relationally oriented o 3. Masculine storytelling is about status: prefer to tell stories in ways that helped enhance their status and masculinity

Objectification

objects for pleasure, not people with agency; reduced to body parts • Definition: occurs when people are viewed as objects solely for the pleasure of the viewer, rather than as agents capable of action • Self-objectification: when people internalize the objectifier's view of their body and participate in their own objectification

Objective worldview

one of 2 main types of worldviews: scientific worldview that sees truth as existing prior to researchers' efforts and thus seen as discoverable. o Truths are generated on based on laws of probability or statistics o Most prevalent in the physical sciences

interpretive worldview

one of two main types of worldviews: humanistic worldview that sees knowledge as subjective and recognizes that people play an active role in the creation of what they come to see as true o Use qualitative research methods (in-depth interviews, ethnography, textual criticism) to better reveal the unique influences of context o Most used in the interpretive social sciences and humanities

Sexual Orientation

whether one is physically or romantically attracted to or has sex with persons of the same sex, the other sex, or both.

Terministic Screens

words that combine and direct people's attention away from some things and towards others: reflection of reality, selection of reality, deflection of reality Ex: abortion: fetus v. baby

Shared assumptions of critical/cultural theory

• 1. Social reality of culture is communicatively constructed (creates certain expectations in the repetition that makes it self-fulfilling • 2. Categories such as sex, gender, sexuality, and race themselves become the focus of criticism (instead of just taking them for granted, question them; don't take them as self-evident truths • 3. One cannot study gender/sex unless one also studies systems of hierarchy • 4. Oppositional critical views are necessary to critique hegemonic norms • 5. Awareness of blind spots (ethnocentrism and speaking for others, privileges)