Gender and speech

Men and women are fundamentally different. They differ in terms of behaviour and basic physical characteristics. Interestingly, there have been numerous cases in which opposites attract, resulting in the continuation of the human species through love and reproduction. Nevertheless, men and women still have issues communicating with each other because of the fundamental fact that they are different. 

Miscommunication between men and women occurs on both a biological and a social level, all of which reveals how the natural and the synthetic contribute to how men and women interact with each other.

One way that men and women differ is because of their personal interests. For example, men and women each have their own personal tendencies when it comes to experiences that they might potentially enjoy. Therefore, biology might indeed play a role as to how men and women behave. There is also the notion that men and women differ on a biological level, which contributes to the miscommunication that they might experience. For example, Barbara Gawda and Ewa Szepietowska did a study entitled, “Impact of Unconscious Emotional Schemata on Verbal Fluency – Sex Differences and Neural Mechanisms.” The two researchers mention how men and women perceive and understand emotions differently. Such a study reveals how men and women are fundamentally different, and that they can have misunderstandings because of biological factors.

The differences between men and women are not just on the biological level, but also on a social level. For example, Fereshteh Shirzad, Khorshid Musavi, Sepide Atmani, Azizeh Khanchobni Ahranjani, and Samira Iraji conducted a study entitled, “Gender Differences in EFL Academic Writing.” The researchers concluded that social expectations contribute to the differences that separate men and women. There is also the notion that society categorizes people. That same study also suggests that men and women have their own style of writing since the study focuses on academic writing. It also implies that men and women receive different types of education based partially on their gender.  Therefore, there is a gender bias that can either benefit or hinder the academic performance of men and women in an academic setting, all of which reveals how society can impact how men and women behave in terms of social constructs.

Men and women also have the tendency to speak their own dialect because of how speech patterns differ between the two sexes.  For example, Sarah M. Galvin, Martha H. Dolly, and Judith J. Pula conducted a study entitled, “Genderlect and Participation in the College English Classroom.” This study suggests that men and women actually do use specific tones and their own personal variations of speech that separate the two sexes while also categorizing them. There is a word of caution that came along with this study, though, because it notes that further research must be done to determine if men and women actually do use factors that separate their own unique types of speech. Genderlect itself also deserves further investigation because of the fundamental differences between the sexes.

The differences in the speech patterns of men and women not apply to academic settings, but also popular culture. For example, Chit Cheung Matthew Sung conducted a study entitled, “Exploring the Interplay of Gender, Discourse, and (Im)politeness.” The idea of assumptions about the behaviors of women suggests that men are partially biased against women. It also implies that there is a hint of sexism when it comes to how men and women speak. The usage of the reality show The Apprentice also reveals how men and women might perceive each other differently in terms of both everyday speech and specific social situations, such as the workplace or on a television show. Therefore, language can differ in terms of setting, which increases the division between men and women, and asserts that speech involves socialization issues as well. Further research must also be done because studies like these can only provide so much information about the speech patterns of men and women.

Besides the presentation that men and women speak differently in specific settings, research suggests that the speech patterns of men and women are also a social construct. For example, William A. Foley conducted a study entitled, “Gender and Language in Ethnographic and Evolutionary Perspectives.” The fact that men and women speak differently implies that society itself is partially to blame for such a result. That is because society itself established gender roles that attempt to define men and women. As time passed, though, men and women have both made attempts to defy gender stereotypes. Therefore, it is important to recognize that biology might define the sex of an individual, but gender is a social construct.

Even with all of the research that has been done thus far, further investigation must be done in order to understand the language differences between men and women.  For example, Slavica Perović conducted a study entitled, “Language, Gender, and Identity.” The author mentions how the differences between men and women are, indeed, social issues. The study implies that gender is a very controversial subject because of the fundamental fact that men and women are, in fact, different. Additionally, society itself contributes to that difference because of issues like sexism and abuse tend to create a power struggle between the two sexes. Therefore, men and women are different partially because society made them that way.

Language also has the ability to influence the gender of a country. Jennifer L. Prewitt-Freilino, T. Andrew Caswell and Emmi K. Laakso did a study entitled, “The Gendering of Language: A Comparison of Gender Equality in Countries with Gendered, Natural Gender, and Genderless Languages.” The study reveals how language has some characteristics related to gender. The study implies that languages that include gender have the potential to separate genders. Therefore, countries need to be careful about how the languages that their native people might speak will influence the men and women of a particular country.

Ultimately, the differences between men and women involve numerous complexities because of the fundamental fact that men and women are different. They differ both biologically and socially, which can result in confusion when members of the two sexes communicate amongst their own gender as well as the opposite gender. It is important to note that sex is different from gender because sex deals primarily with biological differences while gender includes societal expectations. Many studies have been done which analyze how men and women communicate both amongst themselves as well as with each other.

Nevertheless, the classic idea that opposites attract has allowed the human race to continue even though men and women might not necessarily understand each other all of the time. Further research must still be done, but it is true that the differences between men and women is a fascinating topic to explore since members of the two sexes make up the population that defines the world as the unique collection of people that it truly is.