Cultural Differences Between Men And Women

The discussion of gender communication has become a largely controversial debate. Culture plays an important role in how these differences occur and the perceptions of men and women are constructed by culture. Studies have showed us different views of different communication styles between men and women but the conclusion is the same, no matter the reasoning, there is a clear difference between the way the different genders speak. We observe these differences from day to day and can easily define them however when it leads to discussing about why these differences exist, it is then where we split into different sides. There are two distinct perspectives which emerge from the studies of gender communication. One side of the spectrum is there …show more content…
She argues that men and women learn to speak in different ways because they are following the cultural standard of their gender ( Tannen 66). Tannen is assuming that we as a society do not control culture and whatever is the norm, we must follow the guidelines for our respective genders. If she does not assume this then she is not addressing why culture has constructed these very different worlds for men and women. Tannen states in her essay that women use "rapport talk" and men use "report talk" accounting for the differences in communication (67). However, she never discusses why in our culture we have engineered these specific standards for men and women. Both Tannen and Aries build their argument on the notion that culture is the reasoning behind the differences in gender communication, however, Tannen fails to acknowledge why society has set such rigid gendered roles and why any resistance to them leads to being an outcast not entirely because of rejecting cultural norms but women rejecting their role as the submissive and men the dominant. Tannen notes throughout her essay that women need to adjust to and understand the differences between men and women. Here she is so blatantly implying that men are the norm and women need to adjust. Even if she claims she is not stating women are the abnormal, the development of her argument says otherwise. Aries argues that women 's language reflects a lack of power in society (93). The "uncertain" and "rapport" talk which women possess is an indicator of the lower status they have in society. The differences in the way men and women speak is a matter of culture but also how this disproportion of power negatively affects women and results in these different conversational styles. Gender is reflective of our personality due to culture expectations, it affects how we communicate day to day and the role in which