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Chapter 1: The Study of Communication, Gender, and Culture
I. Introduction
A. Media regularly offers advice and commentary on the subject of gender and
communication.
B. Student demand for courses in gender and communication is high.
C. Learning to better understand the relationship between gender, culture, and
communication can be empowering for students personally and professionally.
II. Communication, Gender, and Culture as an Area of Study
A. Research on Gender, Communication, and Culture
1. Since the 1980s, gender, communication, and culture have been growing areas
of interdisciplinary research; in 2006, the first handbook of gender and
communication was published.
2. Research on gender takes place in many academic fields, including
anthropology, communication, sociology, etc.
3. Researchers use a variety of methods and perspectives to study gender.
a. Quantitative research methods use data that can be quantified, or
turned into numerical terms, to draw conclusions.
b. Qualitative research methods look to understand and interpret
experiences that cannot be quantified.
c. Critical research methods examine power dynamics and structures that
lead to inequality in a culture.
d. Mixed research methods combine multiple methodologies and
approaches.
B. Reasons to Learn about Communication, Gender, and Culture: Studying these
topics serves important goals:
1. Learning about gender helps you understand how culture influences our
understandings of masculinity and femininity.
2. Studying gender and cultural communication patterns will help you gain
insight about your own gendered beliefs and communication patterns, so
that you can be aware of how your culture influences your gender and how
you choose to express your own gender identity.
3. Your effectiveness as a communicator will be increased as you learn to
understand and adapt to a diverse variety of communication styles.
III. Gender in a Transitional Era
A. The cultural views of gender are in transition.
B. We often struggle to combine new ideas about gender and equality with traditional
notions of sex and gender.
IV. Differences between Men and Women
A. Pop psychology suggests that men and women are inherently and distinctly
different.
B. The differences between men and women are not solely biological and natural.
They may also be related to culture, experiences, social class, race, sexual and
orientation.
C. Essentializing occurs when we assume that all members of a group (e.g., all men, all
women) are the same. It ignores individual variations and differences among
members of the same sex. While this text discusses generalizations about women and
men, it is important to remember that there are not essential qualities possessed by all
members of a sex.
D. The differences between sex and gender and the definitions of gender and culture
are important to understanding gender, culture, and communication.
V. Relationships among Gender, Culture, and Communication
A. Sex and gender are related concepts, but are not the same. Being classified as “male”
or “female” is determined by biological characteristics.
1. Sex is based on external genitalia and internal sex organs. These are
determined by chromosomes.
a. Most people have two sex chromosomes, which produce female (XX)
or male (XY) people.
b. For every 10,000 people, 20 do not have XX or XY sex chromosomes,
meaning around 600,000 people in the United States do not have XX
or XY chromosomes.
c. Chromosomes can vary (e.g., XO, XXX, XXY, XYY), which means
biologically, there are actually more than two sexes.
2. Intersexed individuals are born with male and female biological
characteristics. These people used to be called hermaphrodites.
3. Hormones also influence sexual development of male and female sex organs
and how our bodies develop throughout life.
4. Biology is a significant influence on sex, but it does not determine behaviors.
Environment is also an important developmental factor.
B. Gender is a social, symbolic construction that varies across cultures, over time
within a given culture, over the course of individuals’ life spans, and in relation
to the other gender. Gender identity is a personal perception of one’s gender.
1. Gender is neither innate nor stable.
2. Cultures create gender by giving social meanings to biological sex.
3. Gender is learned.
6. Gender is affected by our communication. Our meanings of gender change
through our relationships and communication with others.
7. The meanings of gender are arbitrary.
a. Different cultures have drastically different conceptions of masculinity
and femininity.
b. Body ideals for men and women change by time, culture, and
geographic location.
c. Some cultures consider gender to be changeable across the lifespan,
and some recognize more than two genders.
d. The meaning of gender can even change over time in a single culture
or social group.
e. We also see changes in our meanings of gender over the course of our
lifetimes, with our meanings being different as adults than they were
as children.
8. Gender is a relational concept. We can only understand masculinity in
relation to femininity, and vice versa. Changing ideas about one gender affect
the other.
C. Beyond Sex and Gender
1. Sexual orientation refers to the preference one has about romantic and sexual
partners. Sexual orientation, sex, and gender often become conflated in the
United States, but not all gay men, for example, are feminine males. Also,
sexual activity is viewed differently in different cultures. For example, in
5. Transvestites or cross-dressers are people who wear clothing intended for the
other sex. They may dress completely in drag or wear just one or two items.
There are many reasons people cross-dress, and doing so can sometimes be
but is not necessarily an indicator of one’s gender expression, gender identity,
sex, sexual orientation.
D. Culture consists of institutions and practices that sustain a particular social
order by normalizing certain expectations, values, meanings, and patterns of
behavior.
1. Societal views of gender are communicated through interpersonal interactions,
media, cultural traditions, gendered roles, and patterns of interaction within
families, ideology, and practices of institutions.
2. Western culture is patriarchal, which means the dominant ideology,
institutions, and practices were created by men and implicitly value masculine
perspectives and priorities. This results in a pervasive and naturalized view of
the appropriate roles and behaviors for men and women, which we tend to
take for granted. Learning to question these cultural prescriptions for gender
empowers you to choose your own courses of action and identity.
E. Communication is a dynamic, systemic process in which two levels of meaning are
created and reflected in human interaction with symbols.
1. The dynamic nature of communication emphasizes its ongoing nature.
Communication may influence how we think or feel and influence future
interactions. Therefore, communication events do not have precise starting
and ending points.
2. The systems in which communication occurs, such as the situation, time,
participants, and culture, interact so that each part influences the other parts
and what they mean.
3. Communication consists of two levels of meaning.
4. Meanings are created in the process of human interaction with symbols.
a. Humans are symbol-using creatures.
b. Symbols are abstract, ambiguous, and arbitrary ways of representing
phenomena, which do not have inherent qualities. Meaning does not
exist in words or symbols themselves. We give symbols meaning.
c. Symbolic communication requires reflection and thought for
interpretation.
d. Therefore, humans create meanings through the process of
communicating.
Journal Entries
1. Do you think that your definitions of the genders differ from the expectations and roles that
characterized the period in which your parents were raised? Comment on your perceptions
of the meanings of gender in a transitional era.
2. Describe/reflect on: (a) One interaction with your parent(s) or guardian(s) (the earliest you
can remember) that communicated expectations for your gender, and (b) the most recent
interaction with someone who communicated expectations for your gender.
3. Analyze how current institutions sustain gender roles. For example, how have your
experiences within our educational system worked to shape your perceptions of appropriate
gender roles? What are some current judicial or cultural practices that enable gender
inequalities? What are some actions that you and other individuals can take to begin to
empower yourself within our current cultural framework?
4. What do you think you would do if your romantic partner of many years told you that s/he
felt s/he was transgendered? Would you consider staying in the relationship? Would you
consider leaving it? What challenges do you think you would face as a couple? How do
you think your perception of him/her would change? How would your perception of
yourself change? What negative and positive potential outcomes do you perceive would
occur?
5. Reflect on cultural assumptions about gender as they affect your life. If you are a
biological woman, do you conform to norms of femininity? If you are a biological man, do
you conform to norms of masculinity? How do the people around you respond to the ways
you enact your gender? How comfortable are you with the ways you enact your gender?
InfoTrac Activities
1. Choose the Advanced Search option using InfoTrac College Edition. Select title and type
“Treatment of intersex needs open discussion.” What are some of the concerns expressed
by Melissa Cull regarding normalizing surgery? What does she suggest as a solution?
2. Choose the Advanced Search option using InfoTrac College Edition. Select keyword and
type “women and Citadel.” Read through a few of the news articles posted. What kinds of
changes has the Citadel made to accommodate women? In your opinion, is this enough?
Suggested Activities
1. Shopping for Gender
Consumer culture plays a central role in the construction of gender. This assignment is
designed to help students begin to see and understand that role. Place students in small
groups and either assign or ask groups to choose a store or set of stores to explore. The
assignment works best if each group chooses a different venue: department stores, malls,
boutiques, box stores, books stores, toy stores, sporting goods stores, grocery stories, card
stores, etc. Groups should spend approximately 30 minutes at their assigned store looking
for messages about gender. Ask students to take notes about the kinds of products
available for boys, girls, women, and men. If they visit a clothing store, tell them to attend
to the color, fabric, and construction of the clothes. For all stores, instruct students to pay
attention to product displays, store layout and decorations, posters, and packaging. Devote
a class period to discussing the groups’ findings. What messages about gender did the
various stores communicate and how? Were there similarities and differences between the
gendered messages communicated by the different stores? What might those similarities
and differences suggest about gender and age, race, and/or socioeconomic status?
2. Differences, Similarities, and Essentializing
For many of our students, much of the “research” read and heard about gender and sex comes
from pop psychology, and many come into the course expecting to learn about how men and
women communicate as if they are from different planets. Provide the students with a brief
excerpt from John Gray’s book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. Chapter 1 of the
book works nicely for this exercise, and the book is usually available at most college libraries.
(Take care to abide by education fair use regulations for copyrighted work. Using only Chapter
1 stays within these guidelines.) Lead a discussion around the following questions:
• What of Gray’s claims do you agree with?
• What do you disagree with?
• Do you think Gray’s descriptions of men and women are consistent with you and those
close to you?
• Who do you know who challenges these notions?
• Are there any ways in which thinking about men and women in these ways can be
problematic?
The concept of essentializing (i.e., assuming all members of a group are the same) should
underlie this discussion, and if it is not raised by a student, you should introduce it during the
discussion. After examining the discussion questions, students should have an idea of how
essentializing is seen as useful (it helps us organize the world neatly) but also very narrowing
and confining.
3. Exploring Trans Identity
Show the film Ma Vie En Rose (My Life in Pink) about a boy who hopes and thinks he will
grow up to be a girl. The film shows the struggle for him, his family, and his community as
he explores his gender and sexual identity. (The film is rated R, but there is no sex or
violence enacted in the film.) Alternatively, the film Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She,
explores similar issues and includes commentary on gender in many different cultures.
Discuss students’ responses to the film, imagining what it would have been like to be the boy
in the film, his parents, or his neighbor.
**NOTE: At the end of each chapter, Wood offers discussion questions and
personal research and analysis activities.
