... Welcome to the " Culture literacy course " blog...
The idea of this blog was intiated by Dr.Taiba Sadiq for the "Cultural litracy " course given in the college of basic education (Kuwait) , through this blog students of this course will be able to discuss different topics related to culture , comment , argue and share their ideas .
this blog started on October 2009.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
gender
How does ones gender effect who we speak to and how we speak to them? Which part does culture come in to play? Any ideas? try to give an example or a situation where this shows.
I once read a funny e-mail about what is the reaction of a boy or a girl toward his/her friends new hair cut , the girl would ask her friend : what a nice hair cut , where did you do it ? , and her friend answers her and the conversation continues without ending ; while the boy would say : oh , you had a hair cut , nice , and the other one replays : thanks , and here ends the talking.
It's interesting how women are known to be chatters , and loves to talk about anything , and they might spend time talking and chatting about non-cense stuffs.
Yeah I totally agree with you Muneera, some times women spend plenty of their time about one topic. What I was about to mention here is How does ones gender effect who we speak to them. For example a man from California was in Russia and while he was buying a banana to the girl of the group he asked her friendly "do you like some banana?" and then she answered with a smile"yes,sure". Our american guy here didn't know what happened but offering a banana to a women in Russia means that there is an romantic interest.
Sometimes trying to be nice is not nice at all because it could something else.
Gender affects the way we convey language, that is true. There are words that are considered feminine in some cultures and others masculine. For instance in Western cultures a man might describe something as "nice" but he most likely wouldn't use the word "gorgeous". Men also tend to be less detail oriented in descriptive terms than women, as Muneera mentioned about the haircut incident. Culture affects these word choices, as people grow up learning what words are appropriate to use by men and what is unappropriate.
I think that the English language is one of the few languages that gender is not an issue when speaking except in the use of certain words or phrases that may be reserved for each gender or voided being used For example you may not find a guy using the word lovely to describe something he likes. On the other hand you may find a language were it has its own systematic way of speaking and writing reserved for each gender and the best example for this is the Japanese language (women use a different (I) then men do) and also in the Arabic language it can also be found when we are referring to someone But all this has to do with language its self and not much to do with culture? How do you think culture would come in to effect in these situations? Also do you think that gender is an issue if you are talking to someone older or younger then you or is it only showing when we speak to someone of a similar age group?
I personally think that we as potential teachers, should have a pretty good idea about dealing with both boys and girls in a classroom setting. For instance, the teacher should use certain terms with the boys, and use different ones with the girls, keeping in mind what attracts both genders. In accordance with knowing how to step in and step out, meaning that the teacher has to fit in and act just like her students. Once the bell rings, she can be back to normal again!
Key dimensions of the concept of gender: - gender refers to the social roles and relations between men and women, including who does what kinds of work and how decisions are made. It does not refer to the biological condition of maleness or femaleness; - the perspective on gender varies over time and across cultures; - gender is multi-dimensional, influencing economic, political, and social interactions and needs; - gender is about how power is used and shared; - gender is about assumptions, expectations, and obligations regarding men and women; - gender is institutionalised and enacted at the levels of the family, the community, and the State.
it appears that girls mainly use a system that is based around memorizing words and associations between them,whereas boys rely primarily on a system that governs the rules of language .
I once read a funny e-mail about what is the reaction of a boy or a girl toward his/her friends new hair cut , the girl would ask her friend : what a nice hair cut , where did you do it ? , and her friend answers her and the conversation continues without ending ; while the boy would say : oh , you had a hair cut , nice , and the other one replays : thanks , and here ends the talking.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how women are known to be chatters , and loves to talk about anything , and they might spend time talking and chatting about non-cense stuffs.
Yeah I totally agree with you Muneera, some times women spend plenty of their time about one topic.
ReplyDeleteWhat I was about to mention here is How does ones gender effect who we speak to them. For example a man from California was in Russia and while he was buying a banana to the girl of the group he asked her friendly "do you like some banana?" and then she answered with a smile"yes,sure". Our american guy here didn't know what happened but offering a banana to a women in Russia means that there is an romantic interest.
Sometimes trying to be nice is not nice at all because it could something else.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGender affects the way we convey language, that is true. There are words that are considered feminine in some cultures and others masculine. For instance in Western cultures a man might describe something as "nice" but he most likely wouldn't use the word "gorgeous".
ReplyDeleteMen also tend to be less detail oriented in descriptive terms than women, as Muneera mentioned about the haircut incident.
Culture affects these word choices, as people grow up learning what words are appropriate to use by men and what is unappropriate.
I think that the English language is one of the few languages that gender is not an issue when speaking except in the use of certain words or phrases that may be reserved for each gender or voided being used
ReplyDeleteFor example you may not find a guy using the word lovely to describe something he likes.
On the other hand you may find a language were it has its own systematic way of speaking and writing reserved for each gender and the best example for this is the Japanese language (women use a different (I) then men do) and also in the Arabic language it can also be found when we are referring to someone
But all this has to do with language its self and not much to do with culture? How do you think culture would come in to effect in these situations? Also do you think that gender is an issue if you are talking to someone older or younger then you or is it only showing when we speak to someone of a similar age group?
I personally think that we as potential teachers, should have a pretty good idea about dealing with both boys and girls in a classroom setting. For instance, the teacher should use certain terms with the boys, and use different ones with the girls, keeping in mind what attracts both genders. In accordance with knowing how to step in and step out, meaning that the teacher has to fit in and act just like her students. Once the bell rings, she can be back to normal again!
ReplyDeleteKey dimensions of the concept of gender:
ReplyDelete- gender refers to the social roles and relations between men and
women, including who does what kinds of work and how decisions
are made. It does not refer to the biological condition of maleness or
femaleness;
- the perspective on gender varies over time and across cultures;
- gender is multi-dimensional, influencing economic, political, and
social interactions and needs;
- gender is about how power is used and shared;
- gender is about assumptions, expectations, and obligations regarding
men and women;
- gender is institutionalised and enacted at the levels of the family, the
community, and the State.
it appears that girls mainly use a system that is based around memorizing words and associations between them,whereas boys rely primarily on a system that governs the rules of language .
ReplyDelete