Class Work for 18/01/16 - Research Points on Language & Gender

Deborah Cameron's discursive approach to gender
I was unable to find any articles that focused primarily on anything called the 'discursive' approach, let alone any associated with Cameron's work and research.
What I do already know about the discursive approach is that it covers the idea that we are able to 'do' gender, in terms of how we use and perceive language. To paraphrase: 'Your genes don't determine your jeans'. Unlike the other three models (Dominance, Deficit & Difference) this model doesn't bring much new information to the table, it instead serves as a sort of counter, or compliment, to some of the other theories, in that it says that while there are inherent differences between the language of men and women, this does not mean that each gender is strictly bound to using only characteristics that apply inherently to them. Which is to say, that women are not exempt from using the theoretically 'male' language technique of interruptions.


John Gray's popular book: 'Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus'
John Gray is an American relationship counselor, lecturer and author. In 1992, his book: 'Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus' was published. This bestselling book, which sold over 50 million copies, became a slight cultural phenomenon after its release, with the author going on to release subsequent: 'books, recordings, seminars, theme vacations, a one man Broadway show, TV sitcom, workout videos, podcast, men's and ladies' apparel lines, fragrances, travel guides and even his-and-hers salad dressings.'
The book follows the idea that the most common relationship problems between men and women are a result of 'fundamental psychological differences between the sexes'
The main points covered in the concept of this book include:

• Language and communication matters more to women than it does to men.
• The goals using language of men tend to form around completing objectives or other tasks. However women's goals in language are more inter-personally focused.
• Women are more verbally skilled than men.
• Men have a competitive use of language and women have a cooperative use of language.
• Women talk about feelings, people and relationships, whereas men talk about concrete facts and material things.
• There tends to be miscommunication between women and men as a result of these parallels.  

Beattie's challenge to Zimmerman and West

The main piece of supporting research for the Dominance theory is Zimmerman and West's Interruption study, the evidence gleaned from which suggests that in mixed-sex conversations, men interrupt more frequently than women. The research states that in 11 recorded conversations between men and women, men interrupted 46 times, and women only twice.

Geoffrey Beattie, of Sheffield University disputed this research. Recreating the experiment, Beattie claims to have recorded 10 hours of conversation, and 557 interruptions. Beattie found that women and men interrupted with about equal frequency (men 34.1 / women 33.8). This seems to directly disprove the research and conclusion of Zimmerman and West.

Mary Beard's ideas about women's voices not being valued

Classic scholar Mary Beard puts forward how women aren't perceived to be as powerful as men. She believes this to have become the case as a result of the prioritization of male voices and opinions over the ages, leading to the deeply ingrained patriarchal attitude held today. She says that, as a society, when we hear a female voice "we don't hear a voice that connotes authority; or rather we haven't learned how to hear authority in it". 

The effect of written and computer-mediated forms on gendered language

Studies have indicated that gender related stereotypical patterns have been shown to exist within virtual environments, just as they exist in the real world. 

In support of Lakoff's theories, males appeared to use more authoritative statements while online, whereas females appeared to use more collaborative language.

Bibliography

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/gender.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_Are_from_Mars,_Women_Are_from_Venus

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/14/mary-beard-vocal-women-treated-freakish-androgynes

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED490640.pdf

Language Representation Analysis Task

For the task set by Halla, I chose to analyse a poem written by my Grandfather, Geoff Sutton. (which, along with some of his other poetry, can be found here: https://leopardpoetry.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/featured-poet-geoff-sutton/)
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ALWAYS ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
Geoff Sutton (circa 2012)


I was looking through the window
To see what I could see
But all I saw were my two eyes
Staring back at me
Always on the outside looking in


I wandered through the wild wood
I was looking for my home
I saw you walk together
You saw me walk alone
Darkly on the outside looking in


When I saw the lighted windows
Of any homely place
They pulled the blind down as I passed
They wanted to hide the face
Of someone on the outside looking in


I went on to the sea’s side
I was searching for you there
But all I found were mermaids
Plaiting bladderwrack in their hair
Sadly on the outside looking in


I met a former lover
She said I’ve lost your name
But I know exactly where you are
You’re really just the same
You’re always on the outside looking in


I’ve been strolling through the spaces
Where people used to be
And soon I balanced the me in you
Against the you in me
So inside mirrored outside outside in


The dead live on inside us
I hear them every day
We echo each other word for word
But they haven’t much to say
They’re only on the outside looking in
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As I see it, this poem is a reflection of the poet on several aspects of his life, ultimately determining that the feels detached, or separate from the reality that everyone else around him experiences. It also has romantic themes, or rather, themes concerning the loss of romance, reflection on old relationships, or the loss of loved ones by other means.
The first indication of the themes of this poem come in the title; 'Always on the Outside Looking In'.
The phrase itself shows how the writer feels, that he is not a part of the world that everyone else is, as if he is stood outside a window, looking in on it, unable to attain what he sees. The fact that this line, or a variation of it, is repeated at the end of each stanza shows that the writer is well aware of this, and that it haunts him in practically everything he does.

In the first stanza, the reflective nature of the poem is directly established using a literal reflection that the write sees upon looking through the window. 'But all I saw were my two eyes // Staring back at me'.
The word 'Always' used at the head of the last line shows the infinite nature of the writer's loneliness.

The second stanza has the speaker wandering through a 'wild wood' looking for his home. This may be more symbolic than literal in that the speaker may be searching for somewhere he can be considered 'inside', as opposed to being perpetually 'outside' as he is shown to be throughout.
The 'you' mentioned by the speaker seems, in the wider context of the poem, to be in reference to a past lover. This is furthered by the line 'I saw you walk together // You saw me walk alone'. The term 'together' could be seen as being a reference to a new romantic relationship. Another interpretation of this 'you', could be that of a 'lost' or deceased loved one, or perhaps even multiple people, I personally favour this interpretation.

The third stanza shows that the speaker is an outcast, and is shunned by those around him. 'They wanted to hide the face // Of someone on the outside looking in'.

In the fourth stanza, the speaker 'went to the sea's side // I was searching for you there'. This shows the lengths the speaker is willing to go to to find the unspecified 'you' mentioned throughout the poem.

The next stanza covers the speaker's encounter with a 'former lover', who say's that they have 'lost' the speaker's name. This shows that the speaker's separation reaches such an extent that even a former lover has forgotten his name.

The penultimate stanza has the speaker say: 'I've been strolling through the spaces // Where people used to be'. I see these 'spaces' as the emptiness left when a person moves on, or passes on. The following two lines: 'And soon I balanced the me in you // Against the you in me' could be interpreted as dealing with feelings and memories towards someone you've lost.

The final stanza is, for me, what clarifies the theme of the poem, as well as the state of the 'you' mentioned throughout. The line 'The dead live on inside us' when coupled with the second and third lines of the previous stanza lead me to believe that the 'you' the speaker refers to throughout the poem is a deceased loved one. The second line; 'I hear them everyday' shows that the loss of this person has severely affected the speaker to the point where it is something he thinks about everyday. The next two lines are very profound: 'We echo each other word for word // But they don't have much to say'. This, to me, seems to say that when we think of people we have lost, they are only really echoes of what we are thinking about them, and that because they are gone, they can never again truly speak independently for themselves again. The closing line comparing the dead to the way he has described himself throughout the poem makes me think that the speaker sees himself as 'dead' to the world. I get this impression because, in using this phrase in reference to the dead, he makes it seem as he too is 'on the outside looking in' and has no influence or presence in the reality most people experience.