How can we study gender through the lens of communication and communication through the lens of gender?

 How can we study gender through the lens of communication and communication through the lens of gender?

This question sounds a bit complicated but the answer is really quite simple...

Wood's definition describes communication as a dynamic, systemic process in which meanings are created and reflected in and through humans' interactions with symbols. So... communication can be studied through the lense of gender just by examining the language we use on an everyday basis. The same goes for studying gender through the lense of communication; members of different genders are all so different which means the meanings created through their interaction with symbols (communication) will also be different. And this is where the quest to understand communication through the lens of gender and gender through the lense of communication begins.

Is Violence a Form of Communication?

Is violence a form of communication? In order to answer this question I believe a bit of background information is necessary. First, we must have a clear understanding of what communication is. Second, we must have a clear understanding of not just violence, but gendered violence since this class focuses on the implications of living gendered lives.

Julia T. Wood, the author of Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture defines communication as a dynamic, systemic process in which meanings are created and reflected in and through humans' interactions with symbols. So in a nutshell communication is an ever changing, organized process in which humans use words or symbols to convey a desired meaning.

Wood's definition of gendered violence is pretty straight forward and she describes it as any physical, verbal, emotional, sexual, and visual brutality that is inflicted disproportionately or exclusively on members of one sex. The generic definition of violence is almost identical except it isn't inflicted exclusively on members of another sex.

So.... is violence a form of communication? I believe the answer to this question could be YES or NO, but I would have to argue that violence is NOT a form of communication. Instead, I think communication can be a form of violence because communication is a process in which we use words or symbols to convey a certain meaning.

In my eyes violence is the meaning somebody is attempting to convey through words or symbols. So violence is the message someone is trying to get across to another person or group of people by doing anything from screaming obscenities (words) to raising their middle finger accompanied by a gruesome gaze (symbols).

Violence is not a form of communication... Communication is a form of violence!

There is never a single story.....

Upon watching the video of Chimamanda Adichie's speech on the dangers of a single story, I came to the realization that there is never a single story, no matter who or what is being discussed. Adichie, a Nigerian novelist spotlights the idea that people often have an essentialized view of cultures other than their own becuase they are misinformed or are constantly exposed to only one perspective. This leads to a single story and after listening to Adichie speek, I discovered that I had a single story of Africa which began with its early colonization by white merchants followed by violence, slavery, and disease. This is because I have been constantly exposed to only one perspective of Aftica and its inhabitants. This is the perspective of a caucasian American male that doesn't know too much about africa except for what he learned from all the stories flourishing throughout the media. When thinking about Africa's story, I didnt recall any knowledge about the government, the art, music or religion; only what I had seen on television or read in texbooks.

When only one story is available, we risk a critical miscommunication and Adichie has the perfect example. When she was attending college, Adichie's roomate was surprised that she knew English so well and asked if it was tough to get down. What her roomate didn't realize was that English was the official language of Nigeria and Adichie has been speaking it her entire life...

There is never a single story, and if there is, something is drastically wrong. This leads me to the conclusion that there is no single story for what it means to be a woman and with that said, it would be ridiculous to try and represent women globally. I say this because in order to represent women globally one would need to essentialize women, in turn creating a single story...

The Media and Working Women

The media surrounds us and we are constantly exposed to it in many forms. You could say our society is completely saturated with it and a strong message portrayed by the media is that women belong at home doing housework and nurturing children, not sitting on the board of directors or fighting for their country. Stereotypes like this flourish throughout the media and they come together to form somewhat of an agenda setting by telling the public what is important. Instead of telling us what to think, the media focuses our attention on specific issues like which roles men and women should embrace. In magazines, movies, television shows and a variety of other sources, women are shown being emotional, engaging in domestic activities, shopping, and trying to make themselves look sexually appealing. Men on the other hand are portrayed as confident, tough, serious, hard-working individuals who are in control of their emotions.

The National Association of Working Women known as 9to5 is working to combat the idea that women belong at home instead of working equally among men in a professional environment. 9to5 works to involve women in improving policies addressing pay equity, work/family issues, sexual harassment, discrimination, welfare, unemployment and protections for temporary and part-time workers. By engaging members of the community to get politically active and educating them on pertinent issues, 9to5 is successfully increasing media literacy. This is great because with a higher level of competence, the public will be able to make decisions based on their own agenda and not that of the media.

9to5 and the Community

A large part of any non-profit organization involves educating the community about the issues which it is working towards solving. 9to5 has local chapters in Colorado, Atlanta, California, and Milwaukee that come together to involve women of the community in improving policies addressing pay equity, work/family issues, sexual harassment, discrimination, welfare, unemployment and protections for temporary and part-time workers. They also have many ways for members of the community to get involved such as registering people to vote, asking voters to get in touch with their representatives, distributing voter guides at events or to neighbors, and talking with members of the community about policies that would better their lives in the workplace. If somebody is looking to get involved with  9to5 it is quite simple, all one has to do is log on to http://9to5.org/ and contact the director of their local chapter.

I believe 9to5 does a good job of educating the community about crucial issues that are being faced and getting people involved in improving policies to combat these issues. I say this with conviction because in 2008 9to5, with the support of the Denver community helped lead a historic campaign that lead to the defeat of a ballot referendum that would have eliminated Colorado's equal opportunity programs for women and people of color. This was the first time any state has successfully defended against this type of campaign. 9to5 has a few other victories under their belt such as wins on crucial state policies including a higher minimum wage, establishing a state pay equity commission, protecting workers who discuss their wages, increasing welfare cash assistance, breastfeeding accommodations and unemployment insurance. 9to5 is doing their part to implement immediate improvements in the lives of women of the community and low-wage workers.

9to5!

So I chose to do my service learning hours for Gender and Communication with 9to5 and I met with them for the first time on Friday the 18th. I was satisfied with the meeting and everything went swell! We covered a few projects that we will be working on together and decided on a scheduled time to meet every week. It has been decided that I will be working with 9to5 every Thursday in the morning. Tomorrow is the first day I will be legitimately working with them and logging hours. I am excited to see what is instore for me and I already have a few ideas for the project we will be working on.

We will be helping to plan all the ins and outs of an event that will be taking place in August. Once it is all set up and August rolls around, even though spring semester will be over, it is my full intention to attend this event and see how everything panned out. It will without a doubt be great time and Im excited to see my ideas and work along with everybody elses flourish and come together as a whole.  My expectations of 9to5 and the work I will be doing with them have been met so far. I have a good grasp on what is expected of me and what the work I will be doing entails, which was a big expectation of mine because I do not want to be working blindly. Second, I got to meet a couple of the other students and 9to5 staff that will be coming together to complete the project as well as other tasks. This was important to me because now I have a good idea of the group dynamics and I know what everybody has to offer after speaking with them at the meeting. I am excited to be working with 9to5 and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Gender Movements

Men and women have battled for their rights for ages and still are. Of the many men and women's movements that have influenced society I cannot say that I personally identify with any of them. I am a man so obviously I cant relate to any of the women's movements. In addition to that I'm a college student in my very early 20s and a majority of the men's movements are targeted at older men with a lot more problems on their hands than reading textbooks and getting assignments done on time.To be honest, before taking this gender and communication course I didn't even know there were men's rights movements. The masculinist men's movements struck me by surprise because of their extreme nature and I found that the men's rights movements had more merit to them. After reading about the many mens movements I decided that the father's rights movement, which is relatively new, was the most legitimate. I say this because it strives for fifty-fifty custody rights for fathers, which I believe is an important issue. In my opinion, every good father shouldn't have to lose their children, whom they love and have helped raise, to a divorce.

The Power of Naming

Language shapes awareness in a variety of ways and has the power to influence the meanings of culture. As a society we tend to only name what is important to us and the meaning of what is being named relies greatly on the connotation we associate with the word or phrase. With a positive connotation comes acceptance and favorability and a negative connotation brings distaste and rejection. This being said, we can change language to reflect our changing understandings and perceptions of ourselves and the world that surrounds us.

Recently many people have made an effort to shape language in order to be politically correct. Instead of using the word stewardess, we say flight attendant because the word stewardess insinuates the profession is exclusively for women. This is exactly why we have mail-carriers instead of mail-men and this trend is also affecting the way we describe cultural happenings. "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," a phrase used forever has changed to "Happy Holidays" partly because all the cynics out there believe it to be offensive due to its exclusive nature. In this particular situation I don't agree with "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" slowly changing to "Happy Holidays" because it addresses two special days that are already exclusive to a culture and the people that identify with it. Why try to include people of different cultures in a time that only has significant meaning to the individuals that identify with it?

Early and Recent Portrayals of Gender Expectations

There are countless expectations for genders in our society and they are communicated to each and every one of us through many channels such as the media, parents, and peers. It is tough to remember the earliest interaction with my parents that communicated expectations for my gender. This is because as far back as I can remember, I knew I was a boy and not a girl. I attribute this to the fact that expectations for genders are imposed upon children at a very early age, from the time they are wrapped in a blue or pink blanket until adolescence.

The most recent interection I had with someone that communicated expectations for my gender was just last Saturday. I went to Colorado Ski and Golf with a friend of mine to buy a GoPro action camera for snowboarding, and while there we decided to walk around a bit and check out the store. After browsing their selection of boards I decided to try on some helmets. I picked one up that I thought looked cool, but once I strapped it on my buddy laughed a little and said "you shouldn't get that one,you look like a girl." I laughed a little and immediately took it off because Im a man and I don't want to look like a girl while im snowboarding. There was no mirror to examine how I looked, but I valued my friend's opinion because I have known him for a long time and we both associate with the same gender.